Premier League is the problem, not England

It was not a tactical problem, it wasn’t poor leadership or a lack of unity. According to Fabio Capello, England’s early exit from the World Cup came down to one crippling factor: fatigue.

“I think all the England players are really tired at this competition.” That was the only excuse from the Italian manager the day after the 4-1 defeat to Germany; for Capello, the blame lies squarely at the Premier League’s feet. The theory is that the proliferation of games at the end of the season, in addition to the fact that Premier League clubs have two cups to compete in during the year as well as possible European duties, inevitably leads to physical and mental burnout.

This is nothing new. Sven-Goran Eriksson spent all five of his years as England manager campaigning for a winter break. At the very least, he wanted to put the Premier League on an even keel with La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

On the evidence of South Africa 2010, Sven and Fabio are absolutely right. There are more players who ply their trade in England at the World Cup than from any other country; of 736 registered players, 117 are attached to English clubs:

ENGLAND:    117 (16.05%)
GERMANY:    84 (11.42%)
ITALY:         80 (10.88%)
SPAIN:        59 (8.02%)
FRANCE:      45 (6.12%)

Yet, if you look at the players who have shone in South Africa, how many of them are from the Premier League?

Carlos Tevez is, perhaps, the one major exception. The bulldog-like approach of the Manchester City forward has proved just as effective for Argentina at this tournament as it does in the Premier League. Tevez, who is said not to train properly during the week to conserve his energy, is a special case; he could probably play one hundred matches a season without showing any signs of fatigue. He is, incidentally, the only Premier League player (apart from Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez, who is yet to kick a ball for the Red Devils) to have scored more than one goal at this World Cup.

The Three Lions underperformed to a man. Next to England, only Italy and France can claim to have had just as disappointing a stay in South Africa. All of the Italian players in Marcelo Lippi’s final 23-man squad play in Serie A and their lack of success points to a general decline in the standard of their domestic league. Poor selection by the national coach and the fact that the treble winning Inter Milan side are not represented in the squad are also partly to blame for their shortfalls.

France, on the other hand, relies on foreign clubs for the majority of its players and a large percentage of them play in England’s top flight. Nicolas Anelka, William Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Patrice Evra, Florent Malouda, Abou Diaby and Gael Clichy made up the Premier League contingent and all of them failed to make an impact in Group A.

The Premier League’s top scorer, Didier Drogba, went into the World Cup with fitness problems relating to a broken arm, but even when he was fit he failed to show the same form we see week in week out for Chelsea, and the Ivory Coast failed to progress to the knockout stages.

Spain is enjoying an excellent run in the competition after an early setback against Switzerland, but which player has drawn the most criticism for his performances in the Spanish press? Liverpool star Fernando Torres, that’s who, as he looks a shadow of the man we see at club level due to a lack of sharpness. Cesc Fabregas is not being criticised too much because he has hardly played for Spain so far, which suggests that he is also physically drained.

In La Liga, they have a two week winter break at the end of December and the League Cup in Spain was abolished nearly a decade ago, which took a load off the hectic schedule. La Liga is the Premier League’s major rival for the claim to be Europe’s best domestic competition. If we look at the top scorer charts for the 2009-10 season, an obvious imbalance emerges:

Didier Drogba              Lionel Messi
Wayne Rooney            Gonzalo Higuain
Darren Bent                Cristiano Ronaldo
Carlos Tevez             David Villa
Frank Lampard            Diego Forlan
Fernando Torres        Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Jermain Defoe             Roberto Soldado
Cesc Fabregas           Luis Fabiano
Emmanuel Adebayor     Fernando Llorente

Of the nine top scorers in the Premier League, three are competing in the quarter-finals in South Africa, and only one of them has had what we would call a “good” World Cup. In La Liga, six of the top nine are still present and all six of those have been leaders for their countries, with the exception of Fernando Llorente, although his introduction against Portugal on Tuesday was cited as the moment the balance shifted in Spain’s favour.

Germany is the other squad of 23 (next to England and Italy) with exclusively domestic representation. Needless to say, they have been excellent so far in this tournament and their young team has even exceeded expectations.

Maybe it is time for the FA to look beyond the manager and finally get to the root of the problem with regards the failure of the England team.

If the trend of underperforming Premier League players continues, England will become an increasingly unattractive proposition for top class international professionals. While a drastic exodus is not likely, more players could follow Robinho’s route. It appears the Brazilian star, who has been in great form for Brazil in this World Cup, got out just in time when he left Manchester City for Santos on loan in January.