Do we really gain anything from international friendlies?
Not usually known for speaking his mind United boss Sir Alex has taken a break from keeping his opinions to himself to voice his grievances with idea of international friendlies.
Speaking in the USA where Sir Alex is helping to launch United’s Summer tour, he gave an interview to US digital station Sirius XM.
The United boss said:
“I am all in favour of the competitions. The players should play in the major competitions; the European Championship, the World Cup,
“But friendlies are a waste of time as far as I am concerned. We always say that. It is understandable for the coach. They have the players for a period when they can influence them and can build and shape their team. I can understand that completely.
“But every time there are friendlies you get six or seven call-offs. It is sometimes worthless for the manager to build on that because of the lack of players.”
It’s hard not to agree with Sir Alex, when we see a player of the calibre of Gareth Barry leading the team out. There’s also the amount of substitutes that are used, which can often mean half the team are replaced at half time.
For the game against Ghana today, Fabio Capello has released the players that have Champions League games coming up. However some clubs who’s players have not been returned have expressed may be more than a little disappointed to see their key men involved in a meaningless game.
Ferguson has a point in that, just how much can the England coach gain from seeing certain players in a friendly? If someone has a great game against Ghana, does that mean they’re good enough to figure in the important games? Or will we just see a return of the players who were absent?
I cannot imagine that if the likes of Matt Jarvis or Leighton Baines have a good game then we’ll see them gatecrash the first team for the next qualifier.
The whole Cirque L’Angleterre is getting more comical and tedious by the day, it’s glad to see Sir Alex willing to give everyone a bit of perspective.
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