A couple of years back Klopp was one of the most vocal advocates for the change from 3 subs per game to 5 subs per game and people constantly ridiculed him for it. Turns out that one of the best managers of the modern era knows more about football, injuries and player fatigue than a bunch of random people on social media who haven't played Sunday League in 4 years

My grandma always said “if you don’t make time to rest and recover your body will automatically do it for you, and you don’t want that”. I guess this applies to athletes as well, way too many games being played!

This is what worries me most about Jude Bellingham. Kid is fantastic, but he's playing an insane amount of minutes compared to players 15-20 years ago at his age, and I'd like to see him still playing and fully healthy when he's 25, 27, 29.

I think very soon, we will start to see more of the effects of playing every game and more minutes and it's quite concerning.

This is why City slow-roll their youth talent, and rotate heavily. Extends careers and keeps the level high.

Fun fact: Klopp this season has used the most subs out of any manager in the premier league and has benefitted less injuries Same manager people ridiculed for wanting more subs and less matches Look how he's treated youth prospects to Unlike Barcelona you won't find a 18 year old starting week in week out even when their ability can demand it (Stefan Bajetic) look at Quansa, 20 years old who came out of nowhere when he could of played earlier but for his career and the long term health of the club he didn't

Had a season ticket at United as a kid, during SAF's reign, back when I was too young to appreciate what I was witnessing. Recently got back into football after years of not paying attention, and your channel has been a great source of information and insight as to the current state of the game. Always a great watch!

As long as Fifa get more money, they will keep forcing players to play more matches😞

Saka has been playing through a knock as well during the last few weeks. I’m very concerned when it comes to the players welfare and treatment, especially players like Saka that get fouled constantly.

Basketball in the US has the same issue, they have kids playing so many games so early on in their life that the players eventually burn out physically in the early to mid 20s and become injury prone like crazy.

i think these type of schedules will definitely destroy career of alot of promising youngsters

It's not just football where the increasing schedule is an issue. To give a different example, in Formula 1 there have been concerns for a few years now about the increasing number of races on the calendar (2024 is set to have a record 24 races), and the effect that it has on team personnel especially, not just the drivers. For example, constantly travelling around the world, adjusting to different timezones, spending the vast majority of the year away from their families, possible burnout and the fact that it is all somewhat at odds with the committment reducing the sport's carbon footprint! One solution which I think some teams might have already implemented is to rotate crews, but I think that can only go so far. And the calendar could be structured a lot better. For example, last season's final phase of the season was made up of five races in six weeks: a triple header of the US GP in Texas, the Mexican GP in Mexico City and the Brazilian GP in Sao Paulo, then a week off, then Las Vegas and then the following week we finished off in Abu Dhabi! Earlier in the season we went from Azerbaijan to Miami in consecutive weeks as well. And that's without mentioning the possible product dilution effect.

Klopp is a manager with a degree in Sports Science and people called his concern about all players not just his moaning. He was very vocal about the 5 subs and a longer winter break which has been implemented. UEFA and FIFA only care about money. The Nationa League needs to be looked at and we don’t need to change and add games. Players not being included in these kids of decisions is weird.

this video reminded me that here in brazil, even teams that are fighting to not be relegated could play up to 65+ games a season wich is crazy, is there other leagues around the world that is normal to play that many games a season?

Nearly every sport is dealing with this. NBA chose to deal with it with Load management, basically making players rest in some games so they don’t play back to back. In the NFL( American Football) running backs and quarterbacks are getting inured mire often as well. Here in football virtually in any league has countless players out. No one is actually tackling the issue, players are playing too many games. New UCL, New World Cup is more games. but in this modern age players have been playing too many games since they were kids wayyy more than older players. From little league, to youth leagues, school leagues, academy leagues. It’s too much, too much wear and tear on the body. Take Hazard for example he’s been playing since 6 or 8, that’s more than 20 years of playing, running, hitting. It’s a lot, the body has to give. Jimmyhighroller has a better video on KZfaq about it We have to decrease the amount of games in the big leagues yes but also when the kids are young. This is only gonna get worse if we don’t reduce games.

