A break is crucial to rescue the rest of the football season

The quality of the football we have seen in recent weeks has been quite poor. The injury lists are getting bigger and players are exhausted as a result of the relentless schedule. Teams are happy to sit in their formation behind the ball rather than expending energy pressing,

As a result of this, goals in the Premier League have dipped significantly. The average goals per game this season in September was 3.68, in March so far it has been just 1.58. Shockingly, 54% of games have had under 2.5 goals.

Can we really blame the players for this drop off? The 19/20 premier league season resumed on June 17^th and concluded on July 26^th, the 20/21 season started just seven weeks later on September 12^th. Over the last 10 months the players have had just seven weeks off and are still expected to power through until mid summer this season with the rearranged Euro 2020 competition on the horizon

This upcoming international break is a chance to give the players a well needed rest and a chance to recharge the batteries ahead of another hectic period. South America have cancelled their upcoming international fixtures, now Europe need to follow suit.

At the moment there is little time for rest, recovery, video analysis and training ground preparation which is resulting in drab affairs.

That’s not even mentioning the obvious risk of players contracting Covid-19 when they leave their club bubble to travel around Europe. The spike in cases amongst squads after the last international break would suggest the same will happen this time around.

Also in the United Kingdom, anyone returning from red list countries have to quarantine for 10 days. Portugal is one of the countries currently on that red list, meaning influential Premier League stars such as Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Bruno Fernandes would all initially have to sit out following their return.

Pep Guardiola has said he is unwilling to lose key players because of quarantine in the ‘real part of the season’.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard for eight or nine months, if important players cannot play for 10 days it makes no sense, they are not going to fly,” said the Manchester City manager.

You might argue that international managers would approve of these games to plan for the summer, but wouldn’t they prefer their players to arrive back to in June, even if only 15-20% more fresh both physically and mentally?

It doesn’t matter how much you are being paid, the mental strain of constantly having to be in a certain place at a certain time, alongside the physical impact 90 minutes of elite sport has on the body, is bound to take its toll at some stage. These players are not robots.

Take this sample England starting XI for the Euros. The likes of Maguire, Mount, Sterling, Kane and Rashford could potentially play 60+ games by the end of the season.

The premier league will conclude on May 23^rd with Champions and Europa League finals to follow. How are these players expected to perform to the best of their ability in an international tournament that is set to start just two weeks later? We all want a high standard of football but without a break it is proving impossible.

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