Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted January 4, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 We've been on a decent run of form over the festive period so expect us to be 2-0 up at half time and then go on to lose 3-2. West Ham. I hate West Ham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Teedy Kay Posted January 4, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 47 minutes ago, Ralphy said: Hopefully spurs can beat west ham tonight, if west ham get a win, or even a point, it could very costly to WBA's survival hopes. Arise Sir Harry Kane, please score many from now until the end of the world cup! (except for any game vs wba of course!) Christ Ralphy, if Albion are already looking for results from other clubs you're screwed! And I wanted two juicy Black Country derbys next year where we thumped you in both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 I would rather International Football was played at the end of the season for three weeks instead of all these international breaks. That way its more football and less disruption during the league season and something to look forward to at the end of the season when the games are close together. Also gives teams more time together in that short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted January 4, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 I don't think that'd work as that'd mean players getting less rest in the off season. Players come back from summer tournaments tired as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 2 hours ago, SpursRiot2012 said: I don't think that'd work as that'd mean players getting less rest in the off season. Players come back from summer tournaments tired as it is. But in theory the season would finish three weeks earlier wouldn't it? So they still get the same rest (if you could call it that) during the summer. Just less disruption during the football season. I think the nation would be more likely to get behind England for a few weeks as well. The only issue might be Wembley struggling to sell out if England have 3/4 home games in a short space of time, but then I prefer when they used to tour the country in different stadiums anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 4, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 5 hours ago, garynysmon said: What are these arguments? Surely you can't have World Cups and European Championships without having qualifiers in the first place? I personally couldn't care less if international football stopped existing. Sure, I watched the last World Cup and it was great but I wouldn't miss international football at all. There's always loads of football to watch from somewhere in the world, I'd make up for it. Of course I'm not suggesting that if we really must have international football that you can do these tournaments without a qualification system. It's more the way that qualification system is run. We'd had, what, 12 or 13 games in the Premier League this season and already had three international breaks. THREE. Yeah, you don't get to watch United for two weeks now because England are playing San Marino and Fuckheadistan (upvote for whoever gets that reference first). It's a pain in the arse. Just as the season is getting going, everything shuts down for a fortnight. Then at the other end of the season, just as everything is getting exciting again, oh we're going to have a break for....international friendlies! In a rare case of agreeing with @Briefcase, if we must have these qualifiers then I agree with playing them in a clump either at the end or the start of the season. It gets them all out of the way and would surely benefit the international teams who could create some semblance of continuity in their selections that they rarely otherwise get. I disagree with @SpursRiot2012 that it would lead to extra tiredness. It shouldn't. The season would be shortened by the disappearance of the, what, five or six international breaks, leaving time before or after the season for the internationals. I've heard it suggested that football should follow the rugby union model and just play domestic matches regardless of what players would be absent but I think it would be unworkable and probably extremely unfair on a lot of teams. I guess it could be a bit of an English malaise too. I don't see as much of the anti-internationals sentiment amongst the Welsh and the Scotch and so on, there just seems to be more of a connection to the national side in your neck of the woods than there is here. That may play a large part in it. Speaking as a United fan though, when I was a kid I loved following England. I went through bawling my eyes out in 1990 and flipping the fuck out in 1994, but then this weird thing starting happening where England fans were booing United players for playing for England. And then there was the Phil Neville and Beckham incidents, and Ronaldo in a different way, and I just thought this is bullshit. I stopped caring. I know it's almost become a bit of a stereotypically United sentiment to hate England and I'm not going to presume to speak for everyone who supports them but I just couldn't support these twats, or with these twats, anymore. But clearly it's spread to other clubs too. And it is noticeable that it tends to be fans of the so-called bigger clubs. Obviously @tiger_rick still gets very excited whenever England have a friendly against Malta and what-have-you but he's a Hull fan so obviously there's little joy in his life. I think there are a lot of factors at play, really, but while I admit that dumping international football will never happen and is an extremist suggestion, there are ways that it can be adjusted and rescheduled to stop it from being so disruptive to the upper tier domestic calendar. Binning friendlies should be the number one priority right off the bat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted January 4, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 I hadn't thought of that, to be honest. I'd be behind having all the games over a month at the end of the season. My only objection was tiredness, which I clearly didn't think through enough! On a personal level, I don't care about international football either. I used to. I think the last time I really cared was Euro 2004. These days, I'm full on club before country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 2 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said: Fuckheadistan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 Aye. I think football is way too precious about playing full strength teams all the time. The Leicester Tigers are regularly hampered by having to play a less strong team due to international call ups. They largely just get on with it. It's most likely to do with the