I heard this crazy statistics that if you compare the last 5 years with the 5 years before then.... Running has gone down by 2% but HIGH INTENSE short runs has gone up with 80%! No wonder there are more injuries. Time to rest is for sure needed.
That is an interesting stat - that might be part of the reason that English clubs went from taking up most of the CL semi final/final slots to barely getting to the semi's - coz they'd changed from possession football to high pressing/high intensity football which left them knackered in comparison to their better rested continental counterparts
Problem with this kind of football is it requires conditions to be optimal and any deviation can cause problems. That's why we're seeing the Liverpool players dropping like flies. Football is becoming more and more athletic, which is putting an enormous struggle on the body. If you look at 100m runners, they make sure they eat and train in the best ways, yet they still suffer injuries. Now just think of what footballers go through on match day and training pitches...
The break definitely works in the continent. Enough forgeign managers are baffled by our winter schedule to suggest it's something worth seriously pursuing. Some say Asian cups/friendlies would come into play but it doesn't appear to be an issue for the countries with a break right now.
Flying to Qatar or Dubai for some friendly will be highly welcomed by the whole squad I'm sure, staying in a 5 or 7 star hotel, with world class facilities, in excellent weather, they'll bite your hand off for that instead of playing on some rainy cold night just having played the day before yesterday.
No. As mentioned, there's tradition to consider most importantly and the top 10 clubs would be off to LA and China for two weeks. All teams have squads. Use them if necessary. We have very few traditions left in English/British football and now people want FA cup replays scrapped which to me is a great and historic cup competition for all teams being worsened to pander to a small number of Premier League clubs.
Keep the tradition, don't pack the week, simple, there's no need to play on a Saturday or Friday and play again the day after tomorrow, just play the Boxing Day fixture.
Most people like having an extra game when everyone is off work. It's important revenue for clubs who rely on gate receipts too. Maybe not an issue for Arsenal but then you'll have a Winter break when someone finds some ice within a mile of North London.
Problem is, when do you then play those games? The logical solution to me is scrapping most international friendlies and also having smaller international groups, with the real minnows having to qualify for the qualifiers in some sort of tournament of their own.
That's one solution. Another, as people keep talking about tradition, is to scrap the champions league, a relatively new concept, and go back to the old European Cup format. Less games for everyone and far less travel.
That would be nice but sadly no chance of ever happening. It's worth far too much. Imagine a world where only the champions made it to the Champions' League.
Not sure I understand this argument - the case most managers (and some fans, pundits and players) are putting forward seems to be more for the protection and welfare of the players and then as a fringe benefit of the reduced injuries/fatigue, less need for bigger squads, meaning smaller teams can compete better (as they are not spending so much on transfers/wages). The argument is also only limited to the Prem (with the Football League/Non League remaining as it is with the traditional games), where the majority of teams have attendances of upwards of 70% of their capacities, and where clubs rely hugely on the massive TV money they get for playing in the league, which dwarves the few extra per cent bump in attendances between the Christmas period and any other time. It's hardly just an issue with teams playing in the CL - I mean yes, you could ban English clubs from Europe and a max of 6 clubs may play less games, but Sunderland are moaning about the fixture congestion and aren't in Europe - it wouldn't help them, or the other 14 clubs, even Liverpool are finding it difficult with their massive squad and (relatively) massive resources. Personally I want to see my team's best players in the team as often as possible - not out for months because they played 3 games in a week consistently. I can understand people want to keep the Boxing Day game (personally I hate it, I can never get to any games - no public transport, no ability to travel, it's cold, wet and I miss games I would otherwise have been able to see) but why have another game 3 days before and another 2 days later then another New Year's Day?
It's potentially only 2 EPL games that can be pushed into midweek throughout the rest of the Season. The benefits of no running/training/playing for two weeks will still be felt.
I like the fixtures over Christmas and don't think it should change but we could reduce the amount of games by making the FA Cup a straight knockout so no replays and keep the League cup to a straight knockout instead of 2 legs in the Semi Final.
Christmas fixtures are great, I'd hate to lose them. Totally agree with scrapping replays in the cups though and as was mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd actually pull the premier league teams from the League cup and let the other leagues battle for that one. It would be a massive incentive to get into Europe and give some lower league clubs a hand up, both financially and in terms of attracting players.
There wouldn't be a need for a winter break if the league continued to play when international fixtures were on. Nearly every team in the Prem is made up of internationals so it would even out over the course of a season. Young players would get a chance to play when members of the senior squad are away playing for their countries and it would ensure that the England squad would be made up of players who really wanted to represent their country; it's easy to imagine a club, on signing an English player, offering more money if the player agrees to declare himself unavailable for international selection?
Yeah let's make international football even more **** and at the same time give Arsenal/Chelsea/United and other fans a good excuse to moan when their reserves find themselves playing virtually the whole first team of Watford or Leicester
I think that would be ok for a) the bigger sides who can afford big squads, and particularly lots of promising youngsters who are maybe too old for u21 squads OR if you didn't play U21s football at the same time as full internationals in the window, trouble is that you do - so the best youngsters would be away from the teams as well, and it would just mean that the smallest squads would be increasingly stretched while at the same time over playing their non-international players, who wouldn't get a rest.
