Q: How bad has the English clubs' start to the Champions League group stage been?
A: Miserably bad - out of the first six matches, there were five defeats. That is a win ratio of 16 per cent.
Q: How does that compare with the other big countries in Europe?
A: The five Spanish teams had a 71 per cent win ratio with five wins and a draw from their first seven games; Germany, the only other country with at least four teams in the group stage had a 66 per cent win ratio with two defeats and for wins from six matches.
Q: People talk about the co-efficient being affected. What does that mean?
A: The co-efficient is the calculation that UEFA carries out to rank each country in terms of the success of its clubs over the past four seasons. The top three countries - Spain, Germany, England - have four clubs (with a fifth spot now available to the Europa League winner), the next three countries have three clubs in the group stage.
Q: Is there a real danger of England falling out of the top three?
A: There is if this run continues and Italian clubs out-perform the English in the Champions League and Europa League.
Q: Is the standard of football lower in England than in other countries then?
A: When you look at the quality of the players that are in the squads of the top four English clubs, you would say that on paper they are only just below Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. It is a problem of under-performance.
Q: What are the reasons for this under-performance in the Champions League in that case?
A: The most likely reason is that the physical demands of the Premier League are significantly greater for players than in other domestic leagues. Playing two high-intensity games in a week can be a real problem - that is probably the reason for Manchester City having excelled at the start of the Premier League but struggled as soon as the Champions League started.
Q: Anything else?
A: The style of football in the Champions League is probably more different for Premier League clubs to come to terms with than their continental rivals.
Q: Any easy answer to the problem?
A: Yes - buy Lionel Messi.
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