England - the future....

[No Fixed Abode]

Football would be better if we scrapped international friendlies.

Can't say I agree. What's your logic?

When there is a break in the domestic football calendar for international friendlies - it's boring.

[genome]

Rare 'greed with Kes... I think they are important for team building and figuring out tactics, but fairly useless in September or October. I think having 3 or 4 before a tournament is a good idea though.

Interrupting the league calendar for two weeks is just frustrating when it's not for something important.

[YateleyRoyal]

Rare 'greed with Kes... I think they are important for team building and figuring out tactics, but fairly useless in September or October. I think having 3 or 4 before a tournament is a good idea though.

Interrupting the league calendar for two weeks is just frustrating when it's not for something important.

Only if you prioritise the league as the most important form of football. I think it's well worth the break to help the international side.

[No Fixed Abode]

We know it benefits the national side, that's obvious. My point was international friendlies by and large are boring - and imo football would be better without them as they're tedious.

[6ft Kerplunk]

I think they are important for team building and figuring out tactics, but fairly useless in September or October. I think having 3 or 4 before a tournament is a good idea though.

But if you don't have the team building and tactics at the beginning of a season you run the risk of being utterly bobbins and not qualifying. That said I'd be quite happy for them not to be on TV, very rarely watch one all the way through.

[genome]

Well you'd think England would have enough about them to not need a warm up friendly before taking on your San Marinos and your Lithuanias.

[TBM]

Well you'd think England would have enough about them to not need a warm up friendly before taking on your San Marinos and your Lithuanias.

tbf though the friendly games are normally against teams of note, to give us a test....you can't rely on what you did in the qualifying group as a way of judging how good you'll be in the tournament.

[Ian Royal]

Rare 'greed with Kes... I think they are important for team building and figuring out tactics, but fairly useless in September or October. I think having 3 or 4 before a tournament is a good idea though.

Interrupting the league calendar for two weeks is just frustrating when it's not for something important.

Agreed... although don't international friendlies only really occur when there are international competitive matches going on for other sides?

[Hoop Blah]

Yep, international weekends are FIFA dictated and usually involve other competitive fixtures elsewhere so it's not like we could do away with them as such.

I tend to disagree that football would be better off without them. What I'd like to see is international games approached with a bit more gusto so that we don't get the boring ones where everyone is playing at 75% and always passing sideways. That would make them more entertaining.

As with a lot of things though, the money and power in the domestic game makes that very unlikely.

[Ian Royal]

Yep, international weekends are FIFA dictated and usually involve other competitive fixtures elsewhere so it's not like we could do away with them as such.

I tend to disagree that football would be better off without them. What I'd like to see is international games approached with a bit more gusto so that we don't get the boring ones where everyone is playing at 75% and always passing sideways. That would make them more entertaining.

As with a lot of things though, the money and power in the domestic game makes that very unlikely.

I'd rather do away with European league based cup competitions, and restrict them to actual champions, maybe runners up & cup winners.

[Sanguine]

Yep, international weekends are FIFA dictated and usually involve other competitive fixtures elsewhere so it's not like we could do away with them as such.

I tend to disagree that football would be better off without them. What I'd like to see is international games approached with a bit more gusto so that we don't get the boring ones where everyone is playing at 75% and always passing sideways. That would make them more entertaining.

As with a lot of things though, the money and power in the domestic game makes that very unlikely.

Agreed. A simple change would be to give them the same status as competitive internationals. Scrap the rule that friendlies don't count towards someone's national allegiance, maximum 3 subs, increase the weighting of the games in the world rankings.

[Stranded]

Yep, international weekends are FIFA dictated and usually involve other competitive fixtures elsewhere so it's not like we could do away with them as such.

I tend to disagree that football would be better off without them. What I'd like to see is international games approached with a bit more gusto so that we don't get the boring ones where everyone is playing at 75% and always passing sideways. That would make them more entertaining.

As with a lot of things though, the money and power in the domestic game makes that very unlikely.

Agreed. A simple change would be to give them the same status as competitive internationals. Scrap the rule that friendlies don't count towards someone's national allegiance, maximum 3 subs, increase the weighting of the games in the world rankings.

But with the European Nations League (or whatever it's called) starting up in 2018, that will pretty much do away with the majority of friendlies as it will fill international weeks where there is no WC or EC qualifying

[Hoop Blah]

Agreed. A simple change would be to give them the same status as competitive internationals. Scrap the rule that friendlies don't count towards someone's national allegiance, maximum 3 subs, increase the weighting of the games in the world rankings.

That could help yeah, but it might also lead to more and more withdrawals as clubs put pressure on their players not to play 90 minutes and risk injury.

Whilst the money and power lies with the clubs and domestic football the players, and public, will end up concentrating on the club football as it pays the bills.

[TBM]

Yep, international weekends are FIFA dictated and usually involve other competitive fixtures elsewhere so it's not like we could do away with them as such.

I tend to disagree that football would be better off without them. What I'd like to see is international games approached with a bit more gusto so that we don't get the boring ones where everyone is playing at 75% and always passing sideways. That would make them more entertaining.

As with a lot of things though, the money and power in the domestic game makes that very unlikely.

Agreed. A simple change would be to give them the same status as competitive internationals. Scrap the rule that friendlies don't count towards someone's national allegiance, maximum 3 subs, increase the weighting of the games in the world rankings.

But thats just changing the rules to suit the fans

I'm sure the players, managers and coaches are happy with the relaxed approach and the ability to be able to experiment with a squad.

[Sanguine]

Well the game is for the fans, really.
That said, until friendly fixtures draw crowds of 15,000, there is every evidence the fans are happy with the product as it is.

[TBM]

Well the game is for the fans, really.
That said, until friendly fixtures draw crowds of 15,000, there is every evidence the fans are happy with the product as it is.

Too right - i think friendly games are a good way for kids/families to see the worlds best players but in a relaxed atmosphere. They will always get the numbers, in this country at least.

[tidus_mi2]

With regards to friendlies and ranking, they just need to completely exclude friendlies from rankings, as they calculate the rankings by adding the points for matches together then finding the average, so friendlies which give much lower points only serve to lower a teams potential ranking.

This has been exposed by Belgium, Wales and Romania who at times recently purposely avoided playing friendlies which saw them shoot up the FIFA rankings when couple with positive results in competitive matches.

[Sanguine]

So then why not increase the rating of friendlies, to make them more relevant, rather than making them totally irrelevant?

[tidus_mi2]

Because they are pretty irrelevant.

[Sanguine]

What sort of teams do you think will be fielded if friendlies are worth, literally, nothing?