Does Ryan Babel offer hope for us all?

Ian Watson

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Ryan Babel: giver of hope
I don’t know what to conclude for the fact that Ryan Babel is not only a starter in the Dutch lineup but also their goal scorer! Does it mean that I still have hope to turn my life around or that we are not going to see the Dutch team in serious competitions for some time?
Murtuza Prabhakar

 

It ain’t broke so don’t fix it
As a blunt Yorkshireman, I’m predisposed to not like change (unless I find it down the back of the sofa, boom boom)

However there’s a prominent reason why Timi, MUFC’s proposed changes to the Nations League format wouldn’t work out. The crucial aspect is that the Nations League has to happen in addition to the existing tournaments and qualifiers – this means that it has to work on a minimum possible number of games.

Two groups in each tier, with 6 teams in each group, means 5 group games (10 if you play each one twice), plus the final for the top two (making 6 games / 11 games in total). There just isn’t enough space in the footballing calendar to fit these in and still have it run as a cycle that fits to the Euros – and if you take away the Euro qualifier spots, then the whole thing becomes meaningless.

Personally I think this competition is great for two reasons. Number one, and most important – fans get to watch more games that actually mean something. Lets face it, most friendlies are pretty tedious to watch, and if either side is on top, then you can expect a raft of changes from both sides and a pretty slow second half. Compare that to Switzerland v Iceland that I enjoyed on Saturday – final score 6-0 to Switzerland, with two borderline offside goals (rightly) disallowed as well. If that had been a friendly, I sincerely doubt the Swiss would have kept the pressure on as they did.

Number two, and much more cynically – the FIFA ranking system places more value on a competitive match, compared to a friendly. So by introducing the Nations League, UEFA just added a whole chunk of additional competitive fixtures to help UEFA sides boost their rankings. Look out for Nations League equivalent competitions springing up elsewhere as the other federations realise this (and in the meantime, watch UEFA sides start leapfrogging up the leaderboard just in time for the seedings for the WC 2022 qualifiers…)
Terry Hall, Switzerland

 

Don’t worry about Italy
Okay you’ve got Rob’s mail on Italy being awful, in two straight mailbox so I feel the need to retort.
They actually do have a good squad I’m struggling to think off an English central who starts ahead of Chellini Bonnucci,Romagnoli or Rugani .You mention balotelli as a horrible striker forgeting his career renaissance for Nice and conveniently forget that Italy still have Bellotti Chiesa and Cutrone who are all I’m quiet sure as good as/better than Rashford and Welbeck at least.It’s quiet likely they are just one Pirlo type talent in Midfield from a full resurgence.

It’s rather unlikely that Italy need this tournament to qualify for the next Euro’s, As there are 20 spots available and they failed to qualify due to being in the same group with Spain and getting out Italy-ed by Sweden partly due to their horrible managerial choice.

In terms of the World Cup, it’s not like the next four years are going to be rosy for all the big teams let’s briefly look at the top 3 tiers

Spain/France – Talent to burn will both be favourites at both the next Euro’s and the World Cup

Germany – Need to switch to the confed cup squad and continue to phase out the 2014 vintage except he likes Kroos and find some one to Klose out Chances.

Belgium/Croatia- The next Euro’s might be the last stand for these two golden generations.Belgium will lose their entire defense and Croatia will lose the Modric-Rakitic axis

Portugal-Already phasing out Nani, Quaresma and Ronaldo won’t carry on much further worryingly the likes of Renato Sanches and Andre Silva haven’t pushed on.

England – had a good world cup but will they benefit from good draws in the future and will the junior world cup winning players ever get match time?

Holland -Still rebuilding have solid defenders and a few creative sparks but are right now too dependent on Memphis (of all people for goals) might come good in four years.

Poland /Switzerland/Iceland – The Poles and Swiss will regularly qualify without doing much.This world cup unfortunately might begin the Icelandic regression to the mean.

Tier B and C No one really jumps out at you, Wales will be in with a shout for as long as they’ve got Bale the rest all remind you of the Poles and Swiss in terms of quality.

So overall I think the Italians should be fine in the long run and have enough talent coming through and possibly by Qatar all the usual suspects maybe dominating again.
Timi, MUFC

 

Postcard from non-league
This weekend saw the international break combine with the first qualifying round of the FA Cup, which is the perfect combination for less heralded teams to have a brief moment in the spotlight. This in turn brings out people who many of us had probably forgotten about, only to be greeted with a brief moment of nostalgia upon seeing their names again for the first time in a while. I know there are lists of “players you didn’t realise are still playing”, but there were a few this weekend I spotted that I thought might interest people:

*First off, it’s cheating to say “I spotted him this weekend” because I do follow non-league football, but the National League has several teams managed by players from the 1990s, such as Lee Bradbury, Justin Edinburgh and Andy Hessenthaler. However, it’s Gateshead manager Steve Watson I wanted to mention in particular. I’m sure Newcastle United fans in particular will remember him as a versatile defender and midfielder (but not quite the full Warhurst), but following a couple of coaching posts he’s now in his first managerial job, not far from where he grew up and began his playing career. The Heed currently sit just outside the playoff places.

