UEFA Nations League

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

If Raheem Sterling, who's what, 24? Is on his 50th cap tonight he could end up with about 150.

[anton pulisov]

Just trying to understand how Koeman decided to not start Van de Beek.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Start with differential calculus, it's easier.

[Kevin S]

Is it better for the people of Guimarães if England win or lose this?

[Kevin S]

Well that could be academic now anyway.

[anton pulisov]

This is like a carbon copy of the world cup semifinal.

When will they learn.

[Incandenza]

What point does a third place game in the Nations League serve at all? Is there any benefit to finishing third?

[Kevin S]

No, it's just that this international window has two match days in it and the rest of Europe are playing qualifiers.

[Tony C]

What point does a third place game in the Nations League serve at all? Is there any benefit to finishing third?

There's no benefit in winning it.

[Kevin S]

In other words, the alternative to playing a bronze match would be for England and Switzerland to find a friendly at very short notice... so they might as well play each other.

[Incandenza]

Woof

[Kevin S]

As Tim Bradford's Mr Roy used to say, "Oh dear. Oh deary me."

It's all gone a bit Hodgson again, hasn't it.

[Cal Alamein]

Hoof!

As in the English defense have no real skill to maneuver it around defenders so just hoof it the hell away.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Hup, Holland, Hup.

[anton pulisov]

We're all Portuguese now

[Jah Womble]

Jesus - that last half hour was sub-Sunday league.

Oh well, sticks it up those moronic fans, if nothing else.

[Satchmo Distel]

Feel bad for Stones (Barnsley born and bred) but there's a reason Pep's not been playing him.

Also tough on Southgate to play this game straight after two all-English European club finals. OTOH he should have considered other options such as letting Kane have the week off. He also has to reconsider playing the ball from the back with these players.

As for the competition, these games were definitely competitive, and it was great to watch the Dutch playing at this level of quality, but they were obviously not the same intensity as the World Cup games in Russia and you'd hope the defending would not be as bad as we saw today given a proper tournament build-up.

I would probably compare this week with the Confederations Cup - entertaining but you wouldn't miss it if it were scrapped.

[Ray de Galles]

Football's Koeman Home.

[Lang Spoon]

Lovely stuff.

[Felicity, I guess so]

If the Dutch had had a decent striker or slightly cooler heads in front of goal that could’ve been quite a doing judging by the highlights

[RobW]

Relieved that the game was on Sky and not ITV, otherwise i'd have been compelled to watch that horrorshow (yes, i'm going to the Kubrick exhibition this weekend). Fucking Stones, Jesus wept. Just pass it back to the keeper lad, or hoof it. This is all Pep's fault.

[Simon G]

In fairness to Pep, Stones was doing the same things at Everton.

[anton pulisov]

If the Dutch had had a decent striker or slightly cooler heads in front of goal that could’ve been quite a doing judging by the highlights

Well, they had Luuk de Jong on the bench. Koeman is a nutter.

[jwdd27]

Oh well there's always next year.
Is there? When does this shit start up again, after the Euros next year?

[Jah Womble]

Yep, it's a biennial tournament.