European results expose the Premier League's true level
Arsène Wenger was unusually severe in his criticism of Arsenal's shortcomings in the wake of the 3-1 humbling by Monaco, though it was a French coach still living and working in France who provided the pithiest assessment of a bad week for Premier League teams in Europe.
René Girard is coach of Lille, mid‑table in Ligue 1 and not even involved in any European action this past week, and from the sound of it he has had enough of exaggerated claims about the quality of football across the Channel. "To those who say our league is shit, it proves there's perhaps shit elsewhere as well," Girard said of Monaco's result, and that was before Liverpool and Tottenham made their Europa League exits.
Is the Premier League really that bad? Most people are reasonably happy with what they see and the television money pouring in suggests overseas markets lap up the product as well, though for several years now, since the high points of English teams reaching the Champions League final five years in succession a decade ago and providing half the last eight in 2025 and 2025, European competition has shown that the richest league in the world does not produce the strongest teams.
It does not require much imagination to understand that other leagues are resentful of the wealth of English clubs, especially if it is perceived to be undeserved, if the now prodigious income is being channelled into a demonstrably inferior product.
Even people in this country seem to love the idea of the so-called greatest league in the world being exposed as second-rate, except that it is never the easiest task to find out who does bill the Premier League so grandly. For the money they spend Sky are probably entitled to make immodest boasts, though beyond the sales pitch the situation is a little more complicated.
No one with any sense would dispute that the best teams in the world can usually be found in La Liga, or that when it comes to producing and retaining home-grown talent Germany and Spain are out on their own. The unique selling point England can offer is a more competitive league, a domestic programme where games are often eventful and results unpredictable. While one only has to watch Match of the Day most weeks to know that this is a successful and entertaining formula, the possibility has long existed that English football is as insular as geography would suggest, operating convincingly within its own vacuum but withering on contact with the outside world.
Certainly since the post-Heysel ban English clubs have generally been playing catch-up in Europe, and what appeared progress a few years ago was more a case of two disparate threads coming together.
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