THE INTERNATIONAL BREAK

I also am not available.

There was a time when it was the greatest of honours to represent your country.

Indeed given the choice, most players in the past would rather have missed a club game in order to be fit to play for the national side.

Now the so called top players (except the likes of Kane) treat anything but the Euros and the World Cup as being an annoyance.

Does anybody seriously think any of the feeble five named above would be missing if their clubs were playing this week ?

Rice rarely misses a game.Would think he's genuinely got an injury
worry.

feeble five

More money matched on Andorra to win in Gibraltar than any other match

A ridiculous tournament that no one cares about , the players have played 5 league games building up match fitness etc and now a 3 week break , all so the lesser teams can play so called competitive games against each other and get gifted a place they dont deserve in the euros in which they wont win a game .

I bet a 3 week break is more than a lot of players got in the summer

Can't read the opening post but based on follow up posts, assume it's about the pull outs.

Palmer shouldn't be called up again, he's probably throwing a h1ssy fit because he wasn't picked for the World Cup, you were s*** last season Cole, you didn't deserve to go, can't pick and choose when you play for England. Load management is laughable, he had the summer off and is in his prime. Tuchel seems like the sort of person that wont forget about it so it doesn't bode well for Palmer going forward.

Kind Regards.

Ever the wan4er.

Is it over yet?

Football is far more strenuous than it was

1966 World Cup final Alan Ball ran an estimated 8.5km,as top England distance covered over the 2 hours.

Teams are clocking nearly 110km per game over 90mins in epl this season.(arsenal over that)

Bruno g did over 13km in newcastle's 4-3 win v Leeds.

They are picking up injuries and deserve a rest.

Tuchel can look at his squad, and we can bet accordingly.

What's Palmer's running stats though? doesn't look like he runs much and needs much of a rest, seems like he's throwing his toys out.

I think Palmer was really down on fitness
after his injury, and doesn't look like he's 100% back.

Saka, really struggled to get back, and just about there now, but don't want to over stress them if they can't hold the work it takes to get back.

Palmer

2025/26 Premier League

Covered a total of 228.7 km across his league appearances, averaging 10.5 km per 90 minutes.



In the early stages of the 2026/27 Premier League season, tracking metrics available via FotMob

Chelsea Player Stats show Cole Palmer is averaging a hard-working 10.9 kilometres to 11.0 kilometres covered per 90 minutes.He has logged a total distance of 31.9 kilometres across his initial standard multi-match blocks, consistently ranking as one of the highest-intensity movers in the Chelsea midfield. His physical outputs breakdown as follows:Distance per 90: Consistently hitting 10.9 km to 11.0 km depending on the specific match intensity.

AI generated

He'll only be play one game week for Chelsea this season as they've no European football, if you were him and just missed the World Cup, you'd want to back in the fray as soon as possible rather than slink off claiming load management, if that is the actual reason given, or a small injury. He's 24, all this talk of medical officers sitting on the bench telling the manager when to bring him off and clubs citing load management seems ridiculous for someone of his age, I'd expect it from a player post 30. Players his age recover quickly.

What is the point of playing internationals?


4 or 5 breaks during the season has got to be good for your body and over a career maybe play an extra season or two. Think of the dosh!

Mes and snc both right, for me, but it's a choice, and with niggles I'd be out for this break, for sure.

Klopp picked 2 squads of 22 players for 2 matches each. He knows. Tuchel picked 27 players for all 4 games.

Klopp is a smart bloke

Palmer

2025/26 Premier League

Covered a total of 228.7 km across his league appearances, averaging 10.5 km per 90 minutes.



In 90 minutes i can walk 8km just at average/moderate pace (and do at least that every day). And i'm a tad more ancient than Palmer

You packed in that Mobility Scooter then Dix ?

You wouldn't get one of those up the gradients and scrambles in the woodland along the Downs where i live mes

*

Athletes doing flat out sprints generally have
rest periods after each rep.

Footballers don't get this by right.


Usain bolt would happily do 3 x 100m and
3 x 200m in a week, and chuck in a sprint relay, although likely he would only be flat
out in finals.

