Round Up from the International Break

BPL managers have periodically complained about the scheduling of the international break and the toll it takes on the players who have to travel long journeys to play for their countries. From the look of things the battle between club and country does not look like going down considering the number of crocked players coming back from the break

Injured BPL players in this international break:
Hugo Lloris - Tottenham Hotspurs (France)
Gareth McAuley - Stoke City (Northern Ireland)
Dejan Lovren - Liverpool (Croatia)
Laurent Koscielny - Arsenal (France)
Vincent Kompany - Manchester City (Belgium)
Mesut Ozil - Arsenal (Germany)
Eden Hazard - Chelsea (Belgium)
Raheem Sterling - Liverpool (England)
Marko Arnautovic - Stoke City (Austria)
Chris Brunt - Stoke City (Northern Ireland)
Danny Welbeck - Arsenal (England)

The clubs will be compensated for the loss of the players but no amount of money can compensate for the effect Hazard's loss will have on Chelsea or Vincent Kompany on Man City or even Sterling on Liverpool. These are players who are the livewire or backbone, in Kompany's case, of their respective teams and their loss in the upcoming games will make for bitter swallowing for their managers.

It had to happen at some point but what a relief it must be for Diego Costa when he finally broke his duck in Spanish shirt in the 4-0 thumping of Luxembourg.  He'll have no problem that its against a less glamorous team like Luxembourg. Its amazing that it took him 7 games to get there considering his level and the team but its not all that surprising considering the team and Costa's style of play.
Spain is not playing to suit him and his style of play is ironically more suited to the country he rejected than the one he joined. But at 26 he still has lots of years ahead of him to score more goals for his adopted country. We only hope his next goal doesn’t take this long.

Jaimie Redknapp said: “Why on earth did Hodgson say it?
Honesty is not the best policy. Why has Roy got into this? He could have said ‘I want to freshen this up.’ This wouldn’t even be a conversation.”
Gary Lineker tweeted: "Teenagers do get tired and even moody.
He's young, still developing, we should cut him some slack."
Darren Lewis wrote: “ He was tired. It happens. Physically or, more
importantly, mentally he didn't feel up to it. Hodgson could - and should - have done far better to handle the situation and protect the player ”

Everybody is saying something and here is mine. From the starting
XI against Estonia only Chelsea's Gary Cahill, with 1164 minutes, had played more often this season. Sterling has been on the go more than Jack Wilshere, Jordan Henderson, Leighton Baines and
Phil Jagielka and he's only 19.
His workload has more than tripled within the same period from last year. And people find it difficult to understand that he asked for a break.
Rooney would have benefited from such breaks before tournaments, Jack Wilshere is now becoming more injury-prone than Ledley King because he wasn't bold enough to ask for such breaks when he clearly needed it. England should have more than enough in their team to qualify for the EURO'S and if they cant because a 19 yr old wants to rest and prolong his playing career then that's not his fault.