*This week’s Non-League Paper ran an interview with Jon Macken, star of Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City side and current boss of Evo-Stik Division 1 West side Radcliffe. They’ve made a great start to the season, sitting top of the league and recording an upset victory over Stalybridge Celtic in the FA Cup on Saturday.

*In happier times both Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient had Kevin Lisbie leading the line. Aged 40, he’s still playing and this weekend turned out for Cray Valley Paper Mills of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division in a goalless draw with Merstham, who are two divisions higher. The SCEFL Premier also features Beckenham Town (where I was born) and Chatham Town (Spawns Devils).

*Finally, though Quorn’s 0-1 defeat to Atherstone Town in the FA Cup merited only a one-line mention in the NLP, the line did contain a bit of intrigue, as a late chance for an equaliser wasn’t taken by Quorn’s goalie, who just happened to be former WBA stopper Russell Hoult. He’s ordinarily the goalkeeping coach and I’d presume he was pressed into emergency service. That would have been the Magic of the FA Cup TM.
Ed Quoththeraven

 

Lowe point
As an avid reader of Mediawatch, I do enjoy your regular take downs of Fleet Streets finest.
One thing that never features however is Sunday Supplement.
That is, I can only assume, because you would need a separate column devoted to it and its nonsense.

I cannot let today pass however without bringing up a stellar discussion on footballers international allegiance on yesterdays show.

Martin Samuel, Sid Lowe and Darren Lewis were discussing footballers switching between countries, having previously representing another country in youth football.
This was in light of Declan Rice recent flip flopping between Ireland and England.

Samuel was adamant that Rice, born in England to English parents should play for England. Same goes for Jack Grealish.
This was broadly accepted to be a reasonable opinion.
The panel went on to dicsuss Munir, a Spanish born footballer who wanted to represent Morocco in the World Cup despite having played 13 mins for Spain in the qualifiers.
Samuel again argued that he was not denied the opportunity of playing for Morocco but was in fact given the opportunity of playing for Spain, but hes not yet good enough for futher honours.

So all in all quite measured. Players should only play for the country of their birth.
Until Sid Lowe pointed out, that using that logic, Raheem Sterling having been born outside England (Jamaica) should not be playing for England.

And I am quoting here.
“Yes, but Sterling is as English as they come” said Samuel.

Amazing.
DC, BAC

 

The dilemma
I don’t disagree with much of what Mr Nicholson espouses regarding the damage that gambling is doing and the lassez faire attitude that the bigwigs apply to marketing and promotion in search of more dollars in their pocket. However, how many more times is he going to write about it on a website that contributes to the problem immensely? F365 promotes gambling just as much as others, through it’s advertising (there was genuinely a Casumo casino ad underneath the GamCare link when I read the article), as well as in some of it’s content (Cheeky Punt is not the sole place it exists). Can you be so against something whilst continuing to profit from it? Are we taking them down from the inside?

Also, Yaru, you do realise that, despite winning the Golden Boot, Kane didn’t really play that well at the World Cup, particularly in the knockouts? I thought we’d cleared that up.
Alex, Ayr

 

Great article by Johnny Nicholson on football’s addiction to gambling. However, I knew as soon as I clicked on it that there would be a banner for a betting company on the same page I would be reading. Here’s a funny thing though; the ad in question is under a drop-down window that has been helpfully opened for me when I arrive on the page (the others are not). So, I closed said window and then refreshed the page. There was the drop-down ad once again opened for me in case, heaven forbid, I should not be able to see it for a second. Cigarettes and alcohol wish they had this much control over their publicity I imagine.
Martin, Madrid

 

…John writes articles, he gets paid by F365.

F365 is a website that is funded by advertising, F365 get paid by media buyers selling space to betting companies (amongst others), after taking a nice little cut of course.

So reviewing all the adverts on the homepage, article page and everything in between, is John not biting the hand that feeds him?

I agree with everything he says but the hypocrisy of posting on this website beggars belief.

Lets start with this:

1- F365 agree with their media buyers not to show any betting content for a week and see what happens. F365 then report back on how this has affected their revenue using site analytics (all very easy to do)

2- F365 consult their own analytics suite and tell us the depth of their reporting. ie. what types of people, what ages etc are using their site

Unless F365 bite the bullet then John’s article is just another hearsay driven finger-wagging exercise. Why not SHOW us what the deal is as F365 is all part of the problem.
Fat Man Scouse (would I be able to do without football news? of course I would)