Bloody international week

[26may1989]

Fucking international week, don't you hate it? Can't wait for real football to start up again. But it's still another 10 days to go.

[TheOne2Smooth]

does anyone even watch England? I myself hate international football. its like one week watching Les Miserables then the next week watching a School navity show

[RaM]

Ireland's gonna beat Germany.




And strangely, Jens will once again recover from his injuries to play for the national side, but will return to London incapable of taking to the field at all....

[Wayno]

Cannot get motivated about England, these breaks do us no favours at all. Players get injured and we lose the momentum.......Load of Ballacks

[daz10_uk]

Cant stand England matches wont watch them after so many let down performances over the years. We watch such a good quality of football at Ashburton Grove that England never matches never come close to it

[REB]

bloody internationals upsetting or great run

[RaM]

Do you guys think Walcott should be in the England squad? Or is the U21's enough for now?


Oh, and I'm gonna tip Hleb's Belarus to get two wins in this international break.

[Magic Hat]

U21's is enough for now, Pearce seems to know how to handle him, less pressure and more chance of playing well so getting his confidence up rather then sitting in the stands.

We had been losing our way a bit so the break is quite helpful, Dudu, Jens and Gallas can get some match fitness with two games and Bolton before the crunch games. England may not be that good (though watch the U21's tomorrow, they can be quite good) but it is intresting to watch how the media takes every little thing and twists it without involving us for once.

Plus money for the Fa's, charities and youth football around the world so can't complain.

[corkbarry]

It all depends on how your Country is doing. Ireland cannot qualify,so our match against Germany is just a game to try and get our selfrespect back.

[charliegeorgewhocanhitem]

Fucking international week, don't you hate it? Can't wait for real football to start up again. But it's still another 10 days to go.

Could'nt agree more, nothing more boring than no proper footy, my main concern during international weeks is looking to make sure that no Arsenal players got injured. I spose the one consolation is that I can relax with a pint while watching assorted, mancs, spuds ans scousers struggle against the might of teams like Estonia. Don't get me wrong, I do want England to win but I don't really care if we lose either and I'd much rather Arsenal take 3 points off of Bolton next week than see an England win on saturday.

[26may1989]

Could'nt agree more, nothing more boring than no proper footy, my main concern during international weeks is looking to make sure that no Arsenal players got injured. I spose the one consolation is that I can relax with a pint while watching assorted, mancs, spuds ans scousers struggle against the might of teams like Estonia. Don't get me wrong, I do want England to win but I don't really care if we lose either and I'd much rather Arsenal take 3 points off of Bolton next week than see an England win on saturday.

Absolutely. I'd be happy if England do well and all that, though a freak accident which saw the deaths of Terry, Ferdinand and McClaren would be welcome (or is that in bad taste?).

I'd also be pleased to see our real national team, France, and the land of my ancestors, Scotland, qualify from their group at the expense of Italy. But having Sagna, Gallas, Diarra, Flamini and Diaby bad unscathed is the main thing. Anelka returning injured would be useful though, given that Bolton are next up.

I know this is a contradiction, but I feel sorry for Clichy and the French left-back situation. I think he's definitely better than Evra and, from what I've seen, Abidal too, but they are both undeniably good players, so it's not surprising to see Clichy miss out even though he's one of the best left-backs around.

And RaM, Theo should be kept in the U21s at the moment. But then I'm more pessimistic than most about his potential. In my opinion, Sven's bizarre decision to put Theo in the squad in Germany harmed Theo by loading the expectation on him, so anything to handle him sensitively would be a good thing.

God, how am I going to cope for the next week or more?? I might even end up watching pigging rugby... Though there's some fun to be had there: RaM, would you care to comment on last weekend's game??

[26may1989]

But having Sagna, Gallas, Diarra, Flamini and Diaby bad unscathed is the main thing.

Sorry, that was meant to read "back unscathed". I am a div.

[Magic Hat]

U16's tonight, U21's tomorrow, lots of games on Saturday, U21's on Tuesday, games on Wednesday. You should be able to cope, it may not be Arsenal but while your watching an international team, at least youths footballers from the cash brought in.

[REB]

gael will get his chance with france,, still id rather all our players were not involved this week as to keep them fresh for the tough weeks ahead,, suppose gallas,rosicky and lehmann will play for there countrys this week

[RaM]

Ireland cannot qualify

Ireland can still qualify actually. Need to beat Germany, have Germany beat Czech Republic, win the rest of our games, and hope the Czech's lose another...