12 days of utter boredom....

[Abattoir Blue]

I think in any tournament the winners will have had some luck which is illustrated by the fact that frequently the best team doesnt win it.

Even when you look at our recent successes you can say we erode our luck at times. We were close to.going out at Notts County in 2011 before Dzeko popped up. Then v Wolves n last year's league cup run we were a tad lucky too.

Its the nature of tournament football. I'd still argue we were the best team on those occasions, but the fact that Denmark, Portugal and Greece have won the Euros backs up your point.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Money spinners.

I get that, but no one cares any more, or at worst it’s a minimal set of people who like England friendlies. How on earth can we have 3, yes 3, sets of international friendlies before Xmas to play meaningless shite international games, irs a joke.

 

[FlemishDuck]

Get away on holiday, that's what I do.

Can't be arsed with International matches at the best of times nevermind friendly games ...oh sorry UEFA Nations League or whatever it's called these days.

English are going to wind up as exceptionalists again if they won't take this nation league serious because practicly ever other country will choose to go for it and render prestige to winning it. It won't take many years before the prevailing argument will be that the only reason why English talk the nations league down is because they wouldn't be able to win it anyway.

 

[dickie davies]

Where ya going?

My mate's place is in a small hamlet called Torremendo, about ten miles inland of Torrevieja
The beaches are quiet this time of year snd weve sussed the nicest restaurants
We have one "big" night out where we stay in a hotel and like last year we'll be on the piss in Costa Calida. We used to do a night in Benidorm, but every year it went even more downmarket, to the point we looked at each other and said "last time"

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Even when you look at our recent successes you can say we erode our luck at times. We were close to.going out at Notts County in 2011 before Dzeko popped up. Then v Wolves n last year's league cup run we were a tad lucky too.

Its the nature of tournament football. I'd still argue we were the best team on those occasions, but the fact that Denmark, Portugal and Greece have won the Euros backs up your point.

I've always maintained that in a knockout competition you might only need to play well once in half a dozen matches, and the once need not be the final.

 

[FlemishDuck]

I've always maintained that in a knockout competition you might only need to play well once in half a dozen matches, and the once need not be the final.

I can think i can make an impression regarding the probabillety of luck here. If luck is such a great determinator of who wins a tourney then rationally speaking you got 1 team that gets lucky and 31 that are going to get unlucky. Perhaps you can shift a bit here depending on expectations but still ... if luck will determine wether you will win the European cup for example then statisticly speaking you will need to way about 120 years before it's youre turn to get lucky. More even if you factor in "lucky nations" like Germany and apparently unlucky nations like Ireland it would seem.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

11 days! 11 sleeps

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I can think i can make an impression regarding the probabillety of luck here. If luck is such a great determinator of who wins a tourney then rationally speaking you got 1 team that gets lucky and 31 that are going to get unlucky. Perhaps you can shift a bit here depending on expectations but still ... if luck will determine wether you will win the European cup for example then statisticly speaking you will need to way about 120 years before it's youre turn to get lucky. More even if you factor in "lucky nations" like Germany and apparently unlucky nations like Ireland it would seem.

We need a good dozen pages on this thread yet so that we can all understand the subtle differences between playing well, not playing well but playing better than the opposition, getting a lucky break (like the one Riyad handed to the arse-end of the world on Sunday), riding yer luck, being in receipt of the luck of the devil (no wonder MANUre had that red devil thing going for so long) and just being the luckiest team in the competition.

 

[taleofbluehalves]

Fucking hate international breaks, so irritating how many we get early season, another one in November to come too!

It feels like we just get started then another international break. It’s good for KDB for fitness and some players to get a break but then we’ve got 8 games crammed into December.

 

[FlemishDuck]

It feels like we just get started then another international break. It’s good for KDB for fitness and some players to get a break but then we’ve got 8 games crammed into December.

Yeah honestly the insane amount of fixtures dropped on top players really can make a difference in how you will look at international games but i'm not sure if that should lead to scrutinising the international break rather than the extreme agenda of top PL teams. Doesn't help imho if fans want their teams to win the treble given the amount of work it would require from the players.