UCL Preview: Kane v Bellingham, Kylian's parting gift and the most heavyweight of battles
The UEFA Champions League is the gift that keeps giving for football fans: few major tournaments in any sport can claim to so consistently…
The Leicester City story is one of determination, passion and commitment, but their success has come at the expense of England’s biggest clubs.
Neither Leicester nor Tottenham, the current top two, finished in last season’s top four.
Reigning champions Chelsea are having the season from hell, languishing in mid-table, Manchester United have had problems for some time now, Arsenal seem to find new ways of bottling their title challenge, and Manchester City just gave up after the news of Pep Guardiola’s appointment next season, winning two of their last seven games.
Is this a turning point for the English game? Do the Premier League’s top managers need to be replaced to prolong English dominance in Europe?
City seem lucky to have possibly the best manager in the game today, Guardiola, set to take the helm.
The expected departure of Louis van Gaal makes way for former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho in the red half of Manchester. Chelsea again needs a new manager, and Antonio Conte seems a suitable replacement, having won three Serie A titles with Juventus, as well as announcing his retirement from Italy national coach after the Euros.
With the arrival of such quality in management, could the English game’s dominance return?
An English team has not won the Champions League since 2012, when Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich on penalties.
If you want to win the league and perform well in Europe, you need a manager who knows how to go the distance. Guardiola has won two Champions League trophies with Barcelona, while ‘The Special One’, Mourinho, boasts two Champions League titles as well, with Porto and Inter Milan.
Van Gaal, while successful with the Dutch national team, was unproven in the English Premier League and couldn’t handle the task of Europe, crashing out of the Champions League and Europa League this season.
Quality managers such as Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte could prove vital for the survival of the English game on the continent.