Despite the poor result against Spain in our first Nations League match, I was glad to see England back in competitive action in front of our home support on Saturday.
It was frustrating not to get something out of the match after going ahead and then seeing Danny Welbeck’s goal disallowed in injury-time, but hopefully we can take some of our good play into the friendly against Switzerland tomorrow night.
The newly-formed UEFA Nations League has caused a bit of a stir, but I can honestly say I am a fan of the new format – although it did take a while to get my head around it all.
I saw Harry Maguire mentioned Gareth Southgate had to explain to the players how the format worked – now I don’t feel stupid for struggling to get to grips with it!
But once you do understand the format and the process of each stage, I think it makes sense and it should make for several exciting matches.
Some people say they’ll improve international matches as friendlies are a waste of time in international football, but I don’t agree with that.
It always irritates me to hear people saying international friendlies aren’t competitive and that they should be scrapped altogether.
Representing your country should always be an honour, and players should be ready and willing to play for England whether it’s a friendly or a qualifying match.
But I’m glad to see England back at Wembley after such a great World Cup campaign – you could see the players were glad to be back in front of the fans, and they were given a great reception, as expected.
Spain are obviously ahead of Switzerland in terms of quality, but tomorrow night will be a good chance for Gareth to give others in the camp another opportunity to impress before they head back to their respective clubs.
Spain was a good test for our squad, and they still have a lot of quality across the park. It’s one that the whole team and supporters will be disappointed to come away with nothing from after going ahead in the match.
As far as Switzerland are concerned, they are a team we should be looking to beat. They are a decent side, which they showed in spells at the World Cup, but anything less than a victory against them would be disappointing.
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