geoff clipp
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 20 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 1,389
Think it's a bit harsh to blame Gareth Southgate for this. The long and the short of it is, there are far too many games and of these, too few of them are unimportant enough that you can rest your best players. I can't see what the answer is here as the number of games and competitions is dictated by an array of organisations trying to make as much money as possible. I don't expect them to get together any time soon to try and sort this mess out.
Players are getting slagged off for withdrawing from the international squads, but it's entirely understandable they need to rest whenever possible. Then we have Southgate (and the player himself in some cases) getting slagged off for playing Stones. I don't especially like Southgate or care much for the England team, but they're going into a world cup and he's trying to implement a new system in which John Stones will be integral. I can understand why he played far more than I can understand Kompany playing against Gibraltar which was also a dead rubber and little was ever going to be learned from it. I think it's unfair that players are being put in this club vs country position time and time again when the problem is the sheer number of games. I also hate it when fans say "they ought to know what side their bread is buttered". There's nothing wrong with a player wanting to represent their country.
There's only really the league cup where you can really fully rest your best players and the trophy has been rendered relatively meaningless as a result. Shakhtar is going to be the first match in the champions league where we can genuinely rest players without it being a risk. The premier league you can argue you can never really rest players without it being a big gamble, especially this year. It's relentless (as a spectator i love it, but it's not sustainable for the players).
You could potentially reduce the size of the premier league, but it's the champions league where we could probably look at significantly reducing the number of games. Will UEFA let that happen though? No chance. There are too many qualifying games for international tournaments too, again this needs to be addressed. Until then, i think blaming players and managers is misdirected.
Players are getting slagged off for withdrawing from the international squads, but it's entirely understandable they need to rest whenever possible. Then we have Southgate (and the player himself in some cases) getting slagged off for playing Stones. I don't especially like Southgate or care much for the England team, but they're going into a world cup and he's trying to implement a new system in which John Stones will be integral. I can understand why he played far more than I can understand Kompany playing against Gibraltar which was also a dead rubber and little was ever going to be learned from it. I think it's unfair that players are being put in this club vs country position time and time again when the problem is the sheer number of games. I also hate it when fans say "they ought to know what side their bread is buttered". There's nothing wrong with a player wanting to represent their country.
There's only really the league cup where you can really fully rest your best players and the trophy has been rendered relatively meaningless as a result. Shakhtar is going to be the first match in the champions league where we can genuinely rest players without it being a risk. The premier league you can argue you can never really rest players without it being a big gamble, especially this year. It's relentless (as a spectator i love it, but it's not sustainable for the players).
You could potentially reduce the size of the premier league, but it's the champions league where we could probably look at significantly reducing the number of games. Will UEFA let that happen though? No chance. There are too many qualifying games for international tournaments too, again this needs to be addressed. Until then, i think blaming players and managers is misdirected.