[Bruvva]

Hmmm, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Rooney all injured....Anyone would think there's a meaningless international friendly this week or something.

[Kaiser Chef]

Are you a chef?

Nope, i wish Neither am I a Kaiser. I just wanted a Moyles related name

[Munki Bhoy]

Hmmm, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Rooney all injured....Anyone would think there's a meaningless international friendly this week or something.

You're lucky. We get Rangers players pulling out for actual World Cup Qualifiers. This week we seem to have less, but then we have Rangers players that are coming back from injury and looking for a run out. Oh yeah, and we're playing Argentina so everyone wants to play.

Which reminds me, when your big players are dropping out of a game against Germany, friendly or not, it's time to take a look at your attitude to international football.

[chrysostom]

Fergie hates english international football no matter what he says, and Gerrard is actually injured

We'll have a good squad out and will put a good show on. Youngsters will know the importance of the game.

[Bruvva]

International friendlies are largely pointless anyway, now the qualification groups for tournaments are bigger, there are a lot more games which I think reduces the need for these kickabouts especially as half the squad pulls out of them anyway. Be better off with a training camp where everyone gets together I think.

[chrysostom]

I think they're useful as a way for the manager to test out new players, and see how they work - but only if the manager actually uses it as such, and doesn't just play their strongest XI. Maybe for the experienced players they are useless, but for instance, say that we played without JT, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, etc. but kept in a few first team players who aren't untouchable, then it would act as a crisis management plan for the manager.

I always thought sven's attitude toward friendlies was spot on. Get 2 teams out, both mixed with your first team and backups. Football is about partnership and teamwork, so i see this as being an opportunity for those groups to be formed. Put a bunch of players together in training and it won't necessarily lead to them gelling.

[Yudster]

I'm not a fan of international football these days anyway. Time was when internationals provided the best teams, the best football and the best games. That certainly isn't the case any more. So with the decrease in quality of international football and tournaments, combined with the increased committment to club football (that being not only where they earn their massive salaries but where they get to play the best teams), its really not all that surprising that today's star players aren't as enthralled by playing for their country as they might have been twenty years ago.

[Munki Bhoy]

It's the only way we get to play big teams like Argentina these days.

About ten minutes ago I saw a picture of them training at Celtic Park. Someone gave Maradona a Celtic top with his name on it. Oh we can but dream...

[Yudster]

It was John Terry's * up, not Scott Carson's.

[Munki Bhoy]

I'm just disappointed Argentina only played their beautiful football in the first ten minutes and then brief patches after it.

What most people in this country don't seem to understand is that friendlies are not about the results, but the performance and the opportunity to try things. You can't afford to learn things about your team during the qualifiers, so the friendlies are the only chance you get. Scotland tried a couple of things last night but ultimately they were shit for the most part. And that worries me more than losing to Argentina in a narrow scoreline.

[button08]

everyone could see that it was terry's fault

[button08]

oh yes and they are always right

first rule of being a defender if in doubt hit it out

[Bruvva]

Excuse bruvva, he doesn't know what he's talking about (I think he just likes the sound of his own voice)

Friendly games are used to determine the seedings system when qualifying groups are drawn. The more friendly games you win, the higher the fifa ranking you are thus the easier teams you'll come up against in the early stages.saying friendlies are 'largely pointless' suggests you don't know a rats warty testical about football. It's best you just zip it before some mindless idiot takes notice of the tripe that dribbles out of your mouth and starts spouting more bollocks to other mindless idiots grrrrr some people!!

Anyway, good win for the boys, minus the shittery of that excuse for a keeper scott carson, and respect to argentina for beating the scotts! not much of an achievement i know, but congrats anyway

Wrong. Fifa ranking has nothing to do with seeding in qualification groups for tournaments. For example, seeding for the european world cup qualifying groups is decided thus

"The calculation is done by using the results from matches played during the the most recent European Championships qualfication stage and the most recent World Cup qualification stage. The total number of points earned from these two qualification groups (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw) is divided by the total number of games played in the two qualfication groups. If a country does not participate in one of the qualification stages (for example because it is already qualified for the finals as a host) then its coefficient is calculated using only the results from the other qualification stage. "

[Bruvva]

Yeah, that's the coefficient obtained from the calculation I c&p'd up there, not the ranking from the fifa site.

[Bruvva]

Ok, fair enough, I'd like to know how much bearing the rankings actually have though. Still doesn't change my assertion that friendlies are pointless, I doubt whatever points England gained and Germany lost from last night would affect their seeding in any significant way and the main point I was trying to make is that friendlies are marred by so many players pulling out that the coach would have a hell of a time working out what his best team is.

[Yudster]

Not always. They very often say things that demonstrate a lack of knowledge of the basic rules. When it comes to opinion, they usually have their own agendas, either club or country related. They aren't really any more worth listening to than any other well informed observer.

[MK Chris]

I've always thought seedings in any sport shouldn't matter too much anyway - to win a tournament you have to be capable of beating the best in that tournament, be it in the early or late stages. Seedings just make things more interesting at the end when (supposedly) the best two come up against each other in the final.

[button08]

oh yes and they are always right

no, but they have more of a clue than Joe Bloggs, numb skull.

i would expect a comeback like that from my 8 year old son that says everything about you

[button08]

why because he has the confidents to say something if he disagrees with what you say?

[MK Chris]

...I bet he knows how to spell 'confidence'.

If he exists.

[button08]

...I bet he knows how to spell 'confidence'.

If he exists.

Your a fool if you think people make up having kids,now haven't you got a ping pong ball to hit about

[foot-loose]

Woo - the football thread is almost never interesting!

[Andy B]

Amen to that brothers and sisters.

[button08]

[quote="Beadle Poke"]NOBODY PUTS TOPHER IN THE CORNER!


Apart from his mummy when he is a bad boy at home

[MK Chris]

...I bet he knows how to spell 'confidence'.

If he exists.

Your a fool if you think people make up having kids,now haven't you got a ping pong ball to hit about

Well normally I wouldn't think that, but in general I just think you come across as far too young to have kids.