| Nations League 08:17 - Jun 15 with 1682 views | Butterbing |
There seems to be many comments on here saying England were playing end of season friendlies. They were actually competitive matches. The tournament was brought in to replace meaningless friendlies. We just don’t seem to take it seriously.
Do we need to play these matches? Are qualification games against lower ranked teams enough? Do we need to test ourselves against equally ranked teams in years outside of major tournaments?
Lots of criticism on here but what is the alternative to this tournament? Back to friendlies or just not play any matches outside of WC and Euros (inc. qualification)? |  | | |  |
| Nations League on 08:25 - Jun 15 with 1632 views | N2_Blue |
We are taking them seriously. But because we have been crap and are bottom of the group the excuses come out that England are tired, fatigued and not bothered. These players only have another 2 international games before the world cup so you can guarantee they are definitely trying. Many who are playing in these games are not guaranteed a world cup place.
The fact is we aren't in form, playing terribly and have players stifled under a negative manager.
Southgate has done incredibly well in his term, but things seem to be catching up with him now and he is really struggling to get the best out of the players he has at his disposal, experimenting or not.
Plus we have real issues upfront. Kane looks awful for England and he seems to struggle playing without Son at spurs. Trouble is no one is exactly stepping up and saying pick me. |  |
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| Nations League on 08:30 - Jun 15 with 1610 views | Butterbing |
| Nations League on 08:25 - Jun 15 by N2_Blue |
We are taking them seriously. But because we have been crap and are bottom of the group the excuses come out that England are tired, fatigued and not bothered. These players only have another 2 international games before the world cup so you can guarantee they are definitely trying. Many who are playing in these games are not guaranteed a world cup place.
The fact is we aren't in form, playing terribly and have players stifled under a negative manager.
Southgate has done incredibly well in his term, but things seem to be catching up with him now and he is really struggling to get the best out of the players he has at his disposal, experimenting or not.
Plus we have real issues upfront. Kane looks awful for England and he seems to struggle playing without Son at spurs. Trouble is no one is exactly stepping up and saying pick me. |
Sorry to confuse, my use of “we” was meant to include fans, media and not just the team. I’m sure they took it seriously. However, Southgate did use the Hungary games to test younger players which suggests he didn’t highly value it. | | | |
| Nations League on 08:32 - Jun 15 with 1605 views | Radlett_blue |
The Nations' League was formed for 2 reasons. One was that even UEFA had realised how bored the public & the players were with friendly international matches. That's fair enough. So they created yet another competition, which is exactly what the crowded football calendar doesn't need, but this is all part of UEFA's ongoing battle with the big European clubs over control of the game and the players. We're now going to have an international tournament every summer (plus the nonsense of Qatar).
I would go back to a 16 team Euros & can just about stomach a 32 team World Cup, but these tedious, over-long summer finals continue to expand. We also don't need breaks for friendly internationals as the qualifiying process has also become so tortuous. |  |
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| Nations League on 08:37 - Jun 15 with 1571 views | Butterbing |
| Nations League on 08:32 - Jun 15 by Radlett_blue |
The Nations' League was formed for 2 reasons. One was that even UEFA had realised how bored the public & the players were with friendly international matches. That's fair enough. So they created yet another competition, which is exactly what the crowded football calendar doesn't need, but this is all part of UEFA's ongoing battle with the big European clubs over control of the game and the players. We're now going to have an international tournament every summer (plus the nonsense of Qatar).
I would go back to a 16 team Euros & can just about stomach a 32 team World Cup, but these tedious, over-long summer finals continue to expand. We also don't need breaks for friendly internationals as the qualifiying process has also become so tortuous. |
The qualification games are too easy for the bigger nations. The other reason for the Nations League was to get the big match ups outside of WC and Euros that weren’t just friendlies.
I guess the schedule for it has been screwed by the Nov world cup and by Covid. Maybe it will make more sense in future years. | | | |
| Nations League on 08:49 - Jun 15 with 1532 views | Churchman |
| Nations League on 08:25 - Jun 15 by N2_Blue |
We are taking them seriously. But because we have been crap and are bottom of the group the excuses come out that England are tired, fatigued and not bothered. These players only have another 2 international games before the world cup so you can guarantee they are definitely trying. Many who are playing in these games are not guaranteed a world cup place.
