How do we maintain playing every 3 days for the rest of the season?

PoTMS

Full Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
17,996
Does anyone who how we've done it so far? Are they skipping one/two days training every week?

Our performances have taken a nose dive recently which can only be attributed to the amount of games we're playing. It's great for us fans as it's never long before we get to see United play but how do we manage doing this for the rest of the season - over two months of which is left. Surely something will have to give as this is not sustainable.

It may come down to it whereby we have to sacrifice one of the competitions. For me, I'll happily rest our players in the league as we should have enough to get top 4 and even if we don't, the EL and the FA Cup are more important.
 
This break has come at a great time for us. Hopefully we get Eriksen, Garna and Martial back fit.

More numbers will help as I agree the games are starting to affect our performances a lot.
 
Our CDM not getting suspended every other game would probably help.
 
AltiUn said:
Our CDM not getting suspended every other game would probably help.
Click to expand...

Weirdly, him being out for three more games and Varane being retired from international football will end up being great for us as we come to the end of the season. Add in an Eriksen back to full fitness and Sabitzer being back, we might be alright.
 
I thought Eriksen was out until May at the earliest? It'd be a big boost for us if he could come back sooner.
 
We need players back because the team looks absolutely gassed. The international break couldn’t have come at a better time.

I have to admit I’m worried that the squad is being stretched too thin competing on three fronts and something will have to give eventually. The good cohesive attacking football seems to have gone out the window recently & we’re just grinding out results. Let’s hope the break gives us a refresh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 711
Our squad is too thin in certain positions specifically CDM, CM and Striker.

The rest of the squad we have pretty decent cover but with Casemiro suspended and Martial / Eriksen injured our options are poor for a side as big as United
 
I mean it's only 8 weeks of football to go now. It was more daunting in December
 
Aside from Bruno and Rashford I think they're all getting a break here and there.

Problem is those two are absolutely crucial.
 
We should be ok for Top 4, but the worry is that team will be done by the time semis/finals roll around. Players are playing way too many minutes and you can see how much even replacing one (Maguire, McTominey) hurts us. Just no depth at all.
 
Marwood said:
Aside from Bruno and Rashford I think they're all getting a break here and there.

Problem is those two are absolutely crucial.
Click to expand...
Need a Martinez and Southgate masterclass the next couple of weeks.
 
PoTMS said:
Need a Martinez and Southgate masterclass the next couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

Yeah if those two could get a break during the internationals I think we'd be alright.

Everybody else is being rotated constantly it feels.

Bruno won't miss games for Portugal though. Not by choice anