Shall we start a GoFundMe page for the over worked lads of Liverpool FC?

I know 2 games of football a week while being paid 12 million a year must be stressful and mens mental health and all is paramount, maybe a couple of weeks working as a trawlerman or labouring might snap it out of them, fannies!

A break to UAE\Dubai\USA and a couple of meaningless 90 minute friendlies is just what they need.

Jet away for some winter sunshine LADS.

It’s the Premier Leagues fault I wouldn’t blame any of the clubs for taking Liverpool’s approach.

You either have a winter break or you don’t, you don’t have a token gesture winter break which might include actual first team competitive fixtures. That’s a nonsense.

A proper winter break could be beneficial to clubs like Pools.

yes, don,t knock the clubs just knock the system.

Nothing to do with mental health though is it?

The argument is that top athletes need time to rest and recover if they're going to play at their maximum and avoid injury. All the top clubs seem to agree on this as do many from lower levels. Why would you wilfully avoid reality? It's almost as if you're a Man United fan looking for any stick to beat the Liverpool dog with.

I figured this could have something to do with Ole’s buckled wheel.

Man Utd mean nothing to me, Oh Vienna.

Its not the PLs fault at all. the break is from the PL only.
When Liverpool entered this seasons FACup They agreed to ahere to the rules and regulations of that compeitition as set out by the FACup commitee.

They is no sensable argument with that at all, Please try to think before you leap.

PS:the PL have no power with regard to the FACup, Its a different department.

I'm not convinced they've taken this stance because they are overly tired, more that they feel they are at a disadvantage compared to other county's top flights who are rested before the 2nd half of the season. I get the impression that Liverpool play the kids because in cup competitions because they want to be the best in the league, not just this season but ever. People remember Arsenal's 'unbeatables' longer than most title winners.

I’m thinking thanks.

You sound like the type of person who does a bit admin for a local FA.

A winter break won’t work without the different bodies working together. All the Premier League have created here is a problem to the detriment of cup competitions. Do you believe talk of scrapping the League Cup and FA Cup replays is unconnected? Liverpool entered the FA Cup with the right to field whatever team they wish.

I recommend Benalmadena for a Winter break.It's lovely down by the Marina.

do not agree. if pools ever got into round 3 and we got em at the vic the town, especially kids, would be buzzing. then the teams would be announced hardly anyone would recognise anyone. win or lose it would be a damp aquib for me. n,ould be better just to ask teams if they want to enter in the first place. if you agree to enter then teams must play their strongest available side. if proved they have not then all prize moneys should be forfitted.

It's not as case of not agreeing, what I said was a fact.

Ideally you want the Premier League club to field first team players, but they can field whatever team they wish. Shoehorning in a half arsed winter break isn't going to improve that situation it's just about the final nail in the coffin for the FA Cup.

It might be beneficial to clubs like Pools, but it’s a two edged sword. If Pools were on a good run of form, you wouldn’t welcome the disruption of a winter break breaking the momentum.
I watched the Shrewsbury match and one point that caught my eye with these fixtures is the home club gets a sell out and kids and indeed adults turn out for a night watching the big names and you end up seeing Liverpool reserves. The look of disappointment on the kids faces was obvious. On top of which it’s a slap in the face to your opponents.
Balance sheets and suits always triumph.

Just to clarify a proper winter break in the Premier League could be beneficial for clubs like Pools because of the of chance of better attendances and bigger exposure for lower league football while the top level don’t have fixtures. I’m not proposing a winter break for all!

do attendances go up when there is that international breaks that seem to come along every few months. genuine question as i do not know but doubt it.

That's only one weekend though. A proper break would presumably be similar to Italy, Germany etc. and be around 3 weeks. Obviously you'd never get the one club die-hards to turn up but people who are just open to watching football might come along. No guarantees though, of course.

Don't know about other countries but when French Ligue 1 have their winter break the other leagues do the same so there isn't any benefit for lower division crowds. The last weekend of the break has cup matches in it and there are endless upsets because bigger clubs keep the first teamers out of action for an extra week.

Nobody gives a toss about the cup though, saw Toulouse put a weakened team out in the semi-final and then lose it to a ligue 2 team. Players weren't bothered and the fans just shrugged it off even though it is the only trophy TFC have ever won. Sad, but that's where the FA Cup is heading.

Practically everyone on this thread will be up in arms when the star England players either under perform (due to fatigue) or are injured for major tournaments (the next one being this year)

Funny how it's the same old dinosaurs have the opinion as they have no understanding that the demands on ALL footballers can lead to fatigue.

