UEFA Nations league

LowMoorBoro said:
How many knockout games with Croatia go to extra time? Don’t know if it just feels like they do a lot or they actually do.
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I think it sums them up as a team. They have a decent team, aside from Modric, no world class stars but a team that rarely has an off game, nobody makes a mistake. They all play like somebody has a gun held against their families.

When they hit the big teams and those with better squads i think they are happy and comfortable to take a game all the way and to give them credit they have a go as well.

Poor game, good quality penalties. Even the misses where not bad hits to be fair.
 
The standard of these games since the introduction of the competition is there for everyone to see.

No one takes it seriously. They are glorified friendlies and just another way of UEFA making money at the expense of the quality.

Quantity of games over quality of games is clearly at the top of UEFA's policy and it's pretty pathetic.

There's some players who have played right through from July last season and are still playing now. And then those high above wonder why some players end up burned out and suffer injuries much more frequently...
 
Marvanelli said:
The standard of these games since the introduction of the competition is there for everyone to see.

No one takes it seriously. They are glorified friendlies and just another way of UEFA making money at the expense of the quality.

Quantity of games over quality of games is clearly at the top of UEFA's policy and it's pretty pathetic.

There's some players who have played right through from July last season and are still playing now. And then those high above wonder why some players end up burned out and suffer injuries much more frequently...
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If they hadn't played these two matches, they'd have played two Euro qualifiers instead.

The semi-finals and 3rd placed play-off were all good games too.

Just the final that was ****, but then virtually every final this season has been ****.

The Champions League final was ****, the Europa League final was awful, the Conference League final was ****.

All the play-off finals were ****.

Everybody took those finals seriously.
 
Marvanelli said:
The standard of these games since the introduction of the competition is there for everyone to see.

No one takes it seriously. They are glorified friendlies and just another way of UEFA making money at the expense of the quality.

Quantity of games over quality of games is clearly at the top of UEFA's policy and it's pretty pathetic.

There's some players who have played right through from July last season and are still playing now. And then those high above wonder why some players end up burned out and suffer injuries much more frequently...
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They’ve all got their best players on the pitch, they’re just drained from a long season. They’re very competitive certainly not ‘glorified friendlies’, tactically the games the last few days have been nullified by spoilers
 
Marvanelli said:
Yep, exactly. And they still have to play these 2 qualifiers regardless.

Just more and more games added by UEFA.
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That's how competitions work.

You do well, you play more.

Bar the semi-finalists, and play-off qualifiers, no European nation is playing more matches than they were before the Nations League was introduced.
We just had friendlies instead.
 
TeaCider said:
We just had friendlies instead.
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Exactly...meaning because they're 'friendlies' the likes of Rodri, Aba, Navas, Asensio etc probably would've been rested after their long seasons and fringe players would've got a couple of caps and experience.

Instead, those players have played in a poor tournament that many teams/players don't take seriously enough.

Spain had to play their first 11, it's a final, but compare it to other competitive matches, IMO, they don't take it anywhere near as serious.
 
Marvanelli said:
Exactly...meaning because they're 'friendlies' the likes of Rodri, Aba, Navas, Asensio etc probably would've been rested after their long seasons and fringe players would've got a couple of caps and experience.

Instead, those players have played in a poor tournament that many teams/players don't take seriously enough.

Spain had to play their first 11, it's a final, but compare it to other competitive matches, IMO, they don't take it anywhere near as serious.
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You saying they're not taking seriously doesn't mean they're not taking it seriously.

There are more rubbish finals than good finals.

Were Man City not taking the Champions League final seriously because they played poorly and it was an awful watch?
 
The whole Spanish squad and coaching staff invaded the pitch the second the winning penalty went in.

The Croatia squad looked devastated.

They were clearly bothered.
 
TeaCider said:
There are more rubbish finals than good finals.

Were Man City not taking the Champions League final seriously because they played poorly and it was an awful watch?
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Agree some finals are rubbish, but there's also some finals that are very good - World Cup final for instance.

As for the Nations League....nearly every game leading up to the final and every single final, since the tournament was created has been nothing short of embarrassing. Most nations don't take the competition seriously. They treat it as a friendly, unless they get to the final in which they have no choice but to field their best 11 - it's a trophy at the end of the day.

But you could see with the way Croatia players reacted after the loss on penalties that it didn't hurt anywhere near as previous finals they've lost in.
 
Marvanelli said:
Agree some finals are rubbish, but there's also some finals that are very good - World Cup final for instance.

As for the Nations League....nearly every game leading up to the final and every single final, since the tournament was created has been nothing short of embarrassing. Most nations don't take the competition seriously. They treat it as a friendly, unless they get to the final in which they have no choice but to field their best 11 - it's a trophy at the end of the day.

But you could see with the way Croatia players reacted after the loss on penalties that it didn't hurt anywhere near as previous finals they've lost in.
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That's just not true though, is it.
 
Finals do tend to be boring to be fair, last four Champions League finals have all been 1-0 wins. Not every final will be like last year's World Cup.

Saying that, I just can't get excited for any Nations League game.
 
Marvanelli said:
Compared to that of the World Cup?

There's no comparison.
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Because it's a smaller competition..

Obviously a team will be more upset after losing the biggest cup competition in world sport than they would a tertiary tournament.

Just like a club would be more upset missing out on the Champions League than the League Cup.
 
TheYorkshireTerrier said:
Finals do tend to be boring to be fair, last four Champions League finals have all been 1-0 wins. Not every final will be like last year's World Cup.

Saying that, I just can't get excited for any Nations League game.
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Agree and I keep finding a lot of fans saying the same thing.

Even when we were in the finals 4/5 years ago, there was little excitement around England. It's a pathetic competition, one which UEFA only care about because it generates money.

They aren't interested in the quality side of the tournament. More games = more money. That's a big green tick for UEFA.
 
Marvanelli said:
Exactly...meaning because they're 'friendlies' the likes of Rodri, Aba, Navas, Asensio etc probably would've been rested after their long seasons and fringe players would've got a couple of caps and experience.

Instead, those players have played in a poor tournament that many teams/players don't take seriously enough.

Spain had to play their first 11, it's a final, but compare it to other competitive matches, IMO, they don't take it anywhere near as serious.
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People complained at meaningless friendlies with little effort, poor atmospheres and players getting caps thrown at them for being mediocre….now it’s a competitive game people complain that there’s too many competitive games and the best players will burn out and somehow that it’s just as uncompetitive as friendly games

They can’t win, people will always complain about something.
 
BoroMart said:
People complained at meaningless friendlies with little effort, poor atmospheres and players getting caps thrown at them for being mediocre….now it’s a competitive game people complain that there’s too many competitive games and the best players will burn out and somehow that it’s just as uncompetitive as friendly games

They can’t win, people will always complain about something.
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I think we all know what the answer to this is, though.

Even UEFA know what the true answer is...but that answer won't make their balance sheet bigger and stronger, therefore, the real answer will never be brought forward.
 
Marvanelli said:
I think we all know what the answer to this is, though.

Even UEFA know what the true answer is...but that answer won't make their balance sheet bigger and stronger, therefore, the real answer will never be brought forward.
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There are an agreed number of international weeks per year. They need to be filled with games. Yes uefa will make some cash out of this, but then national fas would make cash out of meaningless friendlies.

I’m perfectly fine with competitive games above meaningless friendlies with 10 subs and half the players withdrawing prior to training camp. Some people forget how bad friendlies were
 
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