Footballers are expected to be at peak fitness every game, do several flat out sprints, get kicked and pushed, stop quickly
and turn and the accelerate again

Josh kerr runs a mile, he broke world
record, won commonwealth games and World elite, he dropped out of European championships in Birmingham to manage his workload.

As athletics coaching gets more absorbed into
football we can expect more management of workload, and hopefully less injuries in future, but it's now such a physical game
injuries seem inevitable.

My guess is Palmer doesn't want to play for Tuchel. Entirely understandable.

I think Josh Kerr was "managing his workload" by giving up a pretty nailed on gold in the Euros in order to improve his bank balance by 150,000 USD by winning the Ultimate Games title. 

In terms of prestige the Euros was the top event this year, but obviously money talks these days and it is going to ruin Athletics in the same way it has top flight football and other sports imo.

The more that footballers are being turned in to athletes it seems that injuries are becoming more prevalent. One of the reasons cited for having such big squads compared to yesteryear. Of course back then players would not bother about playing with minor injuries, however today's players are viewed more as assets and are protected as such.

England footballers get £2,000 a cap and it is traditionally donated to charity.

Dixie, back in the day, players were also wary of losing their place in the team and therefore potential appearance money and win bonuses if they were injured.
Plus, managers encouraging players to play through pain, having cortisone injections to help, which caused bad health risks later in life
Smaller first team squads etc
Representing your country is not as important for most players these days

Of course josh kerr made a choice, but
if he wasn't careful he could have won both
or got injured.

It's only a mile and a few qualifying jogs,
but felt it worth giving up an easy gold.

A bit like some of these footballers

They'll be on sponsors bonuses for even getting called up, more for playing, and get
interviewed with the watch on for a tidy sum.

Snc may be correct and he may not want to
play for Tuchel, but word was he was being
managed carefully due to recovery problems.

Time will tell.

Yes agreed Reg, and its a real shame imo.

Not being bothered about playing for the national side is somewhat symptomatic of the attitudes of our most recent generations unfortunately

But on the cheery side, the Stones are top of NLS and Hereford top NLN

If Palmer really wanted to play for Tuchel he'd be there.

Palmer and his Agent will have mapped out his career down to the day he retires.

There is that much money involved and they will both want to maximise it.

All those things can be true, and he can
be being managed.

He's going to be much richer as an England international,playing in world cups. (and nations league matches)

Yes dixie, and Boreham Wood top of National League as well
Got the NL,NLN and NLS treble up as it stands...only September though

He's going to be much richer as an England international,playing in world cups. (and nations league matches)

Really?

By having 4 or 5 two week breaks a season a player can really look after his body and maybe play for an extra 2 or 3 seasons. That's got to be worth a lot more than he can pick up coming 3rd in the world cup.

Sponsors.

But again if he can extend his career and still go to big tournaments it's win win win

He's not got the glamour of Bellingham, but
Harry kane does well without it.

He's going to be rich enough anyway, but maxing it likely means getting into England squad.

Maybe needs a move away from Chelsea too, and they like the churn...

Yeah, I understand the sponsorship money but as you say to max out that Palmer would have to move to a bigger club. One where he's regularly pictured holding important silverware.

It's unlikely that playing second fiddle in a Tuchel side is going to spark a bidding war between Puma and Nike.

I read somewhere that young Cole is a Manchester United fan

its wild i no but if someone is allowed to even float the possibility however remote, PALMER COULD BE INJURED HAVE A NIGGLE

if PALMER was fit he,d be there, 3 weekst is a long time for PALMER to be sat at home worrying about who is BRO ROGERS is sharing a room with,spending his time with

If you wanted a team that represented England now you would need to stick 5 foreigners into it.

National pride has gone and you can see why.

We could not find enough to fight for us in a war either.

Ferguson has alot answer for. He started this trend of pulling out perfectly fit players from friendlies.
International managers get a relatively short amount of time to assess players, formations etc and this doesn't help one bit.

It's the Nations League. No major international team takes it seriously. It's a friendly tournament only good for minnow teams to get play-off spots for the real majors.

The tournament means nothing, but it's lost time for the manager with some key players.

No major international team takes it seriously lurka ?

