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Rodri revealed that he cannot undergo that workload again, with the 27-year-old’s fears about fatigue only heightened by the introduction of new prolonged stoppage time in games, something already condemned by team-mate Kevin De Bruyne.
‘I don’t remember exactly the number of games I played, but I had a talk with the club and the coach because it’s not healthy,’ Rodri said.
‘You can do it for one season, but when it’s two or three in a row, it can be worse for the team because your physicality can drop. So I have to watch out. We have already spoken that, it cannot always be like this.’
Rodri – who was called upon more than planned as Kalvin Phillips struggled to acclimatise with the club after a £42million move from Leeds United – believes his career could be cut short if the intensity is not managed.
‘The important thing for me is that they know the situation and they know that for the next few seasons we will have to watch out,’ he added.
‘Now I am young, but maybe when I get to 30 or 31 I cannot do this kind of thing, so I have to watch the body because 60 games is not the best thing for a player. Also, the seasons get even longer every year. We have to adapt to this.’
The plank who commented on my post, but didn't have the noodles to press reply or tag me, is going on about this article from August 2023.
As I maintained at the time, there's no way Rodders gave this interview without City's prior knowledge. He doesn't strike me as the type.
In Nov/Dec 2023, Pep apologised for not using Kalvin more, but said he's better suited if we're in a game where we have to play defensively & need a destroyer. We rarely if ever have to play defensively.
Pep also the revealed we'd had loan & purchase offers for Philips that summer, but he wanted to stay & fight for his place, which was his choice.
When asked about Philips possibly leaving in January, Pep said Kalvin deserves to be playing football.
Just like several players before him, I was hoping Kalvin would have a far better second season with us. However, after reading the article, many Blues connected the dots & saw exactly what the situation was for Philips, & so it turned out.
Both Pep & Rodders saw Philips everyday in training, & so reading between the lines of their coded words, it's evident from Kalvin's playing time that his move was a mistake that the club wanted to rectify.
Again, it was only two weeks ago that Rodders reiterated his exhaustion fears exactly as he did in the article, hence he asked to be rested prior to the home game against Luton.
According to Pep, both Haaland & KDB also asked to be subbed against Real through fatigue.
Having a small squad is Pep's way, but unless all the senior players are top notch potential starters, there's a danger this type of over-playing situation will occur.
With a small squad, we can't be carrying senior squad fillers like Kalvin, hence why I can see Nunes, Gomez, Philips & Cancelo being permanent departure considerations this summer.
Imagine the difference it would've made to our season if those four were called Paqueta, Musiala, Joao Nunes & Frimpong?
After losing Gundog & Mahrez & not adequately replacing either, & with KDB being out for a significant part of the season, Haaland's injury & loss of form & Jack's form & injury woes too, that's a significant chunk of our treble winning squad affected.
The aforementioned plank disagreed with the Rodri bit in the summer because he's too dunce to be able to connect dots. But Rodri's recent fatigue comments & drop in form & physicality back up the fears he espoused in the summer.
Some just don't possess the foresight to see these things, neither the ability to drop it after being proved wrong again & again over the same Rodri/Philips issue... \0/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...olds-talks-club-chiefs-concerns-burn-out.html