Off Topic International Break Thread

Why do you think there are too many games? Top clubs have about 50% more players in their squad than they did 50 years ago when they played nearly the same number of games.
If the issue is damage to players then why not limit the number of minutes played in a season?

 

Indeed.

Have they ever supported a club whose season campaign
congestion meant they had FOUR league games in hand
on the rest of the league ...

 

When one of these 9th tier clubs gets to the F.A.Cup 1st Round and beyond, they finish up with 10 games in hand, playing four times a week in April. It must really mess up their season in the league .

 

Similar thing happened to us in 1982 ... got to league cup final, fa cup final, cup winners cup semi final and there was a bad winter which cleared a huge back log.

We ended the season playing 31 matches in the final 89 days including 10 in May, 9 in April and 9 in March. We never had longer than a 4 day break and had just 2 days on several occasions.

Killed our chances of winning the league.

 

Every manager moans about fixture congestion and how there is too many games? Are they all wrong?

 

Those aren't the only two options, though.

I'm sure that most managers would like one game a week, so that they could prepare fully for it.
Get the training right, practice set-pieces, tweak the tactics for their opponent and rest the players.
Should we cut it down to that extent?

The best managers at the wealthiest clubs have massive squads to deal with their fixture congestion.
Quite a lot of them still can't handle it and whine like bitches when they lose.
They fail to rotate, get injuries because of it and then blame the fixtures, rather than their own failure.

They have 25-man squads, plus some expensively assembled academy teams to pick from.
If they can't handle 60 games, some of which are close together, then they can quit.
Internationals can **** this up a bit, as you can't control what another manager will do with his players.
I see far too many top coaches failing to utilise their squad well, though.

 

Every champions league regular club seems to want less league and less club matches but seems happy with more CL games.

They do not think we play too many games ... they think they can get a lot more money if they play the same number of games but only in "their" competition.

European football was an enjoyable reward...nowadays domestic leagues and competitions are seen as a hindrance.

I genuinely hope they all go and leave us to enjoy football again.

 

For Spurs :

1982 : 42 league games + 8 UEFA games (to reach a final) = 50
2019 : 38 league games + 12 UEFA games (to reach a final) = 50

Therefore the number of games blurb is rubbish.

Notably, the FA Cup is a fixture pile-up, if enough top-flight teams
go out in earlier rounds (their league fixtures may be playable
on the weekend of ypur FA Cup tie) .

 

Kyerematen assisting Donley for the England U17s. Kyerematen is also captaining them. I read the other day Donley had scored a goal in each of his last 10 games for club and country so I presume this is now 11. Ridiculously good season for him so far.

 

Place your bets on Saudi Arabia getting drawn in a group with Brazil, Germany and Mexico...

 

please log in to view this image

Interesting. Ignore Ziyech for Chelsea and Bissouma for Brighton, though.

 

The most important question is whether Watford's players travel before or after January 1st

Oh who am I kidding, even if all five of their players do travel ahead of our NYD match with them, their keeper will likely score a hat trick

 

International squads are being announced, again. Great.

 

Controversial.

 

please log in to view this image

 

So we are still allowed an overage player then?

 

Just a reminder, but the next international break will be the third of the season

It's only November, FFS...

 

Fixtures for the latest ****ing break:

England: Albania (H) Friday 12th November 7.45pm, San Marino (A) Monday 15th November 7.45pm.
Scotland: Moldova (A) Friday 12th November 5pm, Denmark (H) Monday 15th November 7.45pm.
Wales: Belarus (H) Saturday 13th November 7.45pm, Belgium (H) Tuesday 16th November 7.45pm.
Northern Ireland: Lithuania (H) Friday 12th November 7.45pm, Italy (H) Monday 15th November 7.45pm.
Republic of Ireland: Portugal (H) Thursday 11th November 7.45pm, Luxembourg (A) Sunday 14th November 7.45pm.

All matches are World Cup qualifiers.

 

FFS indeed