The matches, i'm referring to, not people from other countries.
Twice this season and international break has come at a bad time. First it was at the start of the season just after we'd beat West Ham and looked fairly good doing it, for the most ridiculous couple of matches ever, at the most ridiculous time ever. We then came back, played Everton and got hammered, when we could have played much better.
And now we've started getting it together properly, and we're going on a run we're in for another break after the Bolton match, for almost a fortnight! We come back from that and we've got 4 games in 11/12 days against Blackburn, Bordeaux, Man U and Reading (CC). So by no means the easiest of games.
All this for matches against Croatia and Macedonia, in Englands case anyway.
Then in November, there's a pointless friendly against Holland, three days before a trip to Boro.
There should be some sort of bye's or allowances for teams from Countries who qualify for these competitions (particularly the Euro's) on a regular basis. Anyone can pick the top 8 or ten teams without them needing to qualify anyway:
England
Germany
Italy
Spain
France
Holland
Portugal
Czech Republic
Okay so there's 8 and I doubt many would argue against them being the top 8, maybe Sweeden and Greece? But Greece's inclusion would be based on past wins.
So why not use a ranking system, like Fifa's (but a little more sensible), so that the top 8 teams automatically qualify for the competition. And the rest cant battle it our for the remaining 24? places. It will keep the players fresher for club and country, and mean less games through the season.
Obviously there's pitfalls, with every idea, like if you had a team full of players from lesser European countries. But I'm sure there's workarounds fo these situations.
Anyway, I hate internationals.
Twice this season and international break has come at a bad time. First it was at the start of the season just after we'd beat West Ham and looked fairly good doing it, for the most ridiculous couple of matches ever, at the most ridiculous time ever. We then came back, played Everton and got hammered, when we could have played much better.
And now we've started getting it together properly, and we're going on a run we're in for another break after the Bolton match, for almost a fortnight! We come back from that and we've got 4 games in 11/12 days against Blackburn, Bordeaux, Man U and Reading (CC). So by no means the easiest of games.
All this for matches against Croatia and Macedonia, in Englands case anyway.
Then in November, there's a pointless friendly against Holland, three days before a trip to Boro.
There should be some sort of bye's or allowances for teams from Countries who qualify for these competitions (particularly the Euro's) on a regular basis. Anyone can pick the top 8 or ten teams without them needing to qualify anyway:
England
Germany
Italy
Spain
France
Holland
Portugal
Czech Republic
Okay so there's 8 and I doubt many would argue against them being the top 8, maybe Sweeden and Greece? But Greece's inclusion would be based on past wins.
So why not use a ranking system, like Fifa's (but a little more sensible), so that the top 8 teams automatically qualify for the competition. And the rest cant battle it our for the remaining 24? places. It will keep the players fresher for club and country, and mean less games through the season.
Obviously there's pitfalls, with every idea, like if you had a team full of players from lesser European countries. But I'm sure there's workarounds fo these situations.
Anyway, I hate internationals.
Maybe next Thursday with internationals looming
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