The fact is we aren't in form, playing terribly and have players stifled under a negative manager.
Southgate has done incredibly well in his term, but things seem to be catching up with him now and he is really struggling to get the best out of the players he has at his disposal, experimenting or not.
Plus we have real issues upfront. Kane looks awful for England and he seems to struggle playing without Son at spurs. Trouble is no one is exactly stepping up and saying pick me. |
I don’t think these games are taken seriously. Domestic football is where it’s at. International football can boost pay packets but I suspect that for some of the players that’s about it. The players do look fatigued and I bet at least some of those players are thinking Ayia Napa while Southgate dribbles on. This is no excuse - every country has had a long season. It’s just that foreign players tend to be brighter, look after themselves better and have more pride in their national team.
I agree re Southgate. Half decent footballer, bang average club manager, poor international manager. I don’t think he’s up to much. Got lucky in the draw in a couple of tournaments, one of which was at home, until he came up against a good side and was taken to the cleaners. The trouble is, there isn’t anyone to replace him.
England have been very reliant on Kane who now looks old for his age. It happens. Peter Osgood was washed up at 28. Aside from genetics he’s had bad injuries over the years. Shame there’s nobody to replace him, but then you have to look at the domestic game for that.
We don’t even have a decent keeper. Pickford might be a ‘character’ and a decent shop stopper but aside from excelling at chewing the ends of his gloves and looking anguished, he’s not great. |  | | |
| Nations League on 08:51 - Jun 15 with 1531 views | Guthrum |
| Nations League on 08:37 - Jun 15 by Butterbing |
The qualification games are too easy for the bigger nations. The other reason for the Nations League was to get the big match ups outside of WC and Euros that weren’t just friendlies.
I guess the schedule for it has been screwed by the Nov world cup and by Covid. Maybe it will make more sense in future years. |
That was the point I was going to make. People might be more interested in the Nations Cup if there were fewer of the more pointless qualifiers for the major tournaments (e.g. England - San Marino).
Plus this competition does not have any weight of history or prestige behind it.
Might perhaps be better if they made it a development league, e.g. only a certain number of over-21 players allowed in each squad. |  |
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| Nations League on 09:47 - Jun 15 with 1404 views | Radlett_blue |
| Nations League on 08:51 - Jun 15 by Guthrum |
That was the point I was going to make. People might be more interested in the Nations Cup if there were fewer of the more pointless qualifiers for the major tournaments (e.g. England - San Marino).
Plus this competition does not have any weight of history or prestige behind it.
Might perhaps be better if they made it a development league, e.g. only a certain number of over-21 players allowed in each squad. |
Agreed that far too many qualification games are pointless fixtures versus San Marino etc. However, UEFA (for the usual reason - votes) are hell-bent on admitting more "nations" e.g. Gibraltar, Faroe Islands. The process has become far worse with the bloated finals, which means that the big countries are almost certain to qualify - although Italy have now failed to qualify for the last 2 World Cups, despite winning the Euros. There is almost no chance of FIFA or UEFA reducing the number of teams at the finals. | |
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| Nations League on 09:56 - Jun 15 with 1394 views | itfcjoe |
I really like the Nations League and thought when it was played last time it was a breath of fresh air - but there is just no way it should have been taking place now - the scheduling has been awful and simply no need for international football now.
Since football came back after Covid it has been absolutely relentless - we've sacrificed about 5 games (CL semis 2 seasons ago and FA Cup replays this season) but everything else has been crammed in.
The top players since football returned properly in September 2020 have played a compressed season with 4 weeks less than usual, straight into a Euros, straight back into a season, now a couple of weeks break for those who went to CL Final, to this, to a couple of weeks of to then a new season and then after 3 months of that a WC then straight back to it
I love watching England, and even I've found these games too much - they seem unnecessary.
There's been some other teams badly struggling - Europe's 2 best teams are probably England and France and look at our results in the last couple of weeks. Belgium got done 4-0 at home to Holland, Germany beat Italy 5-1, Croatia got tonked by Austria.
