Arsenal Thread | 2024/25

[I'm With Stupid]

It's all far too much for footballers, such an overload of work. It will get worse next summer too when the Club World Cup expands.

I saw a clip earlier comparing the amount of minutes Jude Bellingham has played compared to David Beckham at the same age. And the number of games Vinicius Jr has played compared to Ronaldinho at the same age. In both cases, it was around double (even close to triple in the case of Bellingham if I remember rightly).

 

[Silva 83]

I saw a clip earlier comparing the amount of minutes Jude Bellingham has played compared to David Beckham at the same age. And the number of games Vinicius Jr has played compared to Ronaldinho at the same age. In both cases, it was around double (even close to triple in the case of Bellingham if I remember rightly).

Yeah, and that's not just because they're playing more in each season, but because players are starting younger too and being thrown in at the deep end. Scouts are finding players so young and getting so many into their academies. So the best players end up getting into the first team younger than they did in the past I feel (generally speaking).

Will these players burn out quicker? It's hard to say. Nutrition and fitness is better now, though from your examples Beckham kept himself fit and in shape (not so much Ronaldinho). The thing with Vinicius is one of his biggest attributes is his pace. Bellingham, too, seems to rely more on athleticism than technique to me. So will these guys burn out quicker as they lose pace/strength? It's hard to say.

Overall, players are fitter now and have superior sports-science knowledge at their disposal, but the trade-off is more intense matches and a larger quantity of them. In the 90s high pressing wasn't really a thing, so the physical demands on players were arguably less. There's more fatigue now.

Then you can factor in other mental stress, such as things like X being a big thing now, and the pressure being bigger than ever on players.

I think it's a powder keg waiting to explode personally.

 

[Vienna_70]

No winter / christmas break this season either, bonkers especially after a summer of tournaments.

EPL: "If they die, they die!"

Players are not machines; they need a break for their mental wellbeing, as much as their physical health.

With the amount of games FIFA - and UEFA - impose on the top professionals, careers will be getting shorter, not longer, as they should be, with all the advances in sports science.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Players are not machines; they need a break for their mental wellbeing, as much as their physical health.

With the amount of games FIFA - and UEFA - impose on the top professionals, careers will be getting shorter, not longer, as they should be, with all the advances in sports science.

One thing they could do is implement a rule that all clubs need to abide by. Have a rule that says that you can only use an individual player for X number of games or X number of minutes. Maybe with an exception for big finals so that you're not risking the best players being ineligible for the biggest games. I can't see them ever doing it, but I think taking the decision out of managers' hands is the only way that anything is going to change, because they're under too much pressure for them to not use their best players every game.

Of course the real solution is to stop this constant expansion of the schedule with more pointless tournaments and rounds.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Watt the fuck ??

 

[Father Paul]

Watt the fuck ??

That throws some light on a lad I always thought to be a bit of a fruitcake.

 

[M23 Citizen]

Rice was subbed off with cramp today. Say what you like about Rice but he's a super-fit player and an absolute machine and if he's going off with cramp in the 1st game of the season it doesn't bode well and I reckon we'll see a slew of Euros-related injuries pile up across the teams who had the most players at the tournament.

The English football season always kicks off too early.

I watched six of the ten games at the weekend, twelve teams, and not a single one looked ready for the season. All twelve teams looked half-baked.

We do not have proper pre-seasons. These players are not prepared properly for elite sport and the performances of teams in the first three weeks of seasons and the amount of injuries seen are testament to that.

City just sat back and didn’t press at all when Chelsea had the ball yesterday, when have you ever seen that?

Due to it only being five weeks ago, City didn’t even play anyone who played in the Euros final yesterday (from the start, at least, Foden did come on at half time). Pep said after the game that even de Bruyne has only trained for a few days in pre-season - after the fucking injury problems he’s had? It’s a disgrace what these players are made to do, all for a bit of cash for the clubs, the greedy twats.

Haaland even said after the game that he’s had a ‘full’ pre-season (still very short, even when you’re there from Day 1!) and he wasn’t particularly ready for the game.

 

[M23 Citizen]

No winter / christmas break this season either, bonkers especially after a summer of tournaments.

EPL: "If they die, they die!"

Nobody needs a Winter break. It was just seen as fashionable because other leagues have them.

There’s so much rotation in football due to such deep squads that most players get rotated up to half a dozen (if not more) times a season so get up to half a dozen breaks naturally.

Why add just one more break that actually takes away a fixture from the calendar? Daft idea that was never needed.

Adding breaks where there’s a week with no game means the season finishes a week later than it needs to. That means players get a week’s less holiday than they need at the end of the season when they actually do need the break and then they get a week less in pre-season training because they take their holiday a week later.

It’s the pre-season/preparation element that’s important. Training players up to get to optimal fitness for the elite performance of the season that’s to come.

Football doesn’t do that.

 

[Groke]

Watt the fuck ??

OhMG

 

[Saddleworth2]

Watt the fuck ??

Bloody hell, better be careful at the emirates, we might get electrocuted.

He is a bellend though.