Internationals,
whether it is qualifying rounds for World Cup or Euro or even the friendly
match between two nations are enough to disrupt the rhythm of league matches.
International is a big commitment and a big gamble for clubs and most of them
are reluctant to send their best players for such matches. Most of the
front-line clubs suffers setbacks due to the international matches and it will
reflect in the forthcoming league matches. Internationals are demanding and
every player wants to show up their best for the country they represent. The
performance in the internationals will be the passage for them towards their
participation in the World Cup.
For clubs,
internationals are nightmares. In most occasions the best players who represent
the national team will return with injuries or will be burn out due to
exertion. The club has to bare the expense of any injury occurs to their player
and in most cases, the absence of the key player matters a lot in their league
results. The league match followed by internationals will generally be sluggish
and the best teams will struggle to cope up.
On the other hand, the
mid-level teams in the league table will wait for such breaks. They won’t lose
many players like the top clubs and will get additional days during the break
for rest and preparation for the next match. Sam Allardyce, the manager of West
Ham, publically accepted it long back when he was managing Bolton that they use
to wait for the international break to face the top clubs because the
internationals will break the coherence and passing rhythm of those teams and
in most occasions they won’t be fit enough cope up with the team who enjoyed
the break with rest and training.
The results of top
four clubs on the last week prove that the internationals will certainly damage
their playing rhythm. Manchester United who played against Crystal Palace
really struggled to churn out a 2-0 victory and the first goal was
controversial due to ‘dive’ allegations. Manchester City faced Stoke City, one
of the toughest team in the EPL, and compromised with a goal less draw. Performances
of the renowned internationals were below par and the normal cohesion of the
Manchester City was nowhere near.
The major sufferer of
the international week was Chelsea who enjoys a star studded team of
internationally acclaimed players. They played against Everton who enjoyed the
international break for preparing strategy to face Chelsea. Everton was
prepared and played very well against the London club and clinched a 1-0
victory. Chelsea was struggling to cope up with the physicality of Everton and
lost their passing rhythm completely against the quick counter attack tactics
of the Toffees.
The fourth placed team
of the last season, Arsenal played against struggling Sunderland managed 3-1
victory. The joy of the result was marred with the allegation on the disallowed
goal when match was 2-1 up for Arsenal.
Interesting feature of
the fourth week was on the point table. One match between Swansea and Liverpool
was featured on Monday and until that time Arsenal, the struggler of the first
week, was positioned in the top. The 2-2 draw with Swansea took Liverpool to
the top on Monday and Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs followed them. The week saw
five draws some shared with goals and some without.
Total number of goals
reached 20 this week, comparatively better proportion than second and third
weeks. Thanks to Jonjo Shelvey who scored one for his team Swansea and allowed
the opponents, his former club Liverpool, to score twice and then helped his
team mate Michu to equalise the match at 2-2.
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