It has been a truly remarkable season for English
football.
Before the club season even began, England’s national
team stunned many by making a deep World Cup run. Despite being one of the
youngest and least experienced teams in the tournament, the Three Lions made it
to the semifinals for the first time since 1990.
The Premier League saw extremely tight races for both the
league title and Champions League qualification spots. In the end, Manchester
City edged Liverpool to win the Premier League title by one point, while the
quartet of Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Manchester United were separated by
just six points; Chelsea and Tottenham claimed the Champions League spots.
English clubs’ excellence this season was also on full
display in the Europa League and Champions League.
Despite a turbulent season, Chelsea put their ongoing
woes behind them by beating London rivals Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League
final. A few days later, Liverpool clinched the most prestigious title in
European club football when they beat Tottenham 2-0 to win the Champions
League.
There might still be more to come. England are in the
semifinals of the UEFA Nations League and have a genuine chance to win it all.
On top of that, Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is the favourite to win the
Ballon d’Or. If the Dutchman were to win it, he would be the first defender to
do so since Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.
So just how has English football been so successful this
season?
The first factor that has to be looked at is the
coaching. Probably the two best coaches in world football today, Pep Guardiola
of Manchester City and Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool, are currently plying their
trade in England. Apart from this duo, the Premier League is also home to more
coaches who, while not necessarily elite, are certainly solid, above-average
coaches. The likes of Everton’s Marco Silva, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Nuno
Espirito Santo, Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino, and even the often-criticized
Maurizio Sarri of Chelsea fit into this category.
No other league has such a glut of high-level coaches.
These coaches’ knowledge, development of players, and tactical acumen have
helped their teams achieve results beyond what many would have expected,
whether domestically, in Europe, or both.
Another important contributor to English clubs’ success
this season was player improvement. Many of the Premier League’s best players
did not start the season as superstar-level players, but as the season
progressed, they either reached or approached such a status.
The two obvious examples of players who cracked the
highest tier this season are the Liverpool duo of van Dijk and Alisson. Prior
to this season, Mo Salah had been the Reds’ only genuine superstar. Now, he is
probably the third-best player on his own team.
Some of the other Premier League players who had breakout
campaigns this past season include Liverpool’s Sadio Mané and Trent
Alexander-Arnold, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva and Ederson, Tottenham’s Son
Heung-min, and Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette.
Even though it is difficult to predict which players will
next have a breakout season, it is extremely rare for so many players from the
same league to do so in the same season. This clearly contributed to the
Premier League’s exceptionally high standard of play this season.
As for international football, England have not had it
this good in decades.
Not only are the Three Lions in the final four of the
Nations League a year after their young squad reached the same stage of the
World Cup, but a new, exciting generation of English talent appears ready to
enter the fray.
Players such as Alexander-Arnold, Harry Winks, Ruben
Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Jadon Sancho appear to be full of promise
and are set to augment a squad already containing Raheem Sterling, John Stones,
Kieran Trippier, and of course, Harry Kane. If they can live up to the
expectations they have already created, England will certainly be among the
favourites to win the 2022 World Cup.
Based on what has taken place this season, it is
abundantly clear: after years of lagging behind its Spanish and German
counterparts, English football has re-established itself as the dominant force
in Europe. How long it will remain that way, however, is anyone’s guess.
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