England vs Scotland friendly causes problems for EPL

Scotland fans at Trafalgar Square

For anybody with a shred of common sense, it is obvious that the timing of tonight’s international friendly between England and Scotland is utterly ridiculous. The two rival nations will face each other at Wembley tonight, just three days before the start of the new Premier League season.

This creates quite a problem for Premier League managers, as the entire 23-man England squad play their domestic football in the Premier League, as well as a healthy number of the Scottish squad including Charlie Adam, Robert Snodgrass and Steven Naismith.

Understandably, the decision to host a friendly match so close to the start of the new English league season has met some serious criticism. Former Charlton and West Ham United manager Alan Curbishley, who spoke to Sky Sports this morning, said of the matter:

“[The Premier League clubs] are playing their pre-season. They get the players back for six weeks before the first game of the season. They’re trying to integrate their new signings…and suddenly a week before the first game of the season most of the squad go missing and you’re sitting praying that they all come back fit. So the timing [of the friendly match] is quite ridiculous.”

As a Premier League manager for 17 years, Curbishley is well positioned to comment on the matter. His criticism is not misplaced, and is a sentiment echoed by the media and fans all over the world, specially in England. You don’t have to be a Premier League manager to see the problem here.

The week leading up to the start of the new season is about the worst time you could possibly play an international friendly. It disrupts squads as they try to get through their final preparations and deprives players of a valuable week of practice together as they try and gel as a unit. But the most concerning thing about this fixture is, of course, the threat of injury.

Let’s take Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere as an example.

Wilshere has been one of the unluckiest players in world football over the past few years, spending each season jumping on and off, with more time on the treatment table than on the football pitch. Despite possessing obvious quality, injuries and a lack of fitness have meant that the diminutive Arsenal midfielder has missed a significant chunk of time for his club and has earned only seven caps for the England senior team since making his debut three years ago.

Wilshere’s fortunes, however, look like they might be changing. He has enjoyed a full and healthy pre-season for the first time in years, and looks set to become a vital piece of Arsenal’s latest Premier League campaign. It all depends, of course, on whether he can keep his fitness.

Now imagine the frustration and anger that Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal fans will feel if their most talented player hits the Wembley turf with an injury tonight. Nobody wants their players to get injured, but for them to get injured playing in a game of no competitive significance, and right before the start of the new season, is both incredibly frustrating and avoidable. And if the injury curse comes back to bite Wilshere tonight, it could arguably cost Arsenal a place in the Champions League next year.

Rooney will be risking it against Scotland

Whilst Wilshere stands as the most obvious example, the point stands for virtually every England player on the field tonight. How will Liverpool feel if they lose Steven Gerrard for an extended period of time? What will happen to Wayne Rooney if an injury to the striker further muddies the waters of his transfer saga?

And don’t think that it is unlikely to happen. While the issue wouldn’t be so problematic if the fixture was a routine friendly between England and an old Baltic state, for example, Scotland and England are long-time foes on the football field and the animosity from the crowd is bound to find its way down to the players on the pitch.

These are rivals who have not met on the football field since 1999, and so it is a safe bet that tonight’s game will be intense, feisty and likely full of hearty challenges, a point Jack Wilshere made clear in his own pre-match press conference. Those are perfect conditions for the spectators on the night, but potentially disastrous for Premier League fans in the long term.

So we must ask the question; why have the FA agreed to hold this fixture?

Gordon Smith, the Former SFA Chief Executive, explained to Sky Sports that the dates on which an international friendly can be played over the course of the year are set by FIFA. So in essence this is the only time that the international teams can play a friendly.

His explanation for the fixture misses the point somewhat, though. Indeed, the dates are set out by FIFA, but that simply means that the Football Associations across the world can make use of this week to play an international friendly. It doesn’t mean that they have to play it, and it offers no justification for the FA and the SFA’s decision to schedule the game for tonight.

This is not to say that the game should not be played at all. Indeed, as Steven Gerrard alluded in his pre-match press conference yesterday, England v Scotland is an important fixture that should be played as often as possible.

However, three days before the start of the Premier League season is clearly not the time to play it. There are plenty of other dates set down by FIFA for friendly fixtures and so the England vs Scotland game could easily be played at a better time during the football year.

The FA simply lacked the good sense to realise this. Now, all the Premier League managers with assets playing in tonight’s game will spend two hours hiding behind the sofa with their thumbs in their mouths hoping that the game plays out without injury.

Thankfully, it seems that good sense will eventually prevail. It was revealed yesterday by European Clubs Association chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge that Europe’s major clubs and the governing body UEFA have agreed to drop the games from the international calendar, a move that supervising body FIFA is expected to sanction.

The deal would see the number of friendlies played in a season cut from 12 to 9, with the August dates scrapped entirely. It is a thoroughly sensible move, and a welcome one for Premier League clubs. Unfortunately, it will be of little consequence to a Premier League club if they lose one of their players tonight. Let’s just hope that that doesn’t happen.