Why are English teams failing in Champions League?

Jose Mourinho won't be in the Champions League semi-finals this year

Chelsea's shock elimination from the Champions League this week has sparked debate over the failure of English clubs this season.

With Liverpool gone at the group stage, Manchester City and Arsenal on the verge of elimination from the last 16, and now Chelsea out, it has been a hugely disappointing campaign.

It comes on the back of some poor results in recent seasons.

Chelsea won the competition in 2012 - although the general feeling was that they had mugged a grossly superior Bayern Munich team in the final.

Roberto Di Matteo's side were the sole Premier League team to reach quarter-finals in that season.

A year later, there was no English team in the last eight as Bayern deservedly gained their victory in an all-German final at Wembley.

Last season, Manchester United managed to join Chelsea in the quarters but were knocked out by Pep Guardiola's Bayern.

Now we face the potential of having no English representation after the first knockout stage for the second time in three years.

High-profile pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville took aim at the under-performing Premier League clubs this week - criticising the poor performances in Europe.

With Champions League medals in their pockets, both former players are quite entitled to do so.

But what was missing was any solution to the problems, or the identification of what the problem is other than to suggest what we are seeing is "not good enough".

Premier League leaders Chelsea - as Jose Mourinho has suggested since Wednesday - have not become a bad team in Europe.

Arsenal, too, have been near faultless domestically since the turn of the year but suddenly found Monaco too good for them in the Champions League.

Manchester City's squad is jammed full of world-class players, assembled at massive cost, and yet they regularly fail to perform in Europe.

We know from what we watch week in, week out that these clubs possess very talented squads that should be capable of mixing it any environment. So why the repeated failures?

In the case of Arsenal and Chelsea it is hard to apportion their shortcomings to anything bar complacency.

With Paris Saint-Germain down to 10 men at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea players appeared to feel the game was up for the Ligue 1 side.

Without their talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there seemed to an assumption PSG would surrender to Chelsea's will without a fight.

Chelsea's tempo throughout much of the contest was pedestrian at best.

In this environment, the knockout stages of Europe's elite competition, that attitude is destined to be punished - just ask Arsene Wenger.

Being paired with his former side Monaco in the last 16 was - we were repeatedly told - the best draw Arsenal could have got.

That the French side could knock the Gunners out never appeared to be on the agenda.

When the first leg began at the Emirates it appeared to be a belief that was justified. Arsenal tormented their opponents, easily piercing holes in the Monaco backline and were apparently set to score as they pleased. That lasted for all of around 10 minutes.

Following a bright start. Arsenal, like Chelsea, became lethargic. The urgency dropped and the slow, square passing emerged. You might argue that Monaco frustrated Arsenal, except they didn't need to - Arsenal frustrated themselves.

The hype with the 'race for the top four' that brings with it qualification for the Champions League seems to have resulted in some Premier League teams treating the competition itself with contempt.

So much emphasis is placed on getting there that they forget to perform when they do. It is a stance that has seeped right through Premier League clubs and up into the stands.

Compare the atmosphere at the Emirates or Stamford Bridge with that in either leg of the last-16 clash between Juventus and Dortmund.

Both games between the Serie A and Bundesliga sides will be played in raucous, atmospheric stadiums packed with fans demanding high-tempo, attacking intent from start to finish.

The air of quiet expectancy that permeates in London will be missing. English teams have the talent to succeed in Europe but the attitude needs to be refined a little.