It is believed that this is because Newcastle rarely rotates with almost one game every three days.
They are looking at the players’ physical condition with anxiety. English Premier League clubs will play a strong match in early December. They play six to seven Premier League games a month. In addition, Newcastle are scheduled to play the final group match of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League against AC Milan on the 14th (Korea time), so it is essential to manage the physical strength of the players.
Players are not the only ones under stress as the game schedule gets tighter. Earlier this month, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp also had a war of nerves with a reporter and complained about his current schedule to play games at least once every three days. Liverpool has a total of nine matches to play, including the Premier League and the UEFA Europa League, in December alone.
In response to such complaints, Alan Shearer, an English legend striker with the most goals scored (260) in the Premier League, and Gary Lineker, who is now the top scorer in the 1986 Mexico World Cup and is now known as the best celebrity in English football, opened his mouth. They are all veterans who have retired for more than 20 years, but they pointed out that the problem of players’ physical strength lies in the mind, not the body.
The two appeared on the football podcast “The Last Is Football” on the 12th to deal with recent physical trends in soccer and complaints about players’ physical fitness.
Shearer opened the scoring first. “After Newcastle lost to Tottenham, a lot of experts were worried about Newcastle’s fatigue,” he said. “It’s crazy. The players’ job is to play soccer. They have to show a similar performance, whether it’s once every five days or once every three days.”
“The most problematic point to point out is Newcastle’s failure to overturn at the end of the game,” he said, arguing that the lack of replacement resources due to injuries was a more direct cause of the defeat.
At that time, Tottenham was leading 3-0 until the 15th minute of the second half, and Son Heung-min kicked a penalty kick in the 40th minute of the second half to create a four-goal lead. Newcastle made mistakes throughout the game and had to settle for one goal in the second half extra time.
“In modern soccer, the best facilities, team doctors, and the best stadiums are all state-of-the-art,” Shearer said. “Even when we are away from home, we do not take trains, but rather take private jets.” This means that unlike in the past, players are not in an environment where they can easily complain.
In response, Micah Richards, a former defender of Manchester City, refuted, saying, “Modern soccer requires a lot of physical strength for players due to heavy forward pressure.” Lineker stepped up this time.
Lineker said, “The reason why the ball switch is fast and you have to run more these days is because the stadium has improved,” adding, “I don’t want to say that I did this in my time, but in the past, I played soccer in the mud. My feet fell out,” and pointed out that the environment has been set up to produce a much faster game than in the past. He also said that no matter how difficult the game is, if you have the mindset that you want to play, you can play as much as you want.
Recalling his past participation in the 1986 Mexico World Cup, Lineker said, “I played soccer in a hot climate with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the World Cup will be held every three or four days,” adding, “However, will he not play or will he play for only 10 minutes and be replaced?”
After all, physical burden depends on mental state. Lineker also pointed out that the best soccer players in the recent 20 years have been absent a lot. It is about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Lineker said, “When I see Messi and Ronaldo, they play almost every game. Especially when I was at Barcelona led by Pep Guardiola, Messi tried to put forward pressure every day.”
Again, Richards expressed the opposite opinion. “The teams that Messi and Ronaldo spent their prime in are all dominant teams, so they played less than defense because they had a lot of ball ownership,” he said.
But this was also blocked by Lineker’s rebuttal. Lineker used the remarks of striker Thierry Henry, who once represented Arsenal and France. “He said the toughest thing in football is running with the ball,” Lineker said. “We can never overlook the physical factor of dribbling, holding up tackles and fighting.”
Notably, Messi is underrated in this regard. Lineker said, “When you look at Messi, he dribbles by himself every game,” adding, “You can’t criticize him for running less and walking less because his physical strength is weak.” In other words, the more dominant a team is, the more physical it consumes.
Meanwhile, Shearer and Lineker acknowledged that “forward pressure is becoming much more important in modern soccer,” adding that it is true that physical factors have become a little more important. He also made people laugh by saying, “I didn’t want to make comments like ‘kondae.’토토사이트 순위