Is the English clubs’ “dominance” of the European competitions over?

Manchester United found themselves in a completely different situation after their Champions League final defeat in May 2011, a situation that Sir Alex thrives on. Instead of having to build on their side, Ferguson had to completely rebuild it – the likes of Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Van der Sar all retired, while others left for pastures new.

The aim was to close the gap between themselves and Barcelona, but that will take some time with a young side that will only get better, with David de Gea, Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck, Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez all still improving.

However, while English clubs find themselves at a point where they have no other choice but to blood the youth, some European clubs find themselves with a constant stream of young players ready to come into the squad, and this is the undoing of English clubs.

Even now, Barcelona have Thiago, Cristian Tello and Isaac Cuenca all waiting in the wings and good enough to play first-team football while Milan similarly have a plethora of youth, including young Egyptian Stephan El Shaarawy. In comparison, Chelsea’s academy is pretty much non-existent while Manchester City’s could soon face a similar fate if money is continually poured into the first-team.

Furthermore, the English game finds itself light years behind the European leagues both in terms of quality and team ethic. Chelsea’s squad continues to age, Manchester United find themselves in the polar opposite in that their squad is yet to reach its collective peak and both Arsenal and Manchester City have too many mediocre players on the books; one looks at European clubs and in comparison, from back to front, they have quality players in nearly every position with young players with plenty of potential hungry to take their place.

Furthermore, the general laziness and lack of quality of English football is epitomized in the work ethic and football prowess of English clubs and their players; they are too slow to close down, they don’t work hard enough and they are too frantic in their play with the ball. People may be tired of the constant worshipping of Barcelona but you only have to watch to see that their work ethic on the pitch and use of the ball for the entire 90 minutes is to be admired.

Overall, English clubs need to adopt a more European mentality in the way they play their football, the way they build their squads and the way they bring through young players otherwise the possibility of the remaining English sides going out of their respective European competitions could become a regular occurrence.

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