Quote Originally Posted by Charlie View Post
Genuine question.
Would you have been just as pissed of with Giggs missing friendlies if he had been playing for another,maybe less high profile club than Man U? with a less combative manager than Fergie?
Personally i always felt more let down when lesser players, who could have put a stake down and showed what they were capable of pulled out of the squad. We all knew what Giggs could do at any given time so 45mins or so against some minnows wouldnt have been a great deal of help to the management.
Maybe im remembering wrongly but im sure someone like James Collins pulling out of many a squad with a day or so's notice and quite a few others with far less fuss and bother.
Yes turning up for every game shows great commitment but would that have affected our qualifying chances at any stage of his playing career with Wales?
I felt Giggs laid down a marker, for the rest of the squad, these matches then felt worthless, and that feeling flowed into all the other players and eventually the fans.

Giggs didn't play a friendly for 9 years. No friendlies are pointless, you improve your FIFA ranking you get put in better pots for International tournaments, you make qualification a bit easier.

Recently we haven't played that many friendlies, which i believe is sensible, but when we have, the spirit and the commitment of the squad cannot be questioned.

If you look at Ronaldo (147 caps) and Messi (123 caps) it shows that you can play international football and compete at the very highest level.