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UEFA nations league 20/21


Terry Munro

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5 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

The last time we played Czech Rep in a competitive match was 9 years ago. Some of our players were barely out of primary school. The only player from that game still in our squad is Naismith.

 

I must have dreamt about being in Prague in Easter 2016 then,

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4 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

i don't know what you dream about, but were you half asleep when you read my post and missed the "competitive" bit? ;)

So they only count in terms of experience if its a competitive game?

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5 minutes ago, aaid said:

So when should a manager have an opportunity to try out new players and/or systems?

Any time he wants. He's the manager, he decides. We had five games at the end of our last campaign when he could have tried anything that he wanted to. 

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1 minute ago, Orraloon said:

Any time he wants. He's the manager, he decides. We had five games at the end of our last campaign when he could have tried anything that he wanted to. 

There are so few games in international football - compared to club football - what manager is going to take chances and build for the future when his job is dependent entirely on results in the present.

It's entirely short-sighted.

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16 minutes ago, aaid said:

So when should a manager have an opportunity to try out new players and/or systems?

In training, or in a ‘bounce match’ behind closed doors, against a youth team or lower league team.

International friendlies are of no greater value than what I’ve described above. The opponents are also experimenting, there are so many pull-outs and so many substitutions, it’s a totally irrelevant exercise that doesn’t merit any place in a football calendar which is far too crowded already. 

I think that we should be more than happy that we have ended up with the Nations League to replace international friendlies. The top club sides have more than enough power to just have international friendlies wiped out with no replacement. The Nations League is an excellent way to solve the problem. 

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2 minutes ago, dohadeer said:

In training, or in a ‘bounce match’ behind closed doors, against a youth team or lower league team.

International friendlies are of no greater value than what I’ve described above. The opponents are also experimenting, there are so many pull-outs and so many substitutions, it’s a totally irrelevant exercise that doesn’t merit any place in a football calendar which is far too crowded already. 

I think that we should be more than happy that we have ended up with the Nations League to replace international friendlies. The top club sides have more than enough power to just have international friendlies wiped out with no replacement. The Nations League is an excellent way to solve the problem. 

The whole thing is set up to get more games on TV and to let UEFA control the rights for that, its as simple and as straightforward as that, nothing else counts.

We're not talking about whether someone is capable of playing football or not, the fact they are being considered for the national team suggests that they are at least able to kick the ball and run about.  This isn't some con-man trying pretending to be George Weah's cousin to get a trial.

What on earth do you think would be achieved by playing bounce games against youth sides and where - in an already overcrowded schedule - would you find the time to do that?

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8 minutes ago, aaid said:

The whole thing is set up to get more games on TV and to let UEFA control the rights for that, its as simple and as straightforward as that, nothing else counts.

We're not talking about whether someone is capable of playing football or not, the fact they are being considered for the national team suggests that they are at least able to kick the ball and run about.  This isn't some con-man trying pretending to be George Weah's cousin to get a trial.

What on earth do you think would be achieved by playing bounce games against youth sides and where - in an already overcrowded schedule - would you find the time to do that?

I think the exact same would be achieved that would be achieved by international friendlies. Whatever you think is achieved in an international friendly, I think we could achieve that in training or in a match against a lower league or youth team.

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3 minutes ago, dohadeer said:

I think the exact same would be achieved that would be achieved by international friendlies. Whatever you think is achieved in an international friendly, I think we could achieve that in training or in a match against a lower league or youth team.

mince

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1 minute ago, Dalgety Bay TA said:

Playing teams of our own level in competitive games is good for us IMO. Getting dicked home and away by the likes of Belgium is very dispiriting. 

Unfortunately, in the competitions which really matter we have to play the likes of Belgium and well as the San Marinos and Gibraltars of Europe.

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4 minutes ago, aaid said:

Unfortunately, in the competitions which really matter we have to play the likes of Belgium and well as the San Marinos and Gibraltars of Europe.

True. But we have more chance of getting to Euro 2020 via the Nations League, beating teams of round about our level, than we did in a group containing the best team in the world and Russia. I would rather be dicked by Belgium at the finals of a major tournament than in the qualifiers.

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21 minutes ago, Dalgety Bay TA said:

True. But we have more chance of getting to Euro 2020 via the Nations League, beating teams of round about our level, than we did in a group containing the best team in the world and Russia. I would rather be dicked by Belgium at the finals of a major tournament than in the qualifiers.

What's the point of  being in the finals if you don't deserve to be there?  Qualifying should be an achievement itself and should  mean you are one of the best 32 teams in the World or 24 teams in Europe.

i can remember when we'd be embarrassed to be involved in something like this.

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3 hours ago, aaid said:

What's the point of  being in the finals if you don't deserve to be there?  Qualifying should be an achievement itself and should  mean you are one of the best 32 teams in the World or 24 teams in Europe.

i can remember when we'd be embarrassed to be involved in something like this.

Well hosts have been there before without qualifying at all.   They just bought their places.

The play-off final (should we get that far) looks as tough as the three first round games we would get.   I'm including Wembley, as we usually give a good account of ourselves.

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6 hours ago, aaid said:

What's the point of  being in the finals if you don't deserve to be there?  Qualifying should be an achievement itself and should  mean you are one of the best 32 teams in the World or 24 teams in Europe.

i can remember when we'd be embarrassed to be involved in something like this.

The World Cup isn’t the best 32 teams in the World, as qualification is split up geographically. They’d have to make qualification intercontinental if they wanted to achieve getting the best 32 teams in the World in the finals. That’s not their main aim anyway.

I agree with you on the European Championship though, and I think that you’re the first person on here who has shared my opinion on that. I don’t want qualification for the sake of qualifying, I want us to qualify when we can go there and hold our own as one of the best 24 teams in Europe. 
 

I don’t think that there’s any time in the football calendar for international friendlies though, and they had become a complete farce in the end. Excluding major tournaments, there are only 10 international dates per year. That doesn’t allow time for any friendlies. Friendlies were such a pointless exercise, what can a manager possibly achieve or learn, when they’re having to select a team dependent on who bothers to turn up that week. Players who were playing regularly for their clubs - quite rightly I’d say - saw international friendlies as a chance for some rest. I honestly don’t see what could be learned from an international friendly that can’t be learned in training. Also, every team is in the same boat. It’s not like other teams have friendlies to try things out and we’re the only team that doesn’t.

The Nations League has a lot of improving to do, in terms of the way that it links with qualification to the major tournaments, but it’s a huge step in the right direction from what went before it.

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