It’s gotta be on managers and players to not play every game. Stats like Saka and Pedri playing a million games in a row is going to hurt them later in their careers

This man needs more subs

Great shout, Tinashe. Unfortunately, the pyramid driving these increases in schedule couldn't care less about the results of any match or league or player fitness. Their intent is to increase revenue in the pyramid as the outcomes of matches/leagues/cups don't actually affect this. If you schedule more matches, people will buy the tickets and that's why this inertia isn't going to change direction anytime soon, if ever.

As a Newcastle fan, injuries have been a terror at our club tis season. Like jfc.

Your voice and accent is awesome You were born for this

Eventually clubs will need to have literally two teams to function. Honestly I don't see a reality where the organisers reduce the number of games as they are the ones introducing all these additional matches. If anything one of two things will happen 1 - A new rule is introduced which give clubs a maximum number of times a player can play a season. Forcing teams to properly rotate a squad and not rely on the same couple of players to save them. Doubt this as that requires proactive action 2 - A big club has enough depth so its like they've built two teams, wins a lot and its down to having available players whereas everyone else is suffering from injured squads

Thanks for covering this. I often see this discussion brought up time and time again but the clubs themselves don't want to take care of their players and neither the national teams so there ends up being this endless standoff where clubs complain about international games and travel taking a toll but then the clubs themselves also then don't take a stance to load manage their own players until it's too late coz they'll always choose the bag rather than stand up to the governing bodies and FAs even recently with Barça having to fulfill a financial obligation playing a friendly in America 24hrs after their last la liga game before the winter break 🤦🏿‍♂️ so much puzzling decision making across the board.

There have been a change in how we assess younger players. Earlier an 18-22 year old prodigy would be played as a rotative player and is supposed to perform whenever called to action. However, right now they are expected to play week in week out at the best of their potential

Another thing for Pedri, in almost all of his games of that year, he was the player who ran the most kilometers. I've never seen a machine like him. Of course the machine broke. Then there the serious health problems - remember Eriksen? He survived. A lot of players unfortunately didn't. More games lead to other problems - player train less. Football is learned more by training than by playing. So too many games is not beneficial for the quality of the game. More games means also lower stakes. I like the Bundesliga with their 18 team, because with the exception of Bayern, every team is fighting for something in the very last round. The only positive thing about having many games in the season is that the younger players should have more playing time. Yet, when Klopp sent the academy players to play a secondary tournament, he got slammed.

Limit the number of games any given player can play per season. Teams should make use of the bulk of their squads. Bench players need more pitch time for their careers and self worth. Everyone in you named squad should get a minimum number of games per season. Also prevents teams hogging players and ruining careers. Give more people time to shine. It's like how after covid layoffs, those who managed to keep their jobs are just expected to perpetually carry the added work load long after "normality". Share the pie, many hands make the lights work

Injury’s are getting out of hand Bayern Players were missing 35 Days on average because of Injuries this season that’s wild ant BTW Thanks for your vid’s please try to talk a bit more about German Football it’s pretty good and Many people underrate it

The fact that most teams want to press from the front all game doesn't help either, but at least that is purely for footballing reasons

I know a lot of people will roll their eyes at this but honestly another huge problem is that these players like Gavi, Pedri, Saka, Ansu Fati, etc are small, skillful players who get fouled a lot, and are specifically targeted by teams for aggressive treatment. These players, especially young ones, do require some more protection from the ref. There's a reason Messi has lasted so long; the refs (and you'll know this if you watched him while he was in La Liga) were very, very quick to blow the whistle and issue cards against players who targeted him. I know a lot of people didn't like this 'preferential treatment' but it played a major role in why we got to enjoy watching him play as long and as much as he did.

I truly look forward to all of your videos man. No one else on KZfaq does content the way you do it. Love it man keep it up 🫶🙂

Great insights dude. I remember Mourinho also stating the December period of games in the prem were doing damage to the league and players due to injuries. They could increase player limits per team for the super league but i doubt the governing bodies would approve of this... Nevermind the FFP

Happy new year to my favourite football channel! Obviously, there is a small number of people who are profiting off of more games. Having 48 teams in the World Cup is not going to increase the quality of the matches now, is it? They don't care about the players, because if one drops out, there are dozens who want to take his place. It's extremely unfortunate and I am very glad you and Jürgen Klopp are taking this seriously - how does the media react? I'm the kind of person who puts athlete welfare above profit but then again, I'm not a club owner. I feel this way about all athletes in all sports. Thank you very much for the video! 🙏

By far one of my fav channels and one of the absolute best when it comes to football content....keep it up my guy

Its honestly really frustrating that the game seems to be being continuously milked for more money at the expense of the players. An increasing fixture list, and the injuries that follow it can only really be dealt with by increasing the size of the squads, which means you see less of your favourite players, and that the already slim chance for smaller clubs to break through and be competitive will be even slimmer.

The correlation between greed and injuries is plain to see and the fans see it too, thanks for putting even more emphasis on this. Clubs will make decisions based on fan reaction and as long as channels like your's are around the fans still have the power. I would like yo see you do a deep dive on FFP from it's inception to now and see what damage/benefits it has brought.

The pitches are really hard now. There is no give.

Usually I watch only NBA content, but your videos are so smart that I really like it. Also I like your basic (in a good way) presenting yourself in front of the camera, without this superior lightning and so on. Keep on like this!

Another brilliant and informative upload. Thanks!😊

I think it's relevant that teams should protect their young players and decide when not to play them and be way more pragmatic in managing squads. Otherwise they should furiously fight against game congestion. The way Pep has managed Phil Foden (when everyone else thinks he should play every single game) will definitely extend Phil's career, while other guys his age are been overworked and don't play because they are injured and many times requiring surgery and recovery.

Unless players from each league form some kind of alliance and finally have a say in the matter, nothing will be solved. Unless all players show their disagreement to corporate greed, THIS MATTER WILL ONLY GET WORSE

If this trend continues, I wonder if that will force clubs to dig deeper into their benches as the season progresses. Maybe that's why some say there has been a decline in "star" players in the EPL for example. Too much demand to be filled, but perhaps represents more opportunities for "lower level" players who might now have a shot.

I really like the stat I saw a couple of years ago about an increased in max effort sprints. Can't remember the exakt figures but for some positions the amount of sprints have doubled since 2005 ish. Max sprints are a major player in muscle injuries, especially later in games. Wonder what an extra 10 min per game adds ...

Great video and very important topic!!! Agree with everything said!

I like the way you present your information, it's evident you always do your research

Just recently discovered your channel. Outstanding job, fantastic editing, charismatic presentation, just excellent. You have a new sub. Oh, and let's go Gunners!! 😊

This was a really good video. Appreciate you.

Loved the in depth acknowledgement you made ❤❤❤

Eden Hazard is a good example here. Started very young and have to reteire early

Unfortunately, a lot of un-inform, uneducated people still making unhinged claims that footballers are required to go through these hellish timeline, just because they are paid to do so, which makes me really frustrated. I'm from tech industry, a programmer, i know what a crunch culture is and how damaging it is to the employees, no amount of money, award winning or promised vacation can fully compensate burned out due to working on a badly scheduled project. And it seems football is now facing the similar problem.

So medical degree or not: I appreciate your "advocatus diaboli", but in terms of fixtures, I'm with Klopp: the rise in fixture dates is proportional to the rise in injuries, so fans get to see the best players less and less (because they are in the sanatorium). That reduces the beauty of the game, who wants that? With regard to the Super League (which will never happen), the Spanish need to fix their own league, not compromise other leagues such as the Bundesliga or the PL. Fact.

I hate the notion that the "Premier League is the Super League and it's bad". Why should we feel guilty for the other leagues being corrupt, mismanaged and biased to only 2,3 clubs?

We needed a video like this, to shed some light on this issue thanks

love your videos. keep it up

Nice info man. Thanks

Um dos melhores KZfaqrs de futebol no mundo. Abraços de um fã do Brasil. Seu trabalho é muito, muito bom. Continue.

If the Super League goes through, with FIFA backing as I expect, I fully believe there will be the suggestion of deeper squads of up to 40 to cater for the additional fixtures to encourage rotation. While this is good for players, it also means big teams will hoard quality talent for rotation while less rich clubs will struggle to recruit players up to that number, leading them to rely on loans from these massive clubs to survive. That will make it easier for big teams to dominate even more with the ability to dance around injury crisis with rotation while less rich teams struggle to recruit adequately to cover their rotation needs.

The state of football right now and in the future is not looking very bright, the sate of the football as an industry that is, because the actual game is in a better position than ever, more kids play it, it's more popular and the profesional game is more complex and entertaining than ever; but the world of football is beeing ran by greed and the passion and love for the working class game seems to be missing. I am a Barcelona fan so I have a lot to say about all of this. Talking about fixture congestion, I agree that all of this games is probably not s good idea for the players (yk, the ones that make this whole "industry" exists) and I also agree that less games should mean less money for players (and it's not like they need that money). For young players in particuliarly, in the case of Barça, is specially furstrating; because, outside of the crazy schedule that affects everyone, in the case of the young talents, it seems like they are thrown into the pitch way too early, and not just thrown, in the case of Barcelona at least, they put way to much pressure, expectations and even give them way too much importance for the team, and we sre seeing the results; there's a reason that all of these guys are going in similar paths; and it hurts because, in contrast with other teams like Chelsea, it seems like we sre getting all of this young talent for almost nothing and that is really meaningful with the economic state of the club, but we are throwing this kids under the bus with all of this pressure at such a young age when they are not ready and by doing so, we are probably screwing up a really promising future. And in the case of the super league, I really don't like the idea of a few clubs having that much power over the european game; but ik where both teams are coming from, both are for money (more so Barça) but apart of competing with the Premier league, they are also fighting to stay fan-owned. Everything that Laporta has been doing, all of this leavers and friendlies are to keep the club competitive with out having to sell it, and at this point, the only option left is the superleague. And in the case of Real idk, is probably a mixture of Florentino's pride and the fact that, with LaLiga in the state that it is, they are in the same route as Barcelona, not to the same extent, but Florentino knows that in ten years, the galacticos are going to be imposible; both clubs are trying to remain at the top but without "selling their soul to the devil" (which unironaclly they are becoming "the devil" with the superaleage). I think that the best way to go is to scrap the new shitty format of the Champions league and to "fix" the rest of the leagues (in the case of this two clubs get Tebas out and bring someone who can actually run the league with all the potential it has - because there are still good teams there - ). So anyways, this whole thing is a mess and it's sad because football is suposed to be an scape out of the problems of the world but the world is consuming the beatiful game

Showing love from Zimbabwe🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼

Your videos are top notch, ty ty ty

Love your content but please make more videos about legendary teams or players. Keep it up though!

Great video on a vital topic. I think that something often forgotten is that while players' conditioning has improved with time, the quality of play in my opinion, has probably outstripped even modern fitness regimens. I don't follow soccer all that closely, but I honestly feel that in many sports that I do watch, we're starting to run up on the physical limits of the human body in certain contexts. I'm seeing more and more injuries to stars and it may just be that we are asking too much of the humans playing the sports. The only solution is better rest rules, and an honest look at what we want of our athletes.

what's even crazier is the fact that physical play has been severely reduced over the years. players aren't really being injured by other players but by themselves because they train to be pure athletes rather than football players.

I bloody enjoy your videos!

Always good to present a balanced narrative . Great job I enjoyed watching ….

Always great content big dawg

❤love your videos post more bro ❤

Thanks for this awesome analysis! We should always remember that the footballers themselves are the pawns in this game and there are people high up there which pressure them as much as they can and do not care if they lose some for the ultimate goal: cash In my opinion the only way to go here is regulatory. High level football is an asset. If we get more games there should be a time limit just like here in Germany for truckers there is a limit of how long you are allowed to drive. Maybe you can also make a change to allow teams to switch out the full squad / 11 subs per game and you are forced to sub as soon as the quota is reached for certain players. That incentives clubs to get a more diverse squad and we as fans should try to abandon the hero narrative for single players - this puts a lot more pressure on clubs, players, numbers and playing time. In general I can imagine a lot of ppl do have a lot of good ideas but still what happens behind closed doors, in trainings etc. is beyond us so as long the upper level is only dependent on capitalistic structures this issue will persist.

Since you read all the comments, I just want to say, you’re the only channel I don’t miss an upload for. Much love from North Carolina, USA. Please keep up the great work.

So underrated. Another banger, as always.

great video mate!

man, i love this video, and every video

bro i love this chanel

the real issue is these players are built for speed.. none of them are actually built to endure a season

These high numbers of matches are ridiculous. We all want to watch our favourite teams as much as possible, but also see players fit (mentally and physically) and getting better. But tell me, when they can train and rest, when there’s no time for that due to the number of matches? Sadly the narrative is quite negative in this way “because they earn lots of money and just playing football”.

As days go by, I agree more with Pep when he said Players should protest, I don't know when that time will come.

I am a Barca fan so this Video really hits with me as you said in the intro. DeJong, Pedri and Gavi are probably our best players and they are all out injured now and Gavi even for the whole Season. For quite some time it really seemed like Barca really recovered and it was fun watcing them again but right now its just pure misery again, and of course you cant blame everyhing on it, but i think injuries are the main resaon for that and your Video points out very well why.

great video as usual

In Italy there are some coaches, Sarri is the first wich comes to mind, who are very vocal about their distaste about having to play so often. And many times I hear this weird counterpoint wich is "well it's like that since years, just adapt". I find it stupid, it's now that we are seeing the consequences with players retiring at 29 or being extremely prone to injuries, of course it sparks a discussion now! When players like Marco Van Basten retired at 28, it was deemed a tragedy, a career cut too short. I fear the day we will see retiring at 28 standard, or near that.

Proud of you, wonderful channel for a South African !SWEEEET !!!

another great and important video. i really share and value your opinion in a lot of matters. no cap, no joke.

Too many substitutions break the game .. the problem is not the playing time, but the total amount of games.. Imo, a league should have 16-18 teams max!

Very good video. I would also like to add that an increase in matches will most likely lead to an even greater gap between rich and poor clubs, since for a successful rotation you need more players, more players => more costs, more costs => less money spent on each player => lower average level players on the team. Consistently successful clubs (the same Real Madrid, Barcelona, City, and so on) will receive more money, spend more on players and pull further away from poorer clubs. Stories like Leicester and Girona may become a thing of the past unless some billionaire wants to pour a huge pile of money into a small club.

I have been saying for a number of years now that the best way to manage this issue to to have FIFA/UEFA/ or even just individual leagues (e.g., the EPL) impose a maximum number of club games that a player can play in any given season, and a maximum number of games in any 14 day period. I am not an expert, so wouldn't know what a good number is. But let's say it was capped at 40 per season and 3 per 14 days, with exceptions made for cup finals (so no player would have to miss out on a final due to a technicality). That would mean that no player can ever be fielded in every game across a season (assuming you include cup games). Yes, this would mean that squad sizes would increase, but it would also mean that the top players would be more likely to stay fit during a season, so they can actually play AND it would make it more likely that they can perform at their top level consistently. A way to deal with the increased squad sizes (in terms of the costs to the clubs) would be for players to be given their wages (which might be lower than they currently are) PLUS extra based on the value of the club: the more valuable a club, the more they have to pay the players. Sure, that means the big clubs might attract more players, but it also makes FFP more interesting, because all clubs would have a similar % of minimum spend on their player wages. It also means that the players' performances can, effectively, increase their wage as good performances will lead to improved club value.

fatigue hits about every sport rn. the nba and f1 for example are experiencing the same rn. more games than ever before on such a high level from an increasingly younger age where people get trained harder to make it big one day. organizers are more worried about their greed than the health of players since theres always gonna be new ones to replace.

Andros Townsend getting caught in a drive by for no reason lolllll, leave that man alone 😂

Man I was about to study and u drop the video🤧

Not sure about Europe, but in the US there has been a trend towards specialization- kids are pushed to pick just one sport, or even one position and they play it competitively year round. As a result they are developing injuries at 12-13 that you would normally associate with professionals nearing the end of their careers. People can say "well I played every day when i was a kid" but pickup games with your friends are very different from a travel schedule of top-tier competitions.

I genuinely don’t think it’ll end. Players who speak up on being played too much will see themselves get passed on by players willing to give up their bodies. Cramming the calendar with more games to milk out as much money from these dudes as possible because most people will say “they’re millionaires kicking a ball”

Increase the substitution limit. Increase the squad depth limit for international tournaments That way, individual players can play less games Also kill pointless tournaments Etc

I used to be really concerned about this because I'm an Arsenal fan and our manager only uses 13 players all season🤦🏾but I recently realised, this is a self imposed problem managers have 23 men squads available to them and an entire youth academy. Good utilisation of the squad and academy shouldn't have your players playing so many minutes. For example we (Arsenal) play games where we're up 3 nil by the 60th minute, why is Bukayo Saka still on the field? Makes no sense, also why hasn't Nelson started a league game all season? The managers are given the luxury of picking who it is they want and don't want in that 23 man squad, I almost have zero sympathy for this argument anymore. There's also the option of making squads bigger and like I said before there's an entire youth academy that must be afforded minutes in the team in order to keep the squad healthy. With proper load management and squad use I don't see why this is a problem. In a 3 game week there should be a way to get a good amount of minutes for your number one player in a given position for example Bukayo Saka as well there should be time given to Nelson to both manage the load on Saka and play himself into form so that he is good enough to compete, without minutes fringe players look worse than what they actually are, they need to touch grass. Also injuries are absolutely normal in football, managers have become worse at squad management.

I think the expansion of substitutions allowed is beneficial for all parties. For young players with high potential and already seeing first team play, the rate in which they are utilized will see them be run into the ground.

I strongly believe that Liverpool's fall off last seasson was do to the fact that they played the most amount of games possible. They were bunt out to the maximum. It took them till the second part of the season to recover.

Lionel Messi was a key player of two treble winning Barcelona teams. Cristiano Ronaldo was a pivotal part of Madrid's threepeat champions league. You gotta look back at them now and think how insanely injury resistant these guys must've been to continuously play 60+ games every year for nearly two decades.

Thanks for this and I had been thinking this about Saka for some time. What I do not understand is that Premier League clubs have so much money and you’d think that would be enough to have the squad depth to let people rest adequately. Must be a marketing thing as I saw Bellingham start for Real in a CL match even though they had won their group already. Rotation would also allow for more youth to start…

Money kills football slowly

it's about time you put an AFCON Video!!!!!

4:50 very true, the schedule was unfair, had to use the 2nd squad of the youth team to play Aston Villa cause most of the youth team 1st squad traveled with Liverpool so of team for the Club World Cup

When comparing to rugby league in Australia. First off its full contact so more injury chances but ive also played both and have to say footballs aggression isnt too far behind. The NRL have 12 subs that can be made in an 80 minute game (a player can go back on after being taken off), 27 games in a season (was 26 for a long time), 17 teams and only 2 different club competitions. One being the main league and the other being a club cup final (1 game). There is a world cup and maybe some feature games for international teams each year but it would be a shock if any player played over 35 games. Plus theres a guarantee of 6 weeks off each year from training and/or playing. This doesnt mean there isnt major injuries with 15-20 season ending injuries happening each year but its no where near what the PL is seeing Seeing football with such condense competition schedules with the length of game time and lack of subs always shocked me because after all it is only this condense because more games=more watch time=more money which big corps always want Increasing subs, changing play times for certain competitions (move FA cup outside of regular season) or making leagues have less games is something that should be pushed for football. I want to see these golden boys make their full potential, not just see it on fifa.

Another issue is increased work load off the pitch, other than just playing a lot at high intensity, I feel like pushing players to bulk up a lot, often more than their body can safely handle makes them more injury prone, that’s probably why we see so many harm strings injuries and stuff like that…

And yet, this year is probably the busiest one in football for decades. There were 4 major international tournaments in 2024 (Euro, Copa America, AFCON, Asian Cup), with the latter two being held in January-February to accomodate the climate's situations in Qatar and Ivory Coast. This literally increased the risk of injuries, as players from Asia and Africa will have more games played in just a single season.

I appreciate someone highlighting this unrepresented issue, dispute this though if change comes around there will be a huge amount of backlash from fans because we just want to consume more and more football and the people making monney of thease games will refuse to listen to the fans and players because they are greedy and just want more and more monney