I want to watch good and interesting games, after all it is supposed to be entertainment.
And Thursday was the furthest from entertainment one could get.
If the minnows had their own qualifying round first, the best of them would still get to play the big boys and you'd still have a few thrashings, just not as many. The FA Cup's great because the smaller clubs get a chance in the later stages, but the current set-up is like having the Prem teams playing in the FA Cup from round 1 (or even earlier), or putting half a dozen amateur teams in the Prem.Disagree
Sometimes it’s nice to watch your team give someone a good thrashing! Like saying a Minnow shouldn’t be allowed to play a Premiership team in the cup, smaller clubs thrive on playing glamorous big clubs and every now and then you will get a shock result.
Well actually you can because it’s changing to that next year.You can’t have international football with England Spain Germany continually playing against each other through qualifying and the main stage. That would be even more boring.
Something similar to what you suggest comes in from next season.Completely agree, the countries know the system is shit preparation, that's why England are playing Brazil and Germany next month.
For Europe: Make the weaker nations enter some kind of pre-qualification and then narrow it down to 4 groups of 6. Top 16 nations automatically in the groups, other 8 places decided by pre-qualification. Top 3 from each group qualify for the World Cup and the 4th place teams enter a knockout for the final spot.
Wouldn't need these bloody friendlies in November and next March because we'd be facing decent teams in qualifying!
I think it's a mixture of both. I remember watching in awe at some of the international teams in the 98 World Cup like Brazil, France, holland and even England to some degree. City were absolutely shit back then though. I don't look at any international team with awe now because I think the best club teams are better. Spain were the best international team for about 6 years but they were just like Barca without Messi.Do you think our expectations for England getting to a final have lowered? (therefore what's the point of watching)
Or is it our judgement on quality football has shifted since City are now playing some of the best football around?
With myself, things have changed dramatically when it comes to England. It used to be my only hope of winning something, therefore i really enjoyed the excitement of any England tournament. Now i can see how disjointed the England team play, and the obvious bias towards picking players from "certain" teams regardless if they are the best available or at least inform.