2018 UEFA Nations League

[Nalens Oga]

Germany relegated....fully deserved for continuing to employ Low and costing the team a World Cup in the summer and probably a Euro title before that (but they couldn't in fairness fire him before Euro 2016).

 

[Cassano]

Suso might be the best Spanish player ATM.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I know that Finland isn't a big conversation topic, what comes to football
we haven't been that for ages, but....nowadays, lots has changed, tons of improvement.

Our National team has progressed so much in relatively short time
under our new coach Markku Kanerva. We got promoted to B-League,
we are 2 wins away from Euro 2020, which is frigging awesome.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

It would be nice to improve from what Iceland did not so long time ago,
i understand that we actually would have to get to the 2020 euro's first, but nevertheless..

 

[gary69]

DD's choices... Sissoko on the pitch again. Brings nothing but a penalty for the opponents. Pavard beaten time and time again.
Still no use for Lemar. Nzonzi and Sissoko in midfield, Rabiot at home, Ndombele on the bench.
Laporte at home, out of form Kimpembe on the pitch.

At some point, you can't always leave some of your best players off the pitch.

I don't expect Deschamps to change much, he seems too stubborn for that. But with the players at their disposal, France could have a scary, fluid attack much in the style of PSG.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Germany relegated....fully deserved for continuing to employ Low and costing the team a World Cup in the summer and probably a Euro title before that (but they couldn't in fairness fire him before Euro 2016).

I still can't believe we have a chance to win our group! Beating both Germany and France was something nobody expected but we somehow did. All we need now, is a draw against Germany on Monday to qualify for the semis!

 

[Evilo]

I don't expect Deschamps to change much, he seems too stubborn for that. But with the players at their disposal, France could have a scary, fluid attack much in the style of PSG.

That's true, but he's also very pragmatic.
He didn't want a youth movement after Euro 16 and he was forced to.
I think he wanted to play the same WC final guys until their first loss. He seemed very very upset about the display yesterday.
He won't call back Benzema, that's for sure (Rabiot is likely on his black list for a while as well), but I could see him try Laporte (or Zouma or Diop), Lacazette, etc...

Pogba wasn't there also and it showed. N'Zonzi/Kante in midfield isn't enough.
Giroud might also have lost a few points of confidence. Plea is in full form and didn't see the pitch. Lacazette was called but couldn't come.
It's so obvious a guy like Lacazette would fit with quick players like Mbappe, Dembele and Griezmann .

He'll have to consider his fullback spots too. Lucas is decent, but not a world beater. Mendy is one of the best LB in the busines but has been injured a lot. Digne should really be a long shot option. Ferland Mendy is an exciting option but his D is still a bit weak. As for Kurzawa, what will happen to him?
At RB it's even worse. Sidibe is in the worst form of his life. Pavard has been disastrous. Corchia is never even talked about. Sabaly has chosen Senegal. Sarr isn't good enough defensively. Dubois isn't seeing much time with Lyon. Aguilar is a long shot.
They're really weak. Maybe try a CB like Zouma there. He has played that before and at least would be good defensively, contrary to Pavard.

At CB, the choice is huge : Varane, Umtiti, Kimpembe, Pavard, Diop, Zouma, Laporte, Sakho, Lenglet...

In midfield, Pogba, Tolisso, Matuidi, Kante should split the starts. Ndombele, Rabiot, Kondogbia, Bakayoko are all better options that Moussa MF Sissoko and Steven N'Zonzi.
For AM, Lemar, Dembele, Fekir, Coman are the main guys.
Up front, Griezmann, Mbappe, Lacazette, Martial and then consider Giroud and Plea.

Play a MF 4-4-2. Mbappe-Griez up front. Lemar/Dembele on the wings, Pogba/Kante in midfield. Zouma-Varane-Umtiti-Mendy on defense. Lloris/Areola in nets.
If you play a 4-4-3, put Dembele on the bench and start Tolisso or Rabiot instead in midfield.

 

[MaxV]

Denmark goes up 2-0 in the 88th at Wales and look to secure their promotion to the A league. Then Bale scores a minute later.

Ukraine, Russia and Bosnia have already secured promotion to the A league and it looks like Denmark will be the final B league team to secure the jump up to A for the next edition of the nations league.

Sweden can still catch Russia by winning out. But I believe goal differential is the tie breaker, so they would need to win their games convincingly as they are -4 difference from Russia right now.

 

[koyvoo]

Sweden can still catch Russia by winning out. But I believe goal differential is the tie breaker, so they would need to win their games convincingly as they are -4 difference from Russia right now.

Ya I didn’t realize yesterday when I was looking at the standings that they still had the extra game in hand. I stand corrected.

