Premier League Teams Are in Danger of Being Left Behind in the Champions League

As I am sure you are probably aware by now, this is the first time in 17 seasons that the quarterfinals of the Champions League have not featured any English teams. 

In this year's competition, England’s representatives have had to endure some tough luck, some tough groups and some even tougher opponents. But the truth is, this reality check for the English clubs has been a long time coming. When it comes to European football, the English sides are in danger of being left behind.

We know that Chelsea triumphed last season due to a heroic defensive effort against Barcelona and a spectacularly wasteful opponent in the final. But going forward, is playing in this manner going to bring English clubs a host of European success? Not a chance. Something's got to give.

Managers are starting to get wise to this. As Arsenal became the final side to see their European dream extinguished, manager Arsene Wenger suggested that this needs to act as a “wake up call” for England’s top sides. “Other teams have caught us up.”

Not just caught them up, but surpassed them. 

Teams like Borrusia Dortmund, Paris St-Germain and Juventus were all in turmoil not so long ago, ravaged by volatile boardrooms and crippling finances. But now, they are three of the major contenders for this year's title. Each of them have come into the competition after their respective spells in the wilderness, learnt quickly and, to their credit, adapted superbly. 

Then we have sides like Bayern Munich. Not content with being runners up last season, Die Roten have taken their game to another level. Granted, they looked somewhat shaky in the return leg against Arsenal, but once Bastian Schweinsteiger and Franck Ribery are back in the side, they will be a completely different animal.

English teams, by comparison look very set in their ways. Too long they have been seemingly content in the knowledge that they’ll somehow find a way to win in Europe. 

There is an unwillingness amongst the Premier League clubs to adapt their approach so that it is tailored for European football. Take Manchester City, for example. It was assumed they would have learnt a lot from a poor showing in their maiden Champions League outing back in 2011-12. This time around there was much talk of a more fruitful campaign.

But there was absolutely nothing new about City. They demonstrated astounding naivety in their group games and Roberto Mancini was found continuously found wanting tactically. Sure, you can blame inexperience, and Mancini did. This was only their second crack at it after all.

But look at Dortmund. Following their first domestic title in many a year, they too put in a poor showing in the 2011-12 season’s Champions League, eliminated at the group stage. Sound familiar?

Unlike City, they have learnt from that bad experience. They have adapted their game and have benefited significantly as a result. Their pressing is tuned up, their passing is crisper and they look an all-around more adaptive and tactically astute outfit this time around.

And Dortmund aren’t the only side on an upward curve. Juventus have honed a system which has made them remarkably difficult to beat, whilst PSG have forced their way into the reckoning following their recent cash injection. With Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich also looking as good as ever, the latter stages of the Champions League is looking like an increasingly difficult gig to get into.

At the moment, the English sides are outside in the cold, pleading with the bouncer to let them in. 

But how has the Premier League, a league still regarded by some as the best in the world, gotten into a predicament were none of its top four sides rank amongst the best eight teams in Europe? It all seemed so easy not so long ago.

Between the years of 2004 and 2009 in the Champions League, the four representatives from England made up 15 of the 24 semifinal spots. English football almost monopolised Europe for half a decade.

The Premier League has always been something of a rule onto itself, often a sole bastion of longevity in amongst the constantly changing landscape of European Football. Trends and hypes come and go, but the English league doesn’t really tend to get drawn in by this.  

This was beneficial not too long ago, as clubs from across the continent failed to cope with teams like Alex Ferguson’s dynamic Manchester United side, Rafa Benitez's tactically adept Liverpool squad or Jose Mourinho’s physically imposing Chelsea outfit. The success in Europe between 2004 and 2009 only emphasized the concept that the Premier League was doing everything right.

But as we all know, the game goes in cycles. It is only this season that the English clubs are feeling the effects of not moving on with the rest of the game. The face of European football changed following the dramatic rise to prominence of Barcelona in 2009. Possession in the main is king, whilst tackling is gradually being phased out of the game in favor of pressing, intercepting and nicking the ball off your opponents.

Most of Europe embraced this shift and have continued to go with it. But not the Premier League. Not fully. There has been a slight nudge toward this style recently, but stylistically the English sides are still playing catch up.

No English side has yet to replicate the pressing Barcelona and Dortmund have in their armory. No side from the Premier League are as comfortable and as effective in the 4-2-3-1 system as Bayern Munich. Nobody is as devastating on the break as Real Madrid. Unfortunately for English sides, these qualities have developed into key components for success in the modern game.

This is where the recent stutter in Europe has stemmed from. English teams look rigid in their tactics and unable to handle the fresh ideologies these teams have employed. City couldn’t handle Dortmund’s speed of passing and incessant pressing earlier on in the campaign, whilst reigning champions Chelsea had no answer to Juventus and their deployment of Andrea Pirlo in front of a back three.

It is an immediate concern for fans of the Premier League. But is it something to worry about long term? Roberto Mancini has claimed that it is "stupid" to suggest that English clubs are struggling in Europe's premier competition.

Gary Neville backs up the notion that the game goes in cycles and we should expect an upturn soon, per the Daily Mail:

"It works in cycles. You cannot always be at the top. Maybe we are having a period where we are in a little bit of a dip. But it may change around completely next year or the year after."

This might happen next year, it might happen in five years. But now English clubs are starting to gravitate towards the continental approach. 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 are the prominent systems used in England now. Clearly with the success that Barcelona and Real Madrid have had using these formations at the forefront of various managers thinking.

But for the time being, the English sides are still playing catch up. Going forward there looks to be two options. Either continue to tailor their games to be more suitable to the current Champions League landscape. Or ply their trade in the Premier League as normal until the next favourable “cycle” comes around.

The side that strikes the blend between Premier League and Champions League playing style may well be the team that sets us off on a new cycle, such is the influence the English league still has in Europe. 

But until then, quarterfinal lineups without English sides might come around more than every 16 years.

What do you think? Is the omission of English sides in the stages of the Champions League set to be a long-term? Or can we expect the Premier League sides to come roaring back next season?

Let me know in the comments section or on Twitter @MattJFootball