International call ups...

[SF_]

Daniel Johnson is with Jamaica for the Gold Cup so he'll be missing our pre season.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

So is our new left back Amari’i Bell.

 

[Super_horns]

I presume there aren't any Premier league players in this otherwise we would have heard a lot of fuss about players missing Pre-season?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Doesnt seem to be, certainly none in the Jamaica squad despite them being very active in trying to recruit some.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Our new man Amari'i Bell on the scoresheet last night, unfortunately in his own net as Jamaica beat Guadeloupe to qualify. Bit of an unfortunate one to be fair although you could argue he could have been a bit closer.

 

[SF_]

Sepp Van Den Berg called up to the Dutch U21s, got a good future this guy, you forget he's only 19 because he's a big, ginger unit.

 

[SF_]

Watched Northern Ireland last night.

Quietly impressed by McCann, very intelligent for his age, nothing rash about him and his engine is unreal. Think he'll fit in well.

The lasher striker, Lavery actually looked good too. Can't see him banging loads in at this level but he's a constant pest and technically decent, reminds me of Sean Maguire before his injuries.

Hard to read much into a game against Lithuania though, they're non-league standard.

Alan Browne called up to the ROI squad and Daniel Johnson can't play for Jamaica as they're in red list countries.

 

[SF_]

Riis called up for Denmark, hopefully he gets on against Scotland.

Alan Browne came on as sub tonight for Ireland and McCann played the full game for Northern Ireland the other night. Might see how he fares against Italy tomorrow if I can find a stream.

Van Den Berg played the full game for the Dutch U21s too.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Croatia qualified for the World Cup yesterday so Sluga will be competing to get in their squad for the next year or so.

Do we know what the plan is for next season in terms of stopping for the World Cup at this level. I see the premier league dates got announced but wasn’t sure if it’s the same for the championship (and wider football league I guess)

 

[Super_horns]

Championship schedule for next season out :

Homepage - The English Football League

The Official home of the English Football League

www.efl.com

“Match round 16 in the Championship, set to take place on Saturday 12 November, will be the final round of fixtures played ahead of the call-up period for the tournament, which begins on Monday 14 November.

The Championship will resume on 10 December 2022 following the culmination of the World Cup Group Stages”

 

[oakroader]

SportFootballLuton Town

Hatters attacker Muskwe named in Zimbabwe squad for Africa Cup of Nations​

Forward could miss up to three games for Luton in new year​

 

[SF_]

Daniel Johnson called up to the Jamaica squad and misses the next three games, absolutely massive blow for us over this run-in. Easily our best player.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Andre Gray, Bobby Reid, Ravel Morrison, Kevin Stewart, Liam Moore also called up from Championship squads. We have avoided losing Bell which I am sure NJ would have been furious about!

African Cup of Nations is kind of a special case due to climate conditions of the region but really needs to be a rationalisation of the football calendar. Just way too much football being played at the moment and not enough time to fit it all in, leading to players missing games, players rushing back from tournaments to fill in on the bench and just general fatigue being very obvious. And thats without the ridiculous world cup this year. Im sure we all enjoy football, but theres a reckoning coming here and the law of diminishing returns is a thing...

 

[Kenneth E End]

Andre Gray, Bobby Reid, Ravel Morrison, Kevin Stewart, Liam Moore also called up from Championship squads. We have avoided losing Bell which I am sure NJ would have been furious about!

African Cup of Nations is kind of a special case due to climate conditions of the region but really needs to be a rationalisation of the football calendar. Just way too much football being played at the moment and not enough time to fit it all in, leading to players missing games, players rushing back from tournaments to fill in on the bench and just general fatigue being very obvious. And thats without the ridiculous world cup this year. Im sure we all enjoy football, but theres a reckoning coming here and the law of diminishing returns is a thing...

In this case the Americas region is in Covid catch up mode.

 

[SF_]

Daniel Iversen was on the bench for Denmark
Van Den Berg played for the Dutch U21
Alan Browne scored for Ireland
Cameron Archer pulled out of the England U20 through illness
Ali McCann played for Northern Ireland
Lewis Coulton played for Scotland U19s

 

[oakroader]

prm sat on his arse for zaire ...

 

[BelizeHatter]

Did you have a word in the ear of the Zaire Manager Oaky? He wasnt even included in the squad it seems

 

[oakroader]

Looks like it’s Wales,if they make it,
For our Luton World Cup representation
Unless I’ve missed anybody…

 

[oakroader]

James Justin called up to the England squad…
Go JJ…

 

[BelizeHatter]

Triggers more cash?

 

[BelizeHatter]

Not surpised. Even considering he has Kyle Walker, Trent AA and Reece James in his way.

 

[Kenneth E End]

James Justin called up to the England squad…
Go JJ…

Bravo with big brass bells on.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

So pleased for him. He was nailed on to get a call up just before he did his knee injury.

Looking at the squad, he’s probably going to have a good chance to get a cap and play left back as he’s comfortable playing there.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Allan Campbell gets a call up to the Scotland squad as a replacement for injured Ryan Jack.

Richly deserved but selfishly really felt he of all of our players needed a decent rest over the summer! I’m sure he’s absolutely buzzing to be a part of it though

 

[oakroader]

Bell called up for Jamaica too..

 

[BelizeHatter]

JJ starts for England. Wow. Knew it could happen but it has.......Left back too. Jones only slotted him in there as he couldnt drop an on fire Jack Stacey.

So pleased for the lad. One of ours for life, even tho he outgrew us.

 

[SF_]

He had an absolute shocker! Was he not fit? because on that showing I hope it's his last cap, especially when the likes of Shaw & Chilwell are back.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

He had an absolute shocker! Was he not fit? because on that showing I hope it's his last cap, especially when the likes of Shaw & Chilwell are back.

He has just come back from his knee injury which kept him out most of the season. Think he only played a handful of games, so yeah not fully fit I’d guess.

Think this call up was a bit of a “make up call up” because he was pretty much guaranteed to make it into the euros squad before doing his knee, plus not many other left backs about so may as well give him a shot. Unfortunately didn’t play well (no one did really!) so probably hoping to regain confidence in his knee and find that pre injury form again next season but I think he’s a long shot to make it.

More broadly I really don’t see the point of these games. One or at max 2 internationals I understand as the international managers want to keep the contact but 4 international (now “competitive” games with the nations league now being a thing) at the end of a long season is just too much. UEFA trying to squeeze in another money spinner of a competition at the end of the season, given we have just had seasons disrupted by covid 2 years in a row forcing games to be squeezed in plus a short turn around between seasons because of the World Cup, really feels like diminishing returns to me. Just way too much football being played imo

 

[Super_horns]

And it showed by England’s performance and other results.

The Nations league is a good idea generally but not this summer surely ?

Mind you the clubs will probably drag their players across the World on pre season tours !

Then claim tiredness .

I think Leicester fans were a bit surprised Justin was called up and someone like Maddison was.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

And it showed by England’s performance and other results.

The Nations league is a good idea generally but not this summer surely ?

Mind you the clubs will probably drag their players across the World on pre season tours !

Then claim tiredness .

I think Leicester fans were a bit surprised Justin was called up and someone like Maddison was.

In my view they really should have cancelled it this year, one friendly or something week after the season then let the players off until pre season. As I said, too many games and you are going to get diminishing returns in terms of quality of play. Goodness knows what they will look like at the end of next season

For the “elite” players you really wonder where this is all going for them. The champions league is changing format and adding more games to it, more international games potentially being added. Think you will start to see players at that level burning out quicker than they might have.