League of Nations

[Fompous Part]

Dier's wonderfully needless and merciless 'man and ball' challenge on Ramos was like Grade A porn for defenders. Better than all three goals, IMO.

 

[Reaper]

See how better we are without Henderson in the team, hope you have learned something today Southgate.

 

[Stevencc]

Dier's wonderfully needless and merciless 'man and ball' challenge on Ramos was like Grade A porn for defenders. Better than all three goals, IMO.

The technique hereby referred to as the Money Shot™.

 

[silkyman]

Walker at centre back is madness. He’s one of the best full backs/wing backs in the world. Play him in his position.

 

[Gassy]

You know what, I certainly wasn’t happy about Southgate being manager. I was quite open about it on here as well.

Even the World Cup I thought it was paper over the cracks a little bit, but what Southage is doing is unbelievable

England right now are such a joy to watch - there is passion back on the shirt and Southgate has United the country and made us believe again.

Well done Gareth & well done England - making me proud

 

[Leo]

All you England fans enjoying that deserved win just wait....you will be shot down in fucking droves when St Muppet returns and puts you all in your place with his....well, ahem....shite! #proportional semantics, oh and other stuff for example.....

 

[Gassy]

All you England fans enjoying that deserved win just wait....you will be shot down in fucking droves when St Muppet returns and puts you all in your place with his....well, ahem....shite! #proportional semantics, oh and other stuff for example.....

He won't comment.

His entire argument was entirely based on Scotland beating Croatia 10 years ago & England not beating a top team since X year. Plus the throwing in of algebra with population differences.

Unfortunately for Mupps - Israel & Spain defy all of that.

Just wait until we next don't win - he'll be back

 

[epic73]

Ireland without Coleman vs Wales without Ramsey, Bale, and Ampadu.

Potentially the most boring match in football history.

 

[Leo]

He won't comment.

His entire argument was entirely based on Scotland beating Croatia 10 years ago & England not beating a top team since X year. Plus the throwing in of algebra with population differences.

Unfortunately for Mupps - Israel & Spain defy all of that.

Just wait until we next don't win - he'll be back

But But But But.........

 

[Benji]

Ireland without Coleman vs Wales without Ramsey, Bale, and Ampadu.

Potentially the most boring match in football history.

Yes it's going to be a dire 0-0.

 

[epic73]

Yes it's going to be a dire 0-0.

The two teams will have a total of 30% possession.

 

[mente captus]

The French are lucky to be not down by 3 or 4 goals midway the first half.

soft Penalty anyway

 

[mistermagic]

The French are lucky to be not down by 3 or 4 goals midway the first half.

soft Penalty anyway

Yes. Like said many times before, Germany lack penetration and players to put their foot on the ball and it in the net. Lloris had next to nothing to do this half despite us getting mullered in midfield. We've still got our heads in Russian stars (or tsars).

 

[Super_horns]

Well France came back to win 2-1..

Gibraltar win again - 2 wins in 3 days!

Looks like both the Ireland nations will be relegated...

 

[Benji]

Different kind of game against Ireland. It is nice to have youthful brilliance all over the squad, but gosh you can really see the value of experienced heads when they are few and far between.

Harry Wilson is Britain's best young player, and I am excited.

 

[Stevencc]

I've got no ill will towards Germany but I must say that it is pleasantly refreshing to see them losing so consistently.

 

[Dirk]

I can understand that, steven.
I've got no ill will towards England either, but it's always pleasantly refreshing that they've won fuck all for over 50 years now .

Anyway, just as expected, another loss against France. What a beauty header by little Griezmann though. We got an undeserved penalty and France got one. At least here we draw.
Bit of an improvement to the Netherlands match (but not that much). Leroy Sané for the first time in the starting team but again not convincing and substituted after 70min. If only he could use his right foot, too, he would've scored. So he missed again a big one.

 

[Abertawe]

I can understand that, steven.
I've got no ill will towards England either, but it's always pleasantly refreshing that they've won fuck all for over 50 years now .