The boo-hoo they-earn-£300k-a-week-and-can't-play-twice-a-week brigade would like us to hark back to the 70s and 80s where players regularly play with hangovers after eating pie and chips all week. The game has moved on and you haven't

Lord bless us and indeed, save us

Jurgen, dat you?

And I bet the same people would love to see dogs running onto the pitch and men with sandwich boards going round in front of the stands at half time and centre forwards shoulder charging goalies into the net and leather balls with laces and Churchill giving speeches and the Germans getting beat.

This

Although I think football has improved, mobile phones are better than sandwich boards, and Churchill was a vile imperilaist, I see nothing wrong with enjoying a dog on the pitch.

When I say enjoying I mean enjoying the spectacle as it evades capture, not enjoying the animal in a Monkeybutt way.

Ah is that what they called "dogging"

Perhaps Liverpool could pay twice as many players half a million pounds a month instead of a million pounds a month and stop whinging
Why change the system to please them ... you pay your money you takes your choice.

Didn't teams used to get fined for fielding weakened sides in the FA Cup in the good old days?

And as for the game moving on so players need more rest time? That's just utter garbage. It's still a 90 minute game isn't it? Players are still pushing themselves to their absolute limits aren't they? Just because those limits may well have shifted with better knowledge of diet and effects on performance doesn't mean they aren't working to their limits whatever they may be so the end result is the same.

A player who smoked and ate pie and peas versus a non-smoking, plant based diet player has the same risks of injury in terms of games played. You overstretch your hamstring and it'll go, whether you're fit as fuck or not.

You have a shit load of games = you are successful. Manage the success accordingly and don't fucking moan about it. This is not the view of a dinosaur. Well, I am pretty old by some peoples standards but this argument about winter breaks and too many games and how affects the national team is just boring. Didn't England reach a fairly important semi final recently? Not bad for a squad of shagged out footballers is it?

I don’t ever remember a team being fined for fielding a weakened team in the FA Cup. I don’t remember too many complaining the day we beat a Stoke team with about ten changes for example.

I think this winter break thing is bollocks to be fair it’s typical of the Premier League see some other country’s version of something change it and make it worse so it won’t work, see VAR. I can totally see Klopps view on this they have a scheduled break, so why is he going to use his squad that have been used with this break in mind during it? It’s a nonsense.

Also the game is totally different Shilts at the top level, these players are now elite athletes competing against elite athletes the margins are small. Compared to 20 years ago it’s like a different sport. It’s not about ‘tiredness’ or ‘moaning’.

In what way is it different Mr PJ? The game duration is the same, the league games have actually reduced, number of cup replays possible has reduced, wasn't the league cup a two legged affair for most rounds in the past? Granted CL games have increased but I would argue (with no concrete evidence to back me up as can't be arsed to find out online) that number of games has decreased...look at those epic FA Cup games in the past replayed multiple times.

The pie and peas and smoking footballers have been long gone for a good few decades so elite athletes versus elite athletes has been the case for many, many years. If anything, the smoking chubbies should spend more time on the treatment table than the elite and don't forget the facilities now available for those elite athletes. If anyone can play 70 games a season, they should be best placed to do so.

Yeah the game hasn't moved on at all.

Meanwhile. Practically all clubs now employ fitness coaches, nutritionusts, statistical analysts, media coaches and scouts report on players personality profiles with the game being faster and the number of competative matches increasing.

Since pussy was a kitten, the national teams who win trophies all have lengthy winter breaks. I wonder why?

Yeah the game hasn't moved on at all.

Meanwhile. Practically all clubs now employ fitness coaches, nutritionusts, statistical analysts, media coaches and scouts report on players personality profiles with the game being faster and the number of competative matches increasing.

Since pussy was a kitten, the national teams who win trophies all have lengthy winter breaks. I wonder why?

Yeah the game hasn't moved on at all.

Meanwhile. Practically all clubs now employ fitness coaches, nutritionusts, statistical analysts, media coaches and scouts report on players personality profiles with the game being faster and the number of competative matches increasing.

Since pussy was a kitten, the national teams who win trophies all have lengthy winter breaks. I wonder why?

Explain 'moved on'

It is still a game over 90 minutes. You can only run so far over that period of time.

The players who play in 2020 might be finer physical specimens than those from the 80's (in some cases). Thanks entirely to advances in all areas as you rightly state above. With all this additional data, should players not be better placed to work harder more often now than ever before? A diet of beer, cigs and pies is hardly conducive to a healthy, injury free body yet they still played shit loads season in season out. These days, everything works in their favour. They should be well oiled machines capable of far more than those in the past. But are they? Probably not. Why? Because all players can only give their maximum whether they are super fit or super fat over 90 minutes a couple of times a week. You over do it, you pay for it.

As for speed of the game. This is also trotted out regularly. The game is played at the speed the players playing it are capable of. It's relative. In the 80's it was played at the speed they could play at. It's meaningless to say the game is quicker because players play to their maximum regardless of the year.

To say nations or rather England, don't win major competitions because we don't have a winter break is absolute bollocks. England haven't won a competition for decades because we aren't the best team in the competition. In England, we think we're better than we are, always have. Give credit to the opponents who are better rather than diss our players for being shit. And no, a winter break is not the difference between success and failure. Jesus wept.

By the way, how long a break do people think a player needs between games to be considered rested enough to play again? And also how long a rest before match awareness/sharpness suffers?

All players say they would prefer to be playing. How many training sessions will there be if you have 3 games in a week? Not many is the answer. Play once a week and train for 5 days or play 3 games and train for how many? 2 and 1/2? It should all be tailored to the number of games.

Very workable.

I think Pubey as a fitness instructor will be able to answer that

I’m not having that one.

Take France in the last World Cup, about half of the starting line up play in the Premier League.

The best teams with the best players win trophies at International level. The reason England looked fatigued in Extra Time during the Semi Final of the World Cup was because from half time in the match Modric completely ran the show and we were chasing the ball. Three weeks off in the winter wouldn’t have given us that type of midfield player.

It might be good for clubs in the second half of the season and be good for the quality of matches in this period but it’s not going to make any difference by June when all the players have played a similar amount of games and had a short break leading into the tournament. I doubt in Qatar 2022 we’re going to see any difference in who’s the favourites to win it because it’s starting in November.

players can have as many diaticians, fitness coaches etc. etc. on their side but if they have not got the heart for the game then everyone including them are wasting their time. for me its not the need for the winter break thats the problem its the scedule over christmas and new year thats the problem. 5 games in only 14 days just cannot be right at any level of the game.

Overweight 50 something man criticises young athletes for having a break

Makes sense


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The bit about teams who have the winter break do better are the same teams who did better before the winter breaks came in.

Is there a certain age / year of birth that determines whether or not you can accept things can change or move on?

I know some blokes in there 50s who over the last few years have gone very fuckin weird n struggled to adapt to the world n how it’s changing and they are getting older. Tech passes them by. Young people annoy them.

It’s pretty sad


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55

Remember to lift dumb bells with your arms, not your head!

50’s...? Anyone over 25 is old nowadays, so come to terms with the fact you are too. You might think you aren’t, but kids nowadays see anyone over 25 as just old.
As for the stuff about tech, adapting to a changing world and young people annoying them, I got that in the 70’s off my dad. Nowts new.

The FA / Premier League have enforced and introduced the winter break...

If they didnt want replays to fall in this window, they should look at the fixture lists and schedule appropriately. They cant say, the PL is having a winter break, but now that you have a replay you cant have a break...

Imagine your gaffer saying you can have a week off on this specific week, then an order comes in and (s)he says, sorry guys, order just landed, your leave is canelled...

I suspect the PL knows that replays in the FA cup will probably be coming to an end soon. They've already got rid of them from the 5th round on. It makes no sense to keep them up to this point. Either keep them in their entirety or just bin them.

I think your inner cynicism is justified. It's the same whenever a sporting body does something and says it's thinking of player welfare. To borrow an example from cricket look at the ECB's recent behaviour. They say they support 4 day tests because it will help player welfare and then announce that they want to start an annual ODI tournament with India and Australia. Which will presumably involve more than a single game against both followed by a final!

As the man said. When I was fifteen my dad knew nowt but when I got to twenty five I was surprised how much my dad had learned.
There has been massive changes in my lifetime and I think I have coped ok.
I don't mind changing, it's a new adventure and you do actually learn something new every day.
Football has changed dramatically and not only on the playing side. The stadia are better, the pitches are not the mud heaps they used to be and, most importantly, you can get chilled drinks AND chips in some of them.
Every generation wants to change and "improve" things and that is a good ideal to have as long it has a smattering of common sense attached to it and not change just for the sake of it.
When the old bull and the young bull were put into a field full of cows the young bull said " let's charge across there and shag one of those cows". To which the old bull replied " Nah let's just saunter over and shag all of them "

Is that aimed at me Mr Yubep?

Over 50?! Not yet sir. Overweight? Ermm. Yeah, a bit

No


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Disappointed

[quote="Yubep"]Overweight 50 something man criticises young athletes for having a break

Makes sense


not all over 50,s or over 70,s in my case are overweight. 6ft.1inch, 12 stone 3 lbs. bet a lot of our tubby youngsters would go for that even though going metric might feel they are taller and slimmer.