The Swedes can definitely pull it off, but they’ve got work to do, no doubt.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Serbia promote to League B after beating Montenegro 2:1 at home, should have buried them by HT but they became too relaxed and almost let Montenegro back in the game

Some big matches kicking off now, notably Sweden-Turkey which is essentially must win for both (Turkey to avoid relegation while Sweden to earn promotion as they still host Russia)

Big games in League D now kicking off as Kosovo/Azerbaijan look to win their matches to stay in the promotion run, both of them meet on Tuesday in Pristina in what could be the decider

 

[S E P H]

As someone who doesn't really care about 90% of international football, these international breaks are absolutely killing my football interest. We just had the world cup which was awesome and because friendly games are effin' pointless, they had to make something that on the surface seems relevant enough to make, but in reality is simply a waste of time.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

As someone who doesn't really care about 90% of international football, these international breaks are absolutely killing my football interest. We just had the world cup which was awesome and because friendly games are effin' pointless, they had to make something that on the surface seems relevant enough to make, but in reality is simply a waste of time.

Except they're not... it give a chance for these to prep and implement new ideas to the team. They have to get them early in the year because there's no way club teams will allow them to go late in to the season. The next batch are in March sooo.

 

[S E P H]

Except they're not... it give a chance for these to prep and implement new ideas to the team. They have to get them early in the year because there's no way club teams will allow them to go late in to the season. The next batch are in March sooo.

They are completely a waste of time. I am not saying all of them are because qualifying for the Euros, World Cup, or the Copa are games I consider relevant (and friendlies before the qualifying games are legit as well), but just after the World Cup there isn't any single effin' tournament they're playing games for until as early as next year is just a big ass waste of time.

I get your viewpoint though, considering how terrible Argentina have been since I started watching football, they need every single game and every single play to prep before they lose to Chile or in the round of 16 again.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

They are completely a waste of time. I am not saying all of them are because qualifying for the Euros, World Cup, or the Copa are games I consider relevant (and friendlies before the qualifying games are legit as well), but just after the World Cup there isn't any single effin' tournament they're playing games for until as early as next year is just a big ass waste of time.

I get your viewpoint though, considering how terrible Argentina have been since I started watching football, they need every single game and every single play to prep before they lose to Chile or in the round of 16 again.

You've been watching since 2018?

They made 3 straight finals within the last 5 years... Have Brasil, Spain, Italy,Netherlands or Germany done that?

These games are needed to prep for important games. A week off is going to kill your interest in the sport says more about you than the sport or how its run.

 

[koyvoo]

Well it definitely disrupts the flow of the club game but the even more meaningless friendlies were never going to go away anyway in terms of international breaks.

 

[S E P H]

You've been watching since 2018?

They made 3 straight finals within the last 5 years... Have Brasil, Spain, Italy,Netherlands or Germany done that?

These games are needed to prep for important games. A week off is going to kill your interest in the sport says more about you than the sport or how its run.

Consistency at failure I guess, like Man City and PSG in the Champion's League. There's always gotta be one of those teams in every sport like the Caps before they won last year.

Well it definitely disrupts the flow of the club game but the even more meaningless friendlies were never going to go away anyway in terms of international breaks.

No arguments from since I doubt they will ever go away, but meaningless friendly games during meaningless years should be at least reduced. The EPL has times where they have two games in one week and getting rid of some of these ridiculous international breaks which provide nothing except potential injuries to players can be better used to stop two games per week during the winter months.

 

[koyvoo]

I know. But these international governing bodies are going to get their piece of the pie too. That’s what it comes down to. No international break = no revenue, or at least less revenue for FIFA, UEFA et all.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Consistency at failure I guess, like Man City and PSG in the Champion's League. There's always gotta be one of those teams in every sport like the Caps before they won last year.

... And that makes them horrible? Get real. There's only one winner.

 

[Evilo]

Consistency at failure I guess, like Man City and PSG in the Champion's League. There's always gotta be one of those teams in every sport like the Caps before they won last year.

That's coming from an Arsenal fan?
Really?

 

[Panteras]

does the EL winner qualify directly to Euro 2020?

 

[HajdukSplit]

Turkey relegated; Sweden host Russia on Tuesday and must win to promote (Russia only need a point)

In League D both Kosovo and Azerbaijan win easily, setting up a H2H matchup on Tuesday in Pristina where Azerbaijan must win to top the group (Kosovo only need a point)

Italy-Portugal kickoffs in less than an hour, important game for both sides, Italy must win to have any chance at the Final Four while Portugal only need a point to confirm that. In League C Albania host Scotland, must win for Albania to have any chance of winning the group while if Scotland get anything they will be in good shape as long as they take care of business at home against Israel in 3 days time

 

[maclean]

I wasn't a fan of the project from the start, but with the teams being so closely matched, it really does make for an interesting format. Tight battles against similarly ranked teams bring out the best matches, much more so than the random friendlies teams agreed on previously.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Nah still dumb

 

[HajdukSplit]

I still want to see how this works in the future with World Cup qualification, its already a bit confusing with the Euros but with WCQ, Europe has less spots and I doubt FIFA will allow UEFA to use their own system for the qualifying (FIFA rankings has always been used for seeding)

So the carrot for winning League D is there now with a spot at the Euros, I severely doubt that will be the case for the 2022 World Cup, making those games largely useless other than prestige/promotion

But overall I like these games more than friendly matches which usually die down by the 60th minute when each team makes 100 changes

 

[YNWA14]

I for one thoroughly enjoy the international breaks. I also really like the Nations league. Everyone can have their own opinion but if it makes you lose interest in football maybe another sport would be better for you.