SuperBacon Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 Ben fucking Davies. What a man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 Having a quick look and n the bookies at the odds for tonight. England are 5/1 and Germany are evens. Is this where England do a France 98 off the back of their great performance in the previous Euros. I was astounded that they got beaten by Hungary at the weekend. Is Southgate using the Nations League to try and find his squad for Qatar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members seph Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said: Having a quick look and n the bookies at the odds for tonight. England are 5/1 and Germany are evens. Is this where England do a France 98 off the back of their great performance in the previous Euros. I was astounded that they got beaten by Hungary at the weekend. Is Southgate using the Nations League to try and find his squad for Qatar? Whilst not knowing / caring how it affects later Euro qualifications? Not intentionally, but (YMMV ) at least a couple of people on the pitch treated the game like a glorified warmup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 They are glorified warm up’s. Not one single player would swap being on some exotic beach at the end of a long arduous season for playing Hungary in a ‘competitive’ friendly. Well, Harry Kane would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 Bowen and Justin started against Hungary in their debuts, so that gives a bit of an idea about how seriously this competition is being treated. The Nations League was introduced to replace pointless friendlies, so it's only natural that they are being treated to take a look at options in terms of personnel etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 For a team like England that will waltz their "normal" qualification route, they're pointless. It's the also-rans that need to give it a go, so they might Scotland their way into a tournament through the back door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 Can you believe this is already the THIRD edition of the UEFA Nations League? I didn't even know who were in England's group until the weekend. To be honest though, the competition has produced some very good games since it was introduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP RULZ Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 (edited) The Nations League in Theory is IMO a very good Idea. It gets pointless Friendlies gone and gives Competitive games to similar level nations of similar standards The threat of Relegation and Hope of promotion gives an added layer to the games as well. The earning of a spot in the Tournaments is an added complication which I think confuses a lot of people and puts some off and adds to the mickey mouse competition narrative but thats another conversation. The problem is as a country both Fans and Players alike have for 60 odd years been conditioned to accept The World Cup and Euros as the 2 competitive tournaments (and even the Euros has only really grown in stature it feels like since 96) Just creating another competitive tournament is really hard to do in any sport let alone one which has such a vast history and prestige behind its tournaments. I mean just look at English Football and the League Cup its been around for 60 odd years and still isnt treated all that seriously in comparison to its big brother The FA Cup. The idea of the Nations League is a very good one but how you incentivise it in the minds of Fans and Players is very very tough to do especially for the top countries who dont have the added incentive as the easier way to qualify for summer tournaments Edited June 7, 2022 by MVP RULZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 1 hour ago, PunkStep said: Can you believe this is already the THIRD edition of the UEFA Nations League? I didn't even know who were in England's group until the weekend. To be honest though, the competition has produced some very good games since it was introduced. The very first England game in the format was a win in Spain touted as a massive achievement - at the time. Nobody remembers it today. It's a shame that the promise of another trophy to potentially wave around doesnt excite anyone. See - Europa Conference League. Its not the Cup Winners Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Duke Posted June 7, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2022 59 minutes ago, air_raid said: The very first England game in the format was a win in Spain touted as a massive achievement - at the time. Nobody remembers it today. It's a shame that the promise of another trophy to potentially wave around doesnt excite anyone. See - Europa Conference League. Its not the Cup Winners Cup. The Europa Conference League was pretty important to Roma, to be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIDDUM_N_STYLE Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 7 hours ago, air_raid said: The very first England game in the format was a win in Spain touted as a massive achievement - at the time. Nobody remembers it today. It's a shame that the promise of another trophy to potentially wave around doesnt excite anyone. See - Europa Conference League. Its not the Cup Winners Cup. First England game in it was a defeat to Spain, at Wembley, on the back of the semi final defeat to Croatia and losing to Belgium for the second time in the tournament Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I'd argue it's actually been a positive for England, to be able to play opponents of the highest standard, competitively. Top seeds in a WC/Euros qualifying group won't often be getting that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 8, 2022 Just a thought - I used to argue the toss that Lineker's 48 goals in 80 caps achieved in 8 years as an England pro playing for mostly crap England sides against great sides and not that many minnows, was far better than Bobby Charlton's 49 in 106 over 12 years, achieved when for large periods of time England were the best or second best team in the world. Rooney of then went on to manage 53 in 120* over 15 years* (actually matching Sir Bobby perfectly at the point of 49 in 106) which was even weaker considering how many batterings of absolute toss were involved, how young he was when he got started, the long barren spells etc. Kane's just reached 50 in 70 caps in a little over 7 years getting a game for his country. That's fucking good, isn't it? Doing the maths on games per goal, he's comfortably the most reliable of the top 4. No Jimmy Greaves, obviously, but I refer to my "best in the world" argument again. * 119 in 14 years if you discount his charity one off return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I've always thought the England top scorer record was phenomenally low for a "big" international team. If you look at others, rapist for Portugal 117, Messi 86, Pele 4000, Lewandowski 75, Klose 71, Lukaku 68, Suarez 68, Keane 68 (which is amazing), 53 is very low. I hope Kane smashes it, and just scores pens for the rest of his England career, against 'lesser' teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 8, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted June 8, 2022 21 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: Pele 4000 Coincidentally, the name of his new marital aid tablets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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