Anyway, just as expected, another loss against France. What a beauty header by little Griezmann though. We got an undeserved penalty and France got one. At least here we draw.
Bit of an improvement to the Netherlands match (but not that much). Leroy Sané for the first time in the starting team but again not convincing and substituted after 70min. If only he could use his right foot, too, he would've scored. So he missed again a big one.

I have. Fuck the Kaiser and Nazis.

 

[Soup Ladle]

I like this League of Nations thing, puts a bit of interest in international football when I can't be fucked with it outside the major tournies. I don't fully understand the format though, I get the promotion/relegation thing but how do you qualify for the Euros from it?

On another note, good to see Holland on the way back.

 

[Dirk]

I have. Fuck the Kaiser and Nazis.

I second that! (but not if you mean our "football Kaiser", Franz Beckenbauer )

 

[St. Juste]

He won't comment.

His entire argument was entirely based on Scotland beating Croatia 10 years ago & England not beating a top team since X year. Plus the throwing in of algebra with population differences.

Unfortunately for Mupps - Israel & Spain defy all of that.

Just wait until we next don't win - he'll be back

Really? Israel is more than 50% larger than Scotland whilst England has circa 15% more people than Spain. If anything these results only back up the notion that population has a huge impact on a nations chances of success in international football.

Anyway, when did England last have a better result in a competitive match? Probably beating that dire Germany side 5-1 in 2001. It's their best result in 17 years - they should be proud.

Other home nations really suffer from lack of diversity and - whilst lack of immigration is causing huge societal problems - it also has a big impact on football. What made the mother of a young Raheem Sterling move from Jamaican to London rather than Glasgow*? What made the Trinidadian parents on Jadon Sancho move to London rather than Cardiff? The answer is obvious - established immigrant communities in London especially but also elsewhere in England such as Birmingham.

Other nations benefit hugely from immigration and this comes through in their football too. Big nations like Germany, France and England obviously but also smaller nations Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands etc. etc.

It's one of the areas where Scotland are really falling down and hard to address. For many reasons, football being a relatively minor one, we should be incentivising immigrants to live in Scotland.

The result against Israel wasn't disastrous but the performance certainly was - after good wins against Hungary and Albania. Make no doubt about it, many of the Scottish posters on this site celebrated that defeat like no other - they love it when Scotland does badly. We can still top the group and just might, too. In terms of personnel I think we have a better squad than Israel or Albania but the attitude of some players - e.g. Fraser, Cairney, McArthur, Snodgrass etc. - has been a disgrace.

I honestly didn't even know the England game was on, think I might have been flying at the time. I've not seen any of it.

*Interestingly, Raheem Sterling being naturalised from Jamaica to the UK means he qualifies equally for all the home nations. Only a "Gentlemans Agreement" prevents other home nations from doing this, which would quickly be discarded were it to benefit England. This also applies to any player born on the Channel Islands or Isle of Mann.

 

[Gassy]

Really? Israel is more than 50% larger than Scotland whilst England has circa 15% more people than Spain. If anything these results only back up the notion that population has a huge impact on a nations chances of success in international football.

Anyway, when did England last have a better result in a competitive match? Probably beating that dire Germany side 5-1 in 2001. It's their best result in 17 years - they should be proud.

Other home nations really suffer from lack of diversity and - whilst lack of immigration is causing huge societal problems - it also has a big impact on football. What made the mother of a young Raheem Sterling move from Jamaican to London rather than Glasgow*? What made the Trinidadian parents on Jadon Sancho move to London rather than Cardiff? The answer is obvious - established immigrant communities in London especially but also elsewhere in England such as Birmingham.

Other nations benefit hugely from immigration and this comes through in their football too. Big nations like Germany, France and England obviously but also smaller nations Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands etc. etc.

It's one of the areas where Scotland are really falling down and hard to address. For many reasons, football being a relatively minor one, we should be incentivising immigrants to live in Scotland.

The result against Israel wasn't disastrous but the performance certainly was - after good wins against Hungary and Albania. Make no doubt about it, many of the Scottish posters on this site celebrated that defeat like no other - they love it when Scotland does badly. We can still top the group and just might, too. In terms of personnel I think we have a better squad than Israel or Albania but the attitude of some players - e.g. Fraser, Cairney, McArthur, Snodgrass etc. - has been a disgrace.

I honestly didn't even know the England game was on, think I might have been flying at the time. I've not seen any of it.

*Interestingly, Raheem Sterling being naturalised from Jamaica to the UK means he qualifies equally for all the home nations. Only a "Gentlemans Agreement" prevents other home nations from doing this, which would quickly be discarded were it to benefit England. This also applies to any player born on the Channel Islands or Isle of Mann.

Actually a pretty good post - although the population argument is incredibly flawed. It’s not always about population, a lot of the time about the investment you’re putting into your leagues, stadiums etc. Scotland should be beating Israel, or at least draw away from home.

Very interesting about Sterling and the home nations though. Where did you find that?

 

[Chris FGR]

How much immigration does Croatia have? Or Iceland? Or Argentina? Or Uruguay? Or Greece?

 

[GodsGift]

The Germany side we beat 5-1 reached the World Cup final nine months later. No standout players but they can't have been that bad.

 

[Chris FGR]

The Germany side we beat 5-1 reached the World Cup final nine months later. No standout players but they can't have been that bad.

Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn were class, and didn’t they have a young Klose up top as well?

They weren’t a brilliant side but they definitely weren’t dire. The team they had then would have hammered most Scotland sIdes, especially the current one. That 5-1 was a stunning performance.

 

[Dirk]

The Germany side we beat 5-1 reached the World Cup final nine months later. No standout players but they can't have been that bad.

In 2000 we played our worst tournament ever (well, at least, before 2018 ). After this Euro 2000 the rebuilding began, not only on scouting but coaching etc. The first merits were shown at the World Cup 2006 when the new talents (like Lahm, Schweinsteiger etc) came up and we had a very good decade from 2006-2016 with reaching every tournaments semi-final, some final and even a World Cup win. Now we have again a similar situation like 2000 (or 1984/85). Seems every 15-20 years is the cycle here.

In 2001 at the Qualifiers we were already qualified (together with England).
It's not an excuse for a 1-5 home loss though but tbh the World Cup final 2002 was reached with very much luck. This team was still in crisis (and in 2004 too) but we had some good players with Ballack (who sadly couldn't play in the final because of the 2nd yellow in the semi final (was the rule back then), Klose, Kahn etc but far from the team we had in 2006 until 2016.

 

[Chris FGR]

Klose was one of my favourite players growing up. Top, top player.

 

[SALTIRE]

Justy is like a fart after a mushroom curry, so predictable.

 

[rudebwoyben]

There is a fair amount of money in Israeli club football and both the Jewish and 48 Palestinian parts of the population are football mad but in terms of the national team they are at a low ebb and far below the Israeli teams of the late 90s and early 00s when they reached the play-offs for the 2000 European Championships and had such players as Benayoun, Revivo, Nimni and Ben-Haim. They'd only beaten Andorra and Liechtenstein at home in the past couple of years.
It's also clear that Israel's best current players are coming from the Palestinian part of the population (Kayal, Dabour) who comprise 20% of the population with no one comparable coming from the Jewish part of the population.
So yes, this is a bad result for Scotland.

 

[mistermagic]

In 2001 at the Qualifiers we were already qualified (together with England).

Do you mean before the Munich game? Because that's not true. You had to go through a play-off because you finished second. Ironically what I remember from this period is not so much the 5-1 win (which was great, I have the DVD) but Beckham's free-kick against Greece.

Anyway, the 2-1 win. I still found us extremely subpar and thought we only got going because Löw adopted a defensive tactic in the second half (not sure why). With this tactic, Mbappé and Griezmann were freed of defensive chores and able to cause more trouble to the Germany rearguard (which was very good). Most of our players still underperformed. Matuidi did a lot of clumsy challenges but won us the game with that pen while Pogba was just downright rubbish. Didn't think much of Griezmann either. Apart from his header, I don't think he had a particularly good game.

Oh well, the semi next June should be fun. Would like to play England and not Spain.