The sight, on Boxing Day at Upton Park, of Aaron Ramsey plaintively pointing at his thigh to signal that he had sustained an injury to cut short his afternoon tells a far broader story than that of the midfielder’s impending absence from Arsenal’s team. The picture best encapsulates the destructive programme by which English football places in the way of any tournament winning aspirations the most severe of obstacles.
As long ago as the beginning of December, Ramsey’s club manager, Arsene Wenger, in the wake of his player’s magnificent performance in a victory at Cardiff City, was expressing concern that the toll of a punishing schedule would soon take its toll on the sparkling Welshman.
It is no coincidence that Ramsey suffered a thigh strain during a high octane London derby, just three days after he had laboured to make any decisive impact on a tight stalemate with Chelsea.
Already embroiled in the most competitive of all European leagues, it is the lot of the English footballer to contend with the ridiculously crammed Christmas holiday schedule. While players earning their living in La Liga, and Serie A enjoy a fortnight’s rest, and those in Germany’s Bundesliga take a month off, Premier League clubs are slated to play four times between Boxing Day and January 11th – in addition to contesting an F.A. Cup third round tie. For the four Capital One Cup survivors there is the first-leg of their semi-final ties to fit in to those 17 days.
If England depart the Brazilian World Cup with a whimper we are sure be subject to the familiar and weary debate as to why our country cannot develop footballers with the technical ability to match that of their contemporaries on the international stage.
A look at the weekly Premier League action, however, particularly during what is evolving into a thrilling campaign, reveals an assortment of young English talent every bit the equal of that produced in foreign climes.
It is rather unfashionable to champion England’s hopes of achieving anything more than a last eight place in summer 2014 – to the point that even those who believe such a feat possible are reluctant to express their view for fear of being vulnerable to a degree of mockery.
There should be no valid argument, though, against the capacity to prosper of a team that boasts the imagination, guile, positivity, and daring of Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, the rejuvenated Raheem Sterling and fast improving Adam Lallana. That is without mentioning Jack Wilshere, a name that is in danger of becoming passé when discussion centres on an emerging generation of genuinely exciting English footballers.
It is only his long standing injury troubles that can bar Wilshere’s way to the very top. For that reason, and despite his previous spate of enforced lay-offs, the Arsenal man’s two match ban during the festive season could yield some long term benefit for his country. An extra few days rest six months ahead of the World Cup finals might appear of little consequence, but the fact remains that Wilshere was prevented from playing potentially 180 minutes of football in the space of three days – the demand that did for Ramsey.
While the 21 year-old waited for his return against Newcastle United – a game in which, although still short of the imperious form on which he built his reputation, Wilshere looked fresher than has been the case for a considerable length of time – Phil Jagielka and Rooney joined Townsend and Steven Gerrard as key England men unavailable for action having succumbed to muscle damage. Even prior to the mad rush of matches, Manchester City’s Argentine striker Sergio Aguero’s calf gave out – three days after Aguero’s team-mate and countryman, the indefatigable Pablo Zabaleta, limped out of a League Cup tie at Leicester City the victim of a hamstring strain.
There is no escaping the fact that any player who completes his team’s crazy run of fixtures will subsequently be at the mercy of a fatigued body. The lone method of recuperation form such over-exertion is rest – something that our calendar renders impossible. Between 11th January and the season’s conclusion exactly four months later there is no let up.
It is, of course, not merely the catalogue of games that must be completed, but also the frenetic nature of Premier League football that causes our players to arrive at tournaments pale imitations of their real selves.
Spain’s La Liga and Serie A in Italy contain the same number of sides as our own top division, but the week to week intensity is incomparable. In England, Stoke City beating Chelsea, Cardiff City overcoming Manchester City, and West Ham United winning twice in the same term at Spurs’ White Hart Lane are occurrences that raise an eyebrow, while being far from earth shattering events.
If Barcelona or Real Madrid are defeated by similarly ranked foes as Stoke or Cardiff it makes headlines across the continent. The same applies to any domestic loss suffered by the supreme current Bayern Munich side and, to a lesser extent, Juventus and Roma in Italy.
