Winter football break.

[Robbored]

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

[t_b]

English football is played at a higher intensity to the 90 minutes than on the Continent, sure. 

It is nothing for a team to take a lead abroad and then both teams to play out the final futile 1/3rd a game at a slower, more restrained pace. 

You would never get the fans domestically permitting it here, hence players going non-stop most of the time.

[Phileas Fogg]

He has a point I think. Problem for me is that the season is already broken up with loads of international breaks and Christmas football is a tradition.

Controversially I'd do away with international breaks for a season and try a winter break. Would force clubs to try academy players and not be so reliant on seasoned internationals.

Despite his unfair reputation as a long ball merchant dinosaur, Allerdyce is pretty forward thinking when it comes to recovery, sports science and conditioning.

[Lrrr]

A winter break if anything just means a more congested second half of the season meaning players go into major tournaments having more often played weekends and midweek then they do now. 

[myol'man]

Another problem with the 'winter break' argument is the unpredictable weather in the UK.

You could have a break say mid December followed by a big freeze/heavy snow in January, or vice versa 

[BCFCGav]

I'd rather England never win an international tournament and keep our Christmas football personally. 

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, myol'man said:

Another problem with the 'winter break' argument is the unpredictable weather in the UK.

You could have a break say mid December followed by a big freeze/heavy snow in January, or vice versa 

That applies to Germany, Sweden, Holland and..........Scotland..............

[JamesBCFC]

14 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

So the answer is to put the bulk of the high pressure games into a shorter time scale resulting in less time for players to recover between games, meaning they will be in worse condition for any tournament.

Also given the spread of players in our top flight, the effect to Englands detriment will be small, as most major nations have some of their top players at Premier Division sides.

We're shit because of a worse coaching set up that most of the major nations and the fact our national team manager(s) pick the same players every time regardless of form or when they last played a game.

4 minutes ago, Robbored said:

That applies to Germany, Sweden, Holland and..........Scotland..............

Sweden needs its season when it is because of its climate.

It is a summer league, completely irrelevant to the discussion of a winter break.

[Cowshed]

24 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

Its the normal head in the trough (wine) stuff. The EPL has vast squads of players to rotate. Losing four games over Christmas will have virtually nil impact bar swell the coffers of EPL teams as they play lucrative friendlies abroad instead.

Today Leicester, Liverpool Palace, WBA are in Asia playing in a tournament. Klopp and De Beor have said openly they would rather not be there as its not preparation for the league.

One of the reasons, and a significant one is that Manager like the pint of wine drinker would rather buy in foreign players for the now at the cost of home grown players gaining experience. Messrs Der Beor, Klopp and Pulis yesterday stated that this lack of gaining experience was a real problem for the FA and England.

[Cowshed]

21 minutes ago, tommy_b said:

English football is played at a higher intensity to the 90 minutes than on the Continent, sure. 

It is nothing for a team to take a lead abroad and then both teams to play out the final futile 1/3rd a game at a slower, more restrained pace. 

You would never get the fans domestically permitting it here, hence players going non-stop most of the time.

Notts Forest and Liverpool when they won European titles often played at a snails pace ... Fans lapped it up. 

[MichaelRobartes]

Not for me, I love the Christmas and New Year fixtures. I think (and hope) that there'll be a breakaway European super league before this happens anyway.

[Midlands Robin]

I've just had a look at how many games some of the players in the 66 world up squad played in the 65-66 season compared to the squad that started the first game of the 2014 world cup. The difference is on average around 15 games more for the 66 players. As an example Geoff Hurst played 59 games before starting for England in 66 while Rooney played 40 games in the 13/14 season.

There will be those that say it's a different game these days but the modern player has more information on conditioning, diets, recovery, fitness and medical support than the 66 squad ever had.

A lack of a break is just another quoted reason for years of international underachieving.

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, MichaelRobartes said:

Not for me, I love the Christmas and New Year fixtures. I think (and hope) that there'll be a breakaway European super league before this happens anyway.

Big Sam was talking about the PL only....

[JamesBCFC]

3 minutes ago, Midlands Robin said:

I've just had a look at how many games some of the players in the 66 world up squad played in the 65-66 season compared to the squad that started the first game of the 2014 world cup. The difference is on average around 15 games more for the 66 players. Geoff Hurst played 59 games before starting for England in 66 while Rooney played 40.

There will be those that say it's a different game these days but the modern player has more information on conditioning, diets, recovery, fitness and medical support than the 66 ever had. 

A lack of a break is just another 'excuse' for years of international underachieving.

Fixed.

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, Midlands Robin said:

I've just had a look at how many games some of the players in the 66 world up squad played in the 65-66 season compared to the squad that started the first game of the 2014 world cup. The difference is on average around 15 games more for the 66 players. Geoff Hurst played 59 games before starting for England in 66 while Rooney played 40.

There will be those that say it's a different game these days but the modern player has more information on conditioning, diets, recovery, fitness and medical support than the 66 ever had. 

A lack of a break is just another quoted reason for years of international underachieving.

The main crux of Big Sams point was the disadvantage that England have at major tournaments because other countries do have a winter break.

[JamesBCFC]

Just now, Robbored said:

The main crux of Big Sams point was the disadvantage that England have at major tournaments because other countries do have a winter break.

Sanchez, Aguero, Mata, De Gea (I assume the excuse applies for goalkeepers too, as Hart was continually picked no matter how bad his previous England performances, and still is despite poor form abroad), Kante, Diego Costa, Pogba, Ibrahimovic, have all been dire for their countries recently then?

What about Bellerin, Mhiktarian, Martial, Lukaku, Bailly, Mustafi, Rojo, Blind, Darmian?

How about Fabregas, Matic, and numerous others?

[nickolas]

53 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

We fail so miserably because our players arent good enough, nothing to do with rest.

Extornionate earnings and 'big time charlies' are created from a really early age driven by the mega money banded about in the PL now. 

You only have to look at why so few of our players are attracted to the big Europeanteams and i think its purely they arent good enough.

success this summer for U17/19/21's is very good but how many of these are going to move to the full England team and win us something? My guess will be many will move on, but they'll be lavished with the £100k+ per week within a few years and become the new set of big time charlies.

Bugger all to do with rest.

Just Big Sam bleating about the annual argument of Winter breaks.

 

 

[Robbored]

6 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

How about Fabregas, Matic, and numerous others?

Very few European countries have and entire squad made up of players that play in the PL but England do - that's the point.

[RumRed]

Stuff international football, it sucks.

Not a well reasoned argument I admit.

[JamesBCFC]

Just now, Robbored said:

Very few European countries have and entire squad made up of players that play in the PL but England do - that's the point.

So the excuse for Hart when he was picked regardless of form, playing in Italy?

The point is, KEY PLAYERS from several nations ply their trade in the Premier League, but those same KEY PLAYERS, do NOT have trouble performing in internationals.

It is a very weak excuse, if I am kind, and you've bought it hook, line and sinker.

If only there was an emoji on here that fitted, how about this one? 

[JamesBCFC]

3 minutes ago, RumRed said:

Stuff international football, it sucks.

Not a well reasoned argument I admit.

Better than the one robbored is trying to push.

[Monkeh]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

while I agree with big sam, we all know big clubs would use the winter break to go on tour of asia/america/africa just to make some more money because what they get isn't enough,

 

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, nickolas said:

We fail so miserably because our players arent good enough, nothing to do with rest.

Bugger all to do with rest.

Just Big Sam bleating about the annual argument of Winter breaks.

I'm happy to admit that I've never been a fan of Big Sam. I alway saw him as limited  but listening to him this morning he impressed me in the way he came over.

He's obviously very knowledgeable about the game and the winter break was explained very precisely along with why he's not planning to return to club football but would consider an international appointment depending on where it was and only his wife agreed......

I was certainly swayed by his winter break argument.

[Portland Bill]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Listening to Big Sam on Talk Sport this morning and he made a sound arguement for the English PL to have a winter break as other countries do.

He reckoned that English internationals play too much high pressure football on a continuous basis over a season and when the major competitions come around they're at a significant disadvantage when compared to other countries. He thought that's a factor in why England fail so miserably in the big tournaments. He was very much  in favour of a winter break.

I thought his argument was pretty convincing.....

The majority of  premier league players are now foreign, they play the same amount of football as there English international team mates, it doesn't seem to effect them when major tournaments are played!.

So the question is, how come the lack of a winter break doesn't effect them when they play for their country's?

The problem with English international footballers is simple, they aren't as good as there foreign counterparts. 

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

while I agree with big sam, we all know big clubs would use the winter break to go on tour of asia/america/africa just to make some more money because what they get isn't enough,

And?  

As already posted on here, friendlies are well, friendlies. 

No-one cares or takes them seriously. 

[JamesBCFC]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

And?  

As already posted on here, friendlies are well, friendlies. 

No-one cares or takes them seriously. 

Asking for a break from football matches, so they can spend that time playing football matches doesn't seem to undermine the entire point of it to you in any way at all? 

 

The European clubs who have a winter break go on training camps, many don't train over Christmas.

Very different to flying around the globe playing extra football matches, which is a more taxing thing than staying in your own country playing football matches.

 

[Portland Bill]

 

8 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

while I agree with big sam, we all know big clubs would use the winter break to go on tour of asia/america/africa just to make some more money because what they get isn't enough,

 

 

Exactly, every year we get the bizarre excuse ( usually in October) that the players are tired. This, after every Prem team has spent July travelling all around the world to play games for money!. 

Money is now the controlling factor for Prem clubs, competitions like the FA cup are less important to them than their bank balance. Personally I hate that league.

[Portland Bill]

6 minutes ago, Robbored said:

And?  

As already posted on here, friendlies are well, friendlies. 

No-one cares or takes them seriously. 

So you don't really think they need a break? Even though you think they need a break? 

[MichaelRobartes]

49 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Big Sam was talking about the PL only....

I have no interest in the Premier League but it'd be a shame for the fans, especially since Monkeh is spot on, most of their clubs would fill the time with lucrative tours abroad. I don't see that it's any better for players to be flying halfway round the world, playing a few nonsense games and coming back than leaving the calendar as it is.

[Monkeh]

6 minutes ago, Robbored said:

And?  

As already posted on here, friendlies are well, friendlies. 

No-one cares or takes them seriously. 

travelling 1000's of miles will take more out of you mentally then playing games over xmas Robbo,

As some one who travels alot for work, I feel worse travelling for 4 hours then I do after a 9 hour shift