Qatar Tango - Wales Watch

It’s a difficult one to ponder. If he’s not 100% fit he should not play. City need him fit for the final push

 

Reckon we (City) should do a Warnock when Gunnarsson recovering from injury at the time and not playing for City was called up by Iceland for international duty.

He warned them in no uncertain terms that if he was cajoled into playing and it aggravated it, they'd have to pay his wages for the rest of the season.

 

Cymru am Byth
Blooooooobirds
Rum

 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/wales-boss-rob-page-hits-28855656.amp

Page and Bulut having a bit of handbags here.

Personally my loyalty lies with my club before any international team involvement whether that be Wales, Ireland or any other country.

What Page says here makes sense but it is from his point of view. It would be interesting what Bulut thinks of his comments.

As far as Ramsey is concerned he is not match fit. He was blowing when he came on Saturday and if I was Siopis I’d have been a bit annoyed to be substituted.

I’d be surprised to see Ramsey in the starting lineup tomorrow but, hey. what do I know?

 

Although others on here might take the opposite view, it's also club before country for me as well.

Spot on about Siopis too - he was not best pleased coming off and I don't blame him either - his replacement was a shadow of what he's been. Not blaming Rambo - it is what it is, but he was sent on more as a "trophy" offering given his obvious lack of fitness.

He's in the national squad for his presence amongst the players and I'd be amazed if he played any part at all on the pitch tomorrow night.

 

With you both on this.

Didn’t Bale play in the final game of the World Cup v Iran despite bring plainly injured?

 

I'm with the others.
Wales
Bluebirds
Rum

Cymru am Byth
Blooooooobirds
Hiccup

 

I'm reminded of all the discussions I used to have with our sadly departed and much missed friend The Prophet. We'd go round and round on the subject of club versus country.

To my idealist mind, club sport is fantastic in it's own right and should be a stepping stone to the main aim of representing your country. Rugby union and most other team sports work to that ethos. Yes, I know that clubs invest loads of money into players and if you argue on that basis, then probably comes first. However and again with my idealist head, it's another example of how money is ruining sport and football especially.

There we are. I'm probably just arguing to keep the memory of my good mate alive and kicking. I apologise for the self indulgence.

 

So right about Roy.

He could ask a question and answer himself in 3 different ways. He remains a great loss to this board.

 

So, question then....

Clearly hypothetically speaking, as neither is likely to happen in any of our lifetimes if ever, but given a choice would we prefer to see;

a) The Bluebirds win the Premier League title; or
b) Wales win the football World Cup?

To be honest (and this may just be the Spanish sun and Rioja talking) but I'd probably have to go for the Wales World Cup win, if only because it's been proven time and again that money can normally buy you the Premier League whereas International Football is (mostly) reliant on genuine teamwork rather than just "buying the best" and fitting them together.

As much as lots of other clubs fans decry Man City's "success" but they've just turbo charged what Liverpool, Man Utd and Blackburn did which is but their way to the league title.
Arsenal and Chelsea have been very similar and to my mind, Leicester have been pretty much the only exception in recent memory.

As much as it would be incredible to celebrate City winning the league, deep down I know most of it would have had to come down to spending a feck load of money, which for me would slightly taint the achievement, whereas a Wales World Cup win (or even the Euros to be honest) would feel much more joyous and "pure".

 

My feelings exactly. I just wish I could express them as eloquently as that.

Ps. Hope you're having a great time.

 

Excellent appraisal of the "real" world of club football there Brizzo. .

Whilst achieving either of those two ambitions is probably pie in the sky for City and Wales, but I'll just expand that scenario a little bit down to the next level.

Would you prefer Wales to reach the finals of the World Cup, or City to reach and play in the Premier League?

 

It's a difficult question to answer.
A bigger stage for a short time or a smaller stage for a longer time.

We'd struggle to compete having got there either way.

I'm proudly patriotic, more so after 36 years of living in Ingerlund.
However, I think Cardiff over Wales in this instance.

Ask the question about rugby and you'd get a different answer. Predominantly since the demise of the Celtic Warriors as I have no region to support.

 

C'mon Wales let's finish off the Finnish.

 

Having seen us in the top flight already (and being the grumpy git I am, believing that club football pretty much put itself into a spiral of greed in 1992 at that level) then I'd probably still take Wales in a World Cup final than another year or two in the Premier League TBH...

Don't get me wrong, I love our club but the older I get and the more we drift towards being like every other club in the land the less connected I feel to it.

Wales at the Euros in 2016 brought me as much joy as City reaching the FA Cup final and League Cup final - all things I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.
Both visits to the Prem brought some pride but I honestly think I enjoy the competitiveness of the Championship more and it may just be me, but I think the fans (generally) in the football league are more genuine and less plastic.

Fans of established Prem clubs have a tendency to act like spoilt toddlers when their team doesn't win (though that's even creeping into the lower leagues now too).

 

Well seeing as both have happened, for me it’s City playing in the PL.

Seeing Wales in the last WC finals was a massive anti climax whereas seeing City, whilst a lot of matches where the result was predictable, there were plenty of glory days to cherish.

 

Twice we've been there and twice I suffered along with many others, but I'd love to suffer it again. The highs may be few and far between but as a club history they stick longer in the memory than anything the national side has (or is likely) to produce.

The inequality experienced in both competitions is always evident and the ambition never dulled - it's just muted by the realism. Getting there is the first goal and I'd take a frantic season in the Championship with it's rollercoaster experiences every time to achieve it over a limited game group competition.

 

City every time for me, but there was something special about Wales in the Euros in 2016 that will never be repeated, even over our appearance in the World Cup last year. Our success in France was the culmination of work with youngsters begun by Toshack, the raw emotion of the sad loss of Gary Speed and the unique gelling of the Welsh fans with the Welsh team/squad led by Chris Coleman. Added to that the tournament in France was just across the channel, easily accessible by Welsh fans who by far and away contributed to a fantastic tournament, where we excelled by getting to the semis. Even if we make it to Germany and that's not a given, I don't think the 2016 experience will ever be repeated.

 

Just watching the faces of in particular Luton Town fans this season at their home games makes me yearn for one more crack at the PL.

Whether it’ll happen is an unknown but given we waited for many decades in the lower leagues to get back to the top flight it’ll just remain to be seen if we ever get back there.

As for Wales if they do qualify they’ll be playing Holland, Austria and France

 

Cmon Wales