Professionals landing on these shores having only ever known a winter break are wont to convey incredulity at what is asked of them through this spell. Jose Mourinho, in his first coming at Chelsea, declared it entirely possible to play through the log-jam, before likening the scenario to smoking ten cigars in a row. The Portuguese’s point was that simply because a task can be fulfilled, it does not necessarily follow that its accomplishment is good for the protagonist’s health.
Mourinho’s desire to manage his players’ workload was evident when, in charge at Real Madrid, and once Mesut Ozil had orchestrated his team’s latest rout of lowly opposition, he would routinely withdraw the German late in the piece. It has been apparent in his recent appearances for Arsenal that having been denied that care by his new club, and despite continuing to garnish games with sporadic touches of class, Ozil is a man on his last legs
Roberto Martinez, a manager confident and astute enough to always consider the wider implications of any circumstance beyond its effect on his next game, is a confirmed critic of this annual football binge.
‘You look at the amount of games we have in this period and I do feel it is a little bit unfair. It is putting the players into a position where I don’t think they can perform at the same level physically and so the quality of the product is not going to be the same.
‘It is the fans who suffer because they expect a certain level of quality and stylish football. But it is what it is and we have to adapt. In football, you get nothing from moaning. You just have to get on with it and use the situation to stretch the squad and test and use other players who have been working well to see how far we can go.
‘It is up to the authorities to look into the amount of games we have at this time of year and to decide if that is productive for the product of the Barclays Premier League in general.’
The Everton boss’ words strike more at the heart of the Premier League ‘product’, than the potential burnout on our international footballers. In an era of immense financial rewards for success and sky high ticket prices for supporters that issue is equally pertinent.
For the habitual preponderance of goals during the holiday fixtures, a phenomenon popularly passed off as being of great entertainment, the actual quality of football suffers a significant dip. Teams are forced to chop and change personnel, and there is no room for the business of game specific preparation.
In essence, the skill and technique, whose absence we routinely lament following an unsatisfactory international summer, are sacrificed for quantity of action. It is August, when players return refreshed and primed to perform at maximum efficiency, before we next see a consistently high standard of domestic fare.
The former Tottenham striker, Clive Allen, inadvertently illustrated the problem when, working as a match summariser for BBC Radio 5Live, he was intending to defend the crowded schedule. Having spoken effusively about the ability of Premier League clubs, with their large playing rosters, to cope with a surfeit of games, Allen was almost instantly speculating that West Bromwich Albion were withdrawing James Morrison, who had been one of their standout players, from the field against West Ham as a result of his being fatigued at the end of two matches in 48 hours.
That is just one specific example of the manner in which the Premier League competition is skewed at this time of year. The repercussions of inevitable player lethargy and unavoidable sub-par Christmas and new year performances are felt by its twenty clubs for the remainder of their individual campaigns and, five months after the event, by the England team.
Roy Hodgson declared in an interview, broadcast on Sunday, that he loses a week of valuable World Cup training time with his squad due to the necessity to allow weary bodies essential rest before convening for the challenge ahead.
It should be acknowledged that other nations with individuals operating in England’s top division will be welcoming into their group some less than fresh key performers. Notwithstanding that fact, men such as Aguero and Zabaleta, as well as Oscar and Paulinho will be in the minority with Argentina and Brazil as players with the effects of an English season weighing them down.
Even France and Belgium, with their respective range of stars situated at English outfits, can turn to an extensive additional cast list from across Europe’s top leagues – the Belgians might also benefit from the prolonged spells out of action this term endured by Vincent Kompany, Marouane Fellaini and Christian Benteke.
Ironically, it is the heavy population of foreign players in the English game that will enable a clutch of Hodgson’s final 23 to be lightly run when they board the plane for South America. Nevertheless, the men who will carry the team’s hopes are regular starters for their club sides. They are, right now, on a treadmill that continues on to Manaus and a match against Italy on June 14th.
England head for Brazil with a selection of footballers to rival the World’s best. They are being betrayed and, until the country’s ludicrous calendar is addressed, any F.A. commission, extra access for youngsters to top class coaching, or sizeable new breed of players blessed with flair and courage is destined to be hindered by this fixture glut. If we are to genuinely fight for international glory once more, the starting point is an end to the Christmas blow out.
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