The flaws in Forest highlight divide
Glenn Moore finds little to encourage English clubs after a torrid campaign
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Your support makes all the difference.It was hard to be positive in the wake of Nottingham Forest's 5-1 drubbing by Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, which equalled the worst home defeat by a British club in Europe.
True, Forest did dominate the opening half-hour and, as Frank Clark, their manager, said, had they scored then the end result may have been different. In addition, as Clark added, the defeat should not detract from a spirited and brave European campaign. "I'm still proud of my players and, when they reflect in the morning, so will they be," Clark said.
Yet they will also reflect that the gulf between English and European football continues to stretch into an abyss. It is not as if Bayern are that good; they have some great players - notably Jurgen Klinsmann - but in Germany they still trail a Borussia Dortmund side which has been well beaten at home by both Ajax and Juventus in the Champions' League.
Yesterday Savo Milosevic, explaining away his lack of goals for Aston Villa this season, said: "The English league is the best in the world, so 12 goals is not too bad." If he really believes that one fears for him if he went to Italy. In 32 matches in Europe English clubs scored 27 goals. Alan Shearer and Robbie Fowler, so deadly at home, managed one goal in 10 matches. So it is hard enough for the top strikers; what chance Forest, with their motley collection of forwards. Even their best striker, and the outstanding player while the Bayern tie was "alive", is Dutch.
Curiously the only previous 5-1 home defeat was also inflicted on Nottingham Forest when they were beaten 5-1 by Valencia in 1961.
At that time English clubs had yet to land a European trophy. They went on to lift 24 trophies, more than any other country (Italy, with 22, is second), but only two of those have come in the five full seasons since the Heysel ban was lifted (Italy has six). More tellingly, there has been no semi-finalist, post-Heysel, in the Champions' Cup, which tests the best, or the Uefa Cup, which reflects strength in depth.
At least Forest went out to a good side, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United each lost to clubs on the second tier of European football. The exception, Leeds, lost heavily to a resurgent PSV Eindhoven.
PSV were knocked out on Tuesday, by Barcelona, but the biggest surprise was Bordeaux's win over Milan. Apart from raising the profile of the Intertoto Cup, from which Bordeaux qualified, it asked questions about Italian football.
The inquests there will be extensive. For the first time in eight seasons there will not be an Italian club in the Uefa Cup final. Crisis for strike- bound Calcio? Not yet: they are still represented in Europe.
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