English sides in crisis in European competition – here’s why.
It has been a shockingly bad week for Premier League sides in Europe as Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all lost. The latter two are now out of the Europa League while the former pair are as good as out of the Champions League.
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Read on for four reasons English clubs are doing so badly on the continental stage…
1) Lack of winter break
This has been the subject of debate for far too long now – surely the Premier League has to introduce a winter break if they want to go into these crunch European ties in as good physical shape as the competition.
2) Premier League too physically demanding
As well as the hectic Christmas period, it could be argued that the Premier League is too physically demanding as it is. In such a competitive division, it is no surprise to see teams are being pushed harder in every game as from first to seventh at the moment there are little to no guarantees about where everyone will finish.
3) Arrogance
Arsenal certainly took AS Monaco lightly this week, while Tottenham have long treated the Europa League as a chance to field experimental sides and rest big names. There is too much feeling that all the best players in the world are now in England and that that will be enough to ensure progress in Europe.
4) Priorities lie elsewhere
For Liverpool, is winning the Europa League really going to be a priority ahead of finishing fourth or winning the FA Cup? For Arsenal, surely they accept they have little chance of winning the Champions League, so they may as well focus on fourth and the FA Cup as well. Manchester City have a title race to get back into, and Tottenham are also chasing Champions League football. Could it be that no one cares *quite* enough to give it their all in Europe, particularly the Europa League?