People will go on and on about Southgate but he's done a fantastic job compared to every other international manager other the last 5 years.
They'll say we'll fail in Qatar with him and guess what, they'll probably be right - because unless we win it and bookies odds on that are about 8-9/1 which is about 10%. If we get to the final and lose it will be because we'll never win with him because he's not good tactically, if we lose in the semis it will be the same plus accusations of nearly men, if we lose in quarters it will be because we've had an easy group.
A certain type of England fan is not prepared to give anyway leeway, and lacks any understanding of what tournament football is like - how many times blast their way to a final? We don't have good enough defensive players to attack games like some seem to want |  |
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| Nations League on 10:39 - Jun 15 with 1305 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| Nations League on 09:56 - Jun 15 by itfcjoe |
I really like the Nations League and thought when it was played last time it was a breath of fresh air - but there is just no way it should have been taking place now - the scheduling has been awful and simply no need for international football now.
Since football came back after Covid it has been absolutely relentless - we've sacrificed about 5 games (CL semis 2 seasons ago and FA Cup replays this season) but everything else has been crammed in.
The top players since football returned properly in September 2020 have played a compressed season with 4 weeks less than usual, straight into a Euros, straight back into a season, now a couple of weeks break for those who went to CL Final, to this, to a couple of weeks of to then a new season and then after 3 months of that a WC then straight back to it
I love watching England, and even I've found these games too much - they seem unnecessary.
There's been some other teams badly struggling - Europe's 2 best teams are probably England and France and look at our results in the last couple of weeks. Belgium got done 4-0 at home to Holland, Germany beat Italy 5-1, Croatia got tonked by Austria.
People will go on and on about Southgate but he's done a fantastic job compared to every other international manager other the last 5 years.
They'll say we'll fail in Qatar with him and guess what, they'll probably be right - because unless we win it and bookies odds on that are about 8-9/1 which is about 10%. If we get to the final and lose it will be because we'll never win with him because he's not good tactically, if we lose in the semis it will be the same plus accusations of nearly men, if we lose in quarters it will be because we've had an easy group.
A certain type of England fan is not prepared to give anyway leeway, and lacks any understanding of what tournament football is like - how many times blast their way to a final? We don't have good enough defensive players to attack games like some seem to want |
Agree with all of this.
Seems many England fans would rather see us fail than see Southgate win anything. |  |
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| Nations League on 13:44 - Jun 15 with 1152 views | Guthrum |
| Nations League on 09:47 - Jun 15 by Radlett_blue |
Agreed that far too many qualification games are pointless fixtures versus San Marino etc. However, UEFA (for the usual reason - votes) are hell-bent on admitting more "nations" e.g. Gibraltar, Faroe Islands. The process has become far worse with the bloated finals, which means that the big countries are almost certain to qualify - although Italy have now failed to qualify for the last 2 World Cups, despite winning the Euros. There is almost no chance of FIFA or UEFA reducing the number of teams at the finals. |
Ought to be a two-stage qualification, IMO. A preliminary tournament for the "lesser" footballing nations (e.g. San Marino, Andorra, Gibraltar, the Faroes), with the top maybe two or three going through into a main qualifier, which would then be a much smaller competition.
Would give those smaller countries a chance to play genuinely competitive matches and win sometimes rather than being thrashed by huge scorelines. Then, if someone like Iceland becomes consistently good, they can be promoted to the upper division (and someone else relegated the other way). | |
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| Nations League on 19:26 - Jun 15 with 992 views | Radlett_blue |
| Nations League on 13:44 - Jun 15 by Guthrum |
Ought to be a two-stage qualification, IMO. A preliminary tournament for the "lesser" footballing nations (e.g. San Marino, Andorra, Gibraltar, the Faroes), with the top maybe two or three going through into a main qualifier, which would then be a much smaller competition.
Would give those smaller countries a chance to play genuinely competitive matches and win sometimes rather than being thrashed by huge scorelines. Then, if someone like Iceland becomes consistently good, they can be promoted to the upper division (and someone else relegated the other way). |
I get your reasoning but games between the minnows would be big money losers, while the absurdity of UEFA & FIFA is that the Faroe Islands get one vote, as do England, Germany & Brazil. | |
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