Nations league finals since inception :

2018/19 winners Portugal runners up Netherlands
2020/21 winners France runners up Spain
2022/23 winners Spain runners up Croatia
2024/25 winners Portugal runners up Spain

The current World (and European )champions have been in the last 3 NL finals. The other finalists are not too shabby either.

There's only 9 teams in top group so almost guaranteed a top team winning it.

12,teams 4x3

Although I see it's expanded to 16 now




Shows how much I followed it, lol

Even more reason why the top teams give it credence, making their mark against their main rivals.

Full strength teams are generally played, unlike "normal" friendlies.

Top scorers in NL history so far are Haaland and Ronaldo.

I don't particularly like it or follow it either, but i'd rather watch a NL match than an uncompetitive friendly given the choice.

If you think the top sides take it as seriously as euros or WC then I don't know what you're watching

I can't find an outright market on the exchange for the Nations League, Is there one? Or is it sportsbook only?

Boring Boring Boring, unless it's a major tournament no-one gives a flying f 0 0 k, three weeks of one giant borefest upcoming.

lurka - that is not what i said though is it ?  Stop making things up.

I simply stated who the previous finalists had been and that generally full strength teams are selected, including the top European players.
Unlike what often happens in friendlies where fringe players get their chance.

It's a shyte tournament whichever way you look at it, but there is no alternative, it's friendlies or glorified friendlies, and UEFA have plumped for the latter to make a but more money. Kind Regards.

Dixie you responded to me refuting that the top sides take it seriously. If that's not what you meant then why did you respond to me?

It's like the FA cup for teams going for the PL. They will go take it seriously in the SF/F. Plenty of fringe players get game time in the early stages and they still make it to the final. Portugal and Holland are not top sides.

They do take it seriously but obviously the World Cup and Euros are the pinnacle of international football and nothing can top them..

They are not out there for a kickabout are they ? They want to win.

The FA Cup analogy is flawed as that competition is contemporaneous with the League season which is why weakened teams are put out.

The Nations League takes place at a time in the calendar when there are no WC or Euro qualifiers to worry about.

Portugal won the Euros in 2016 and beat a full strength Spain side in the 2025 NL final.

In the 3rd place play off in 2025 France beat Germany with both sides putting out a full strength line up. bit strange to do that if they weren't taking it seriously.
Mbappe and Olise netting the goals.

I've not noticed a raft of withdrawals from the France, Spain or Portugal squads, just seems to be England who suffer from that. But they're not really a top side i suppose

contemporaneous, that's a big word for you Dix

Well when you were educated like i was mes .....

Turn it in Dix , never heard of that word , and have you ever said it in a pub

Of course i have String, thats why the regulars all avoid me now

If you think any big team takes a 3rd place play-off in a 2nd (or 1st) rate comp seriously you need your head read. And neither of them put out full strength teams in that game. They did in the SF.

You have to fear for Wales tonight,a good old thumping in store unfortunately…..they just don’t have the players…

I went to the doctor.
i told him i had difficulty sleeping.
He told me to watch an international football match  tonight.and that should sort out my problem.

i would suggest that lurka needs his head read as well, but medics would have to extract it from his arris first.

Very good Brassy Listening to my good lady's advice on the wisdom of online betting does the trick for me.

I can't find an outright market on the exchange for the Nations League. Is there one? Or is it sportsbook only?

It is there, but you have to be a premium member to access it.

https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/football/market/1.262889478

Nee buggers had a bet!

Thank you.

Brobby and Havertz go off injured

Arsenal and Sunderland hold breath

Netherlands matched @ 999/1 for £40 on 91 mins (three mins added time), then Gakpo scored on 92 and they played on until 95 when Til headed narrowly wide. Layer escapes, but loses 10 years off his life.

no cash in the Til then

Ballard the latest to do a hammy.

Gonna be nobody left for fantasy football.

'i would suggest that lurka needs his head read as well, but medics would have to extract it from his arris first'

Lurka seems an unhappy person to me :)

Kylian Mbappé set to leave France national team camp due to tendon injury.

“It’s not looking good and we will not take any risks”, says Zinedine Zidane.

HE goin to kate birdy

sure he was from there originally