insane amount of money in football. The FA likely would not want anything to distract from the internationals, and vice versa for the clubs and football leagues. Don't some Championship level games still get played, regardless of international matches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 @Keith Houchen - apparently I've run out of votes but that's perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 I do still like international football, though not as much as Devon suggests in his insulting but very good post. I love the tournament aspect. The qualifying is currently a means to an end. They could easily condense it into the non-tournament summers but I don't think there is the appetite for it. Probably because they'd then need to line up the Euros/Copa/AFCON/Gold Cup/Asia Cup so that they happen in the same year. Also, I think they like the number of games. Otherwise they could have small groups like they did in the 70s and play it in the odd-summers. I actually think that would be very appealing to TV companies around the world. On the tiredness aspect, if you took out all of the international breaks, you could shorten the season considerably. Then you'd get proper breaks. I'm not a big fan of the winter break because i think it'd just be as abused as pre-season (i.e. Rangers flying off to play a tournament in Florida this month) but this would allow for one. If they unified that across Europe for the first two weeks of January and combined it with the transfer window to get that out of the way, I could live with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 Ross Barkley is on his way to Chelsea today. £15m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 9 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: Ross Barkley is on his way to Chelsea today. £15m. Pfffffffffffffffft. I don't even know what to think about this. He's not going to improve our team one iota in my view, but we could probably sell him in a year for 10m even if he does fuck all during the intervening period. I mean, this and us being heavily linked with Andy pissing Carroll aren't exactly making me think we're chasing City down next year, but it is January. Also, if anyone has not seen them yet, would heartily recommend catching the two goals from the Spurs/West Ham match last night. A pair of belters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 10 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said: In a rare case of agreeing with @Briefcase, if we must have these qualifiers then I agree with playing them in a clump either at the end or the start of the season. It gets them all out of the way and would surely benefit the international teams who could create some semblance of continuity in their selections that they rarely otherwise get. I disagree with @SpursRiot2012 that it would lead to extra tiredness. It shouldn't. The season would be shortened by the disappearance of the, what, five or six international breaks, leaving time before or after the season for the internationals. I've heard it suggested that football should follow the rugby union model and just play domestic matches regardless of what players would be absent but I think it would be unworkable and probably extremely unfair on a lot of teams. I guess it could be a bit of an English malaise too. I don't see as much of the anti-internationals sentiment amongst the Welsh and the Scotch and so on, there just seems to be more of a connection to the national side in your neck of the woods than there is here. That may play a large part in it. If I could upvote your post I would as you're the first person that I've known to actually articulate your views on Internationals rather than the Footy Accumulators or Lad Bible bollocks "Thank fuck the Premier League's back after that international crap." With the power that the top clubs have these days, I can only see one direction of travel sadly. They've already been successful in getting rid of some of the friendlies, which is ironic as the clubs seem to start their pre-seasons earlier and earlier every year in order to cram in more tours of Asia or North America. Christ, they've even started doing post-season tours now. I would hate playing all the qualifiers in one block as I seriously doubt that travelling to Moldova, Georgia, Austria and Ireland in the space of three weeks, like I did in the last campaign, would have even been an option for me. Doing it over the course of two years is a different story of course. I don't consider myself typical of football fans, especially these days. I'm generally bored of the hum-drum of Premier League football. But I love the way qualifying matches are spread out over a few days now as I find it much more interesting to watch the like of the Faroes, Armenia, Sweden etc in action and learn something new and see some new players rather than Chelsea v Arsenal for the fourth time in a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 5, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted January 5, 2018 26 minutes ago, garynysmon said: I would hate playing all the qualifiers in one block as I seriously doubt that travelling to Moldova, Georgia, Austria and Ireland in the space of three weeks, like I did in the last campaign, would have even been an option for me. Doing it over the course of two years is a different story of course. Interesting view from someone who actually goes to games. Appreciate that would cause a problem. Do think it would be better on the players though. 26 minutes ago, garynysmon said: If I could upvote your post I would as you're the first person that I've known to actually articulate your views on Internationals rather than the Footy Accumulators or Lad Bible bollocks "Thank fuck the Premier League's back after that international crap." Yeah, I hate that shit. Generally from people who think football is a TV show. There's loads of football out there. Spend a fiver and find out. 27 minutes ago, garynysmon said: But I love the way qualifying matches are spread out over a few days now as I find it much more interesting to watch the like of the Faroes, Armenia, Sweden etc in action and learn something new and see some new players rather than Chelsea v Arsenal for the fourth time in a year. I actually don't like that aspect. I can live with it when there's a home nation playing but otherwise, it's just irritating. Not that I have a Sky subscription at the moment to watch it. Devon mentioned England fatigue which is a good point but I find it more dull watching a Spain/Germany/Italy/France in a qualifier because the result is almost a foregone conclusion. That will always be the biggest problem international football faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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