2014 FIFA World Cup

[eFestivals]

They don't matter...

So England weren't crap the other night, it was just that they didn't care about winning?

[pink_triangle]

Does a team go into the match planning to lose it?

So yes, they matter. The results shouldn't perhaps be weighted the same as competitive matches, but they definitely show what a team is about.

[eFestivals]

I doubt teams go into friendlies wanting to lose, however I suspect they go into them not caring if they win. Spain haven't lost a knockout game in 3 tournaments, hardly conceding a goal. In the same time they have lost several friendlies.

You do realise that playing those friendlies that they lost is a part of what has allowed them to win the competitive games, don't you? Cos no team wins endlessly.

So they play a bigger part than you want to recognise, and they're certainly not the meaningless matches that Barry wants to think of them as being.

[TheGayTent]

Bollocks Neil. From a country's football association point of view many friendlies are to do with money. From a country's manager point of view most friendlies are about trying out new tactics and/or new players. Yes all teams would like to win but that's not the priority.

How many other games other than international friendlies is it a regular thing for a manager to sub a goalkeeper for a non injury reason?

They really aren't important.

[atomised]

I think that's right. If they weren't about money why not let the manager try out these new tactics in behind closed doors friendlies.

[eFestivals]

Bollocks Neil. From a country's football association point of view many friendlies are to do with money. From a country's manager point of view most friendlies are about trying out new tactics and/or new players. Yes all teams would like to win but that's not the priority.

How many other games other than international friendlies is it a regular thing for a manager to sub a goalkeeper for a non injury reason?

They really aren't important.

And the teams they try out don't have any bearing on the strongest team they could put out but are rarely able to do (cos of injuries, etc)?

They don't carry the same weight as a competitive match, but they very definitely show something of that team's strengths and weaknesses that applies in all games that team plays.

Woy has used around 50 players in the 2 years he's been in charge. Only 23 of those are in the squad, but the other 25(ish) definitely reflect something of England's abilities at both full strength and less.

[eFestivals]

I never said they are not useful ffs... or an important part of the international setup... I said the result doesn't matter... Which is what drives the ranking system... You don't half go off topic.

But it does - because more times than not the result will reflect the team's strength.

Next up, a discussion about how when a top team loses against relegation fodder, that means nothing too.

[TheGayTent]

You must be talking bollocks because you haven't asterisked anything or written any capital letters.

Clearly therefore, you're talking shite as is your wont *FACT*

[TheGayTent]

Next up, a discussion about how when a top team loses against relegation fodder, that means nothing too.

[eFestivals]

You must be talking bollocks because you haven't asterisked anything or written any capital letters.

Clearly therefore, you're talking shite as is your wont *FACT*

Glad to see such a deep and meaningful rebuttal.

Good job that no one is thinking you vacuous for it.

Edited June 10, 2014 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

That depends. Are you talking competitive match or a meaningless friendly...

in your world it would be meaningless that a good team had lost to a worse team, because we all know the good team is better.

And yet it means something about the relative strengths of both teams.

Like every international, competitive or friendly.

Edited June 10, 2014 by eFestivals

[TheGayTent]

in your world it would be meaningless that a good team had lost to a worse team, because we all know the good team is better.

Edited June 10, 2014 by TheGayTent

[eFestivals]

FFS you plank....

So Spain fields an experimental young team using some zany arse tactics to try them out and Poland put out their regulars and play their normal game and win... And you think that really tells us something when Poland get a shit load of points for beating "Spain" in the ranking system.

So Man Utd fields its not strongest team and loses to bottom of the table Sunderland ... And you think that really tells us nothing when Sunderland get a shit load of points for beating "Man Utd" in the ranking system called a league.

Football isn't your strong point.

and intelligence isn't yours.

Friendlies are the only chance they get to play together and try new things out.

apart from the training matches they've played each day for all of the week before of course.

But to put anything on the result is laughable. Almost everyone recognises this.

Then almost everyone is as thick as you.

I've not said anything like "if Iceland beat Spain it means they're better than Spain", which seems to be the brain-dead idea you're arguing against.

What I am saying is that if Iceland beat Spain in a friendly it means Spain are beatable on occasion by significantly we4aker teams, and that's not something that can be ignored because something similar will happen in a competitive sooner or later.

Otherwise we might as well say "Spain have won" right now and forget about the next 4 weeks.

It's only the results that count, not how you think the result should be. Only the very very stupid make up their own results rather than let the play decide it.

Edited June 10, 2014 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

PS: Woy has fielded what has been available to him of his first choice 11 in three of the last 4 friendlies.

But the fact that that first choice 11 have been crap means nothing at all. It doesn't mean they'll be crap in Brazil, of course it doesn't.

(I suggest you wait a few weeks if you want to call me wrong here but you're too stupid to do that so bring it on.... )

Edited June 10, 2014 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

What level of idiot are you ?

That would be a competitive game not a friendly.. FFS...

Oh, so Sunderland couldn't beat them in a friendly as well as a competitive match?

[eFestivals]

Thank fuck you stumbled across a gap in the market for a website. You would be fucked in the real world

Keep taking the pills Neil

Barry says the teams only play at their on-paper strength in competitions,. Spain have won, so send FIFA a cable and tell them to cancel.

Edited June 10, 2014 by eFestivals

[TheGayTent]

Barry says the teams only play at their on-paper strength in competitions,. Spain have won, so send FIFA a cable and tell them to cancel.

[ThomThomDrum]

The England football team were given a tour of a Favela in Brazil today....."It was sad to see those people who have absolutely no hope."....Said a resident of the Favela

[eFestivals]

What Barry is saying is that Spain are unlikely to choose the World Cup Finals to play their reserves/experiment with formations/experiment with tactics.

and neither is anyone else.

Meanwhile, the friendlies still reflect a team's abilities, no differently to when Spurs lose three times against a much shitter WHU in a season.

[TheGayTent]

Meanwhile, the friendlies still reflect a team's abilities, no differently to when Spurs lose three times against a much shitter WHU in a season.

[pink_triangle]

You do realise that playing those friendlies that they lost is a part of what has allowed them to win the competitive games, don't you? Cos no team wins endlessly.

.

[eFestivals]

I think you should actually go and watch some live football once in a while. You might learn something...

Oh, to be a proper fan like you, eh? If I were I'd know that Liverpool wouldn't score any extra goals with Suarez back in the team, and that would make me smart like you.

Friendlies still reflect a teams abilities? To a very small extent.

Thank you for agreeing with me.

Now go and tell Barry how much smarter he'd be if he was agreeing with you.

[eFestivals]

If your an established Spanish player then the priority in a friendly is not to get injured. The likes of xavi and iniesta have done it all, I just dont think they care about meaningless matches against england, Portugal etc.

They care, but they care less. They still don't want to lose.

And guess what? All the same things are happening with all the players on the other team too.

Who'd have thought it, that the 'curse' of friendlies applies both ways.

They're not meaningless, they mean less. They still reflect something of the best 11 in a competitive match.

[eFestivals]

He didn't agree with you....

Oh look, Barry's wrong again, even when it's all right in front of him.

[TheGayTent]

Oh, to be a proper fan like you, eh? If I were I'd know that Liverpool wouldn't score any extra goals with Suarez back in the team, and that would make me smart like you.