Jump to content

Club or country?

Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

By Ivan Katalinic's 'tache
in The Saints

 Share

Recommended Posts

Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Posted
Posted

A quick poser for a Monday morning. The Great God of Football has given you an ultimatum: only one result will come in - an England win vs Poland tomorrow night which seals World Cup qualification or a Southampton win at Old Trafford which maintains our great recent progress? Which do you pick?

 

Not looking for a reasoned debate on which truly is the most important - just a light-hearted voting scenario!

Wurzel

Wurzel

Posted
Posted

I'd go for the England win. They may well need God's assistance. Saints are quite capable of winning at Old Trafford without it.

 

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk 2

david in sweden

david in sweden

Posted
Posted

a win at Man.Utd would heal quite a lot of wounds that I've felt after Man.U games in the last 50 years.....

 

if England fail to qualify, I wouldn't blame Roy directly, he's only trying to work with what he's got, but it only goes to show the " weaknesses " in the FA structure of training, selection and tactics.

david in sweden

david in sweden

Posted
Posted
Win at Man U

 

unless the england win includes an SRL hatrick then I may be tempted to switch

 

 

nice thought, but when was the last time an England striker scored a hat-trick in 10 minutes ? ( RL won't get much more time than that - will he ?)

saint si

saint si

Posted
Posted

England win through a penalty conceded by a defender. Scored by Lambert, why not.

 

Other than that Boruc produces a string of world class saves from Rooney and Welbeck to ensure his confidence is high going in to the Old Trafford game.

Olallana

Olallana

Posted
Posted

Not on topic but maybe close enough....

When was the last time a Saints player were involved in the Euro or World Cup?

Does it go back to 2004 with Anders Svensson?

 

And does that matter for your interest in those tournaments?

SaintDonkey

SaintDonkey

Posted
Posted

England - but only because it's a key game for them now whereas the United game could only be seen as a key game come the end of the season. Now if the question was 'England to win and qualify for the World Cup' or 'Southampton to win and qualify for the Champions League' my answer might be different.

Saint_clark

Saint_clark

Posted
Posted

United, undoubtedly. England can still qualify through the play-offs and to be honest I think I enjoyed Euro 08 more without us being there.

Those 3 points on offer at Old Trafford however, they will be gone forever if we don't win.

The9

The9

Posted
Posted
A quick poser for a Monday morning. The Great God of Football has given you an ultimatum: only one result will come in - an England win vs Poland tomorrow night which seals World Cup qualification or a Southampton win at Old Trafford which maintains our great recent progress? Which do you pick?

 

Not looking for a reasoned debate on which truly is the most important - just a light-hearted voting scenario!

 

Bizarrely given that I'm only arguably borderline English at best, I'd actually go for the International result on this specific occasion. Saints can launch a top 10 offensive without needing a result on Saturday, whilst England not winning tomorrow will make next summer's World Cup about 400% (estimate) less interesting for people like me who will watch as much of it as physically possible anyway - everyone else around giving a monkey's and all the pub gatherings around England games makes the whole thing so much more entertaining. Euro 2008 was utter gash compared to 2006, 2010, 2012.

 

Though it is worth noting that the English media has completely overlooked the existence of play-offs for the majority of second placed teams and that would most likely lead to qualification anyway... hmmm...

sussexsaint

sussexsaint

Posted
Posted
Because you can watch it without worrying about it.

 

Indeed or by being toe curlingly embarrased by how little of a sh*t our players apparently give about playing for their country.

 

Mental as it sounds I'd much rather watch a team made up of championship Englishmen who cared and fought for their place than the load of overpaid mollycoddled wasters we have at the moment

ericofarabia

ericofarabia

Posted
Posted
Not sure how anyone can enjoy an international tournament without England there.

 

Can't say I've particulary enjoyed the majority of international tounaments that England have been involved in.

In fact most have been ball aching disappoinments after all the hype of often qualifying well.

 

Naturally I'd like England to win, but any celebrations would pale into insignificance at what my celebrations and general sense of well being would be like if we were to win at Old Trafford,

especially if SRL showed Wellbeck and Rooney how to score a classy goal or to in the process!!

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted

How can it be more enjoyable to watch an international football tournament with no English involvement. In that scenario I'm pretty much indifferent and could not really give a toss what happens. Sort of like watching league one highlights. I take a small interest but if I happened to miss it it wouldn't be the end of the world.

CB Fry

CB Fry

Posted
Posted
How can it be more enjoyable to watch an international football tournament with no English involvement. In that scenario I'm pretty much indifferent and could not really give a toss what happens. Sort of like watching league one highlights. I take a small interest but if I happened to miss it it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

100% this.

 

In the OP's scenario, England win. A world cup summer with no England would be horrendous. It's the kind of thing I get excited aboyt even in the January of a tournament year. We have to be there.

 

There are plenty of scenarios where I'd pick club over country but not in this one.

Saint_clark

Saint_clark

Posted
Posted
100% this.

 

In the OP's scenario, England win. A world cup summer with no England would be horrendous. It's the kind of thing I get excited aboyt even in the January of a tournament year. We have to be there.

 

There are plenty of scenarios where I'd pick club over country but not in this one.

 

But England failing to win tomorrow won't mean we don't go through, it just means we're in the play-off.

KelvinsRightGlove

KelvinsRightGlove

Posted
Posted
Not sure how anyone can enjoy an international tournament without England there.

 

The thing is, if we qualify we will no doubt still be taking the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Defoe etc.

 

Undoubtedly they are good players, but they are all past their peak, and hardly represent the future of English football. I'd much rather see us take the approach Germany took a few years back, write the tournament off (coz we aren't going to win it anyway) and pick a team of kids who can get tournament experience. Who is going to get more from the euros, Ashley Cole or Luke Shaw? Frank Lampard or Ross Barkley?

 

I'm not saying these are necessarily the better players right now, but who are more likely to be playing in 2016, or 2018? We aren't going to win next year, not a chance, let's give the kids some experience I say. You never know, they might actually give it a go and try for the shirt. Wouldn't that make a pleasant change.

Toadhall Saint

Toadhall Saint

Posted
Posted
How can it be more enjoyable to watch an international football tournament with no English involvement. In that scenario I'm pretty much indifferent and could not really give a toss what happens. Sort of like watching league one highlights. I take a small interest but if I happened to miss it it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

That's how've I feel about watching England tbh. We are dross.

SaintSteve

SaintSteve

Posted
Posted

England win mandatory.. otherwise we have endless punditry on who is next for the job and the World Cup massively reduced in interest.. also gives the country a feel good factor.

We will probably be beaten my Man U anyway..

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
That's how've I feel about watching England tbh. We are dross.

 

It's a very sad situation where you aren't patriotic enough to want the England team (in any sport) to do well. I understand all the arguments about overpaid players etc but at the end of the day I am a proud Englishman and I want us to do as well as possible at the sport that we invented.

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
The thing is, if we qualify we will no doubt still be taking the likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Defoe etc.

 

Undoubtedly they are good players, but they are all past their peak, and hardly represent the future of English football. I'd much rather see us take the approach Germany took a few years back, write the tournament off (coz we aren't going to win it anyway) and pick a team of kids who can get tournament experience. Who is going to get more from the euros, Ashley Cole or Luke Shaw? Frank Lampard or Ross Barkley?

 

I'm not saying these are necessarily the better players right now, but who are more likely to be playing in 2016, or 2018? We aren't going to win next year, not a chance, let's give the kids some experience I say. You never know, they might actually give it a go and try for the shirt. Wouldn't that make a pleasant change.

 

But that's a different point. I totally understand moaning about our approach but I can never really understand preferring us not to qualify and actually enjoying it more because of that.

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
Would take a Saints win at OT. England don't have to win tomorrow to go through, anyway if they do qualify they will not do very well in Brazil.

 

But how is them not doing very well in Brazil preferable to them not even qualifying in the first place?

Tom & Gerry

Tom & Gerry

Posted
Posted

A win for England raises the profile, image and feel good factor of the game,the Premier League and ultimately Saints.

If you accept that Saints are unlikely to go the rest of the season unbeaten then defeat at Old Trafford is just about acceptable/ bearable.

St Marco

St Marco

Posted
Posted

If this is a club vs country argument then I pick my club. I have more connection to my local area then I do nationally. Could not give a crap about being patriotic or anything like that because it is only a game of football.

International football is below the standard of club football.

 

The problem with the England team is it has been a closed club for way too long where players who are not playing well will get picked based on their name. Hart has been playing gash for months but will always be picked. It should be about who is playing well right now. England is more about money/image then being successful. Look at what happened with Townsend and SRL, two players who gave it their all and looked the better players on the night. But soon as the injured players return i.e Rooney, Theo they will be out. Imagine a team full of people who want to wear the shirt and will give it everything. When that happens then people might be interested in the national side again.

 

In a ****ed up way us losing might actually benefit the team in the long run. If we go out then Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Cole etc would be done. The so called golden generation that didn't produce anything will be replaced. And personally I think that is what needs to happen. If we limp through into the world cup with the same players from the last one but older the same thing will happen again. We couldn't beat USA or Algeria...

verlaine1979

verlaine1979

Posted
Posted
How can it be more enjoyable to watch an international football tournament with no English involvement. In that scenario I'm pretty much indifferent and could not really give a toss what happens. Sort of like watching league one highlights. I take a small interest but if I happened to miss it it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

Because there are reasons to watch and enjoy football that go beyond tribalism?

Dig Dig

Dig Dig

Posted
Posted

England in major tournaments doesn't typically make it any better. We haven't come close to winning one in years and probably won't for years to come. Italia 90 and Euro 96 were good but those were the only 2 in my lifetime.

Colinjb

Colinjb

Posted
Posted

Always club over country. It's great watching England play in major tournaments but if it had to be any kind of choice between a Saints win or an England win it'll be Saints every time.

 

Thankfully life doesn't work like this though. :)

hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
Because there are reasons to watch and enjoy football that go beyond tribalism?

 

Oh my mistake I thought the football team you support is GENERALLY where you are from. Otherwise maybe everyone could take an interest in a conference South game. After all, there are other reasons for watching football...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...