25 Nov 2015 14:08:30
Question.
What has happened to English football's decline in Champs League?

Cast your memory back a few years.
2006/7 season.3 English teams in Semi Finals, Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea.

2007/8 season. Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea.

2008/9 season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd.

Fast forward a few seasons and in the 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, only one English team, Chelsea, have been in the Semi's.

To make matters worse, in the same seasons as the paragraph above, only 2 English teams, Manchester United and Chelsea, have been in the Quarter Final stage, out of a possible 24.

In terms of CL, are English teams in decline?

1.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 15:33:36
We should also acknowledge that in Bayern, Barcelona and Real, we currently have some of the finest teams in living memory playing. Given that they are so good and consistent, that's at least 3 of the 4 semi final births in the CL taken care of. Particularly when you think that in Ronaldo and Messi, you have 2 of the best players EVER.

It'll be interesting to do a World XI - just to see how many Premier League players would be in that team.

We also have the disadvantage that the Premier League is so competitive - other leagues not so and therefore the the toll it takes on the squad to play week-in and week-out in our league is a factor.

Now to the quality question. I would say that the best teams in England are not as strong as they once were. The Arsenal and Manchester United teams between 2000 to 2005 were better teams than ply their trade in the Premier league over the last 5 years.

But with the new deal kicking in next year, there will be more money in the PL. It'll be interesting to see what happens here - the mid-table teams in the PL become more competitive. But will the "big teams" improve yet more? There's only so many world class players, the top top top players out there - and can we lure they away from the other big continental teams? We saw an attempt that this with Manchester United being linked to Moeller, Ronaldo, Bale or Arsenal link to Benzema. Equally certain that Man City and Chelsea has "big" targets too. But how many came? None. Slightly off topic there with my thoughts - I just wonder if the potential riches of the PL next year will entice the best players or not (and therefore improve on the quality) .

Just one final thought on quality - at the big 4 clubs, who was the last player to come through the youth ranks to become an establish star? Sterling? Bellerin? So if we can't get them here, we need to produce them.

2.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 17:02:21
Dags just look at the uefa shortlist for team of the year.
Can you honestly say anyone from the pl would be in your final team? .

3.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 17:52:10
Good points belief.
MgM, Joe Hart, Aguero, De Bruyne, Hazard and Sanchez?

{Ed001's Note - surely Butland would be ahead of Hart? For every good thing Hart has done, he has made a bad error.}

4.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 18:22:28
Ed, I think Jack Butland is a fantastic keeper, fantastic shot stopper and amazing reflexes.

But, managers tend to keep faith in a regular keeper and Hart has been the No.1 since the 2012 Euro qualifiers.

Some good keepers have tried to take his gloves, Ben Foster and Fraser Forster to name a few, but Hart always remains in between the posts.

Butland? Yes, I would pick him in place of Hart, not sure Woy would agree though.

{Ed001's Note - good point, you are right he won't.}

5.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 18:49:10
Dags I've said before the best players, best team and best managers are outside the premier league. Its the most competitive league but not the best. We tend to think as brits we are better than we really are and accept losing easier, losing is bad for the big teams and accountable more.

6.) 25 Nov 2015
25 Nov 2015 21:52:47
Hard to disagree with that Steve.