Only Chelsea have a Champions League chance and that's not good enough
Friday 27 February 2015 16:19, UK
After a miserable week for Premier League clubs in Europe, Jamie Carragher is talking tough.
Fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville declared English clubs "back at square one" in mounting a continental challenge after seeing Liverpool and Tottenham crash out of the Europa League just days after Champions League humblings for Manchester City and Arsenal.
Carragher reckons the cash-rich Premier League is falling unacceptably short - and believes the likes of Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini are paying the price for defensive "naivety"...
The Premier League just hasn't put its stamp on Europe over the last few seasons. Our record in the Europa League, especially, is really poor.
We make a fuss about playing on a Thursday and then a Sunday and, yes, the Premier League is more demanding but the sides we're playing have to, in general, cope with Thursday-Sunday fixtures, too.
For all the money that's in the Premier League, we've got to improve.
I still believe we've got the most exciting league to watch - that's what generates the money and interest from all around the world - but in terms of quality, we're not the best and it needs to change.
The financial advantage most of our clubs have over teams in Europe should be reflected in European competitions but it isn't.
Put simply, I don't think our clubs - when they play against the top teams in Europe - are good enough defensively.
Look at Monaco. They were written off before the tie but look how organised they were, how difficult they were to break down.
If you want to do well in European competitions, you've got to be good defensively. One bad night at the back over a two-legged tie and you're out.
It'll be very tough now for Manchester City and Arsenal to qualify. City are playing against the absolute elite but Arsenal weren't and they still came unstuck.
Monaco delivered a proper away performance in an away leg in Europe. The two banks of four, as I said on the night, were tight and compact and forced Arsenal to play forward and sideways.
City, meanwhile, were so naive to play the same way - and lose the same way - against Barcelona after last year's defeat at this stage.
I get they're a 4-4-2 team - and good luck to Manuel Pellegrini playing that way - but I did find it strange the way they set up and then got found out again.
Liverpool beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp playing 4-4-2 but, unlike City's strikers, we had Dirk Kuyt who dropped back into midfield, while Steven Gerrard and John Arne Riise kept that area compact.
In a nutshell, in terms of tactics and defensive organisation, we're coming up short.
Chelsea only real contenders
Gary Neville reckons Premier League clubs are going backwards in Europe and that's obvious - just look at our clubs' recent records.
You go back a few years and we had a good spell. I think back to the time I was playing; you had Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea - I think we all felt we had a chance of winning the Champions League.
This season - and right at the start of the competition, not just now - I'd only really say that Chelsea had a realistic chance of doing well.
I don't even think they're one of the best teams, given you've got Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Chelsea can win it - there's no doubt about that - but the fact that only one of our clubs has got a realistic chance is just not good enough.
