The perils of the international break… and a time-lapse look at NCFC

03/18/2025 03:25 AM

Just when you’ve got used to the slog of three-match weeks…

Just when every game is more important than the one before for the final finishing position…

Then… THUD.

It all stops for another international break.

Half or more of your first-team squad disappears to one of the four corners where they will face two international games during which they have to do their best to avoid injury and over-use.

That’s the worry for every international break. With five of the perishing things over the course of a season, that’s an extra ten games for our better players or, to put it another way, additional games that equate to almost a quarter of a season.

So we’ll have to cut these guys a little slack if they appear tired in games toward the season's finale.

It’s also where JHT earns his corn with judicious squad rotation to keep the group as fresh as possible for the last eight games of the season.

In truth, the way the injury list is growing, it might be an idea to take your boots along to the Carra next time out (against West Brom – Ed) just in case.

14th February

It would have helped me with writing this piece if City had not coughed up a desperate home draw against Derby, followed by a sh**show against Preston.

As you can tell, I’m prepping the international break stuff well before the international break happens.

Still, it (City's current situation) wobbles onto Hull at the weekend as I write. Lose that and it could be game over.

But I’m not sending this to Gary until the international break, so you'll know by now what unfolded in deepest, darkest Humberside (it was 1-1 – Ed).

Dear reader try and stay with my insanity. I promise it’s not catching.

I’m now hoping the last eight games mean something. There is nothing worse than being the team with about 18 per cent of the season still to go, and you are in the situation of 'can’t go up and can’t go down' (we are—Ed).

The only positive I can muster if we are in that situation is that several academy players could be given some game time.

I feel sorry for Ken Aboh. His loan to Stevenage didn’t reward him with much game time, and now he’s at Colchester and that loan is repeating itself.

28th February

Now, dear reader, as I write it now looks slightly more encouraging for that last top six position (not any more it isn't – Ed).

'It’s poisoned chalice anyway' I hear you say – albeit not if you win the play-off semi and then suffer Wembley heartbreak – because winning at Wembley will put a half-decent Championship side straight into the lion’s den as ultra-vulnerable prey.

That lot down the A140 have, in the words of Boris Johnson, spaffed over £130m on new players and are still bobbling around in the bottom three and look good to come on down. Southampton and Leicester have done just as badly.

In an ideal world, we get promoted every third play-off season – one year of getting rolled over, followed by more years as promotion favourites, until such time we get a second and then a third season in the big-money league.

Easy, right?

Mark Attanasio has finally completed the takeover, so we are now owned by the Stars and Stripes. They still have that as the flag don’t they? And not a new bigly orange one?

 So, we can look forward to a summer in which we don’t need to sell—but we will—and the squad’s remoulding should be just about finished, as it will be Johannes Hoff Thorup's and Ben Knapper's third window.

11th March

For the record, on my timeline, tonight, we play Sheffield Wednesday.

(That went well).

15th March

Bristols come in pairs, and we’ve lost twice to Bristol. So it’s a pair.

Back to the current day… as we enter the international break, the bottom of the Prem is home to the three teams that went up last season. They are coming back down.

Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the gap is probably now too big to overcome, and that’s abundantly clear with a couple of months of the season still to play out.

So, what’s the point of going up when you can’t compete? Even spending £130m+ means you can’t compete. But we would all give our eye teeth to have a go.

The last eight games of our season are now officially meaningless.

Not going up, or down.

So does JHT try out new combinations for next season?

Or does he continue to play those who won’t be here next year?

We’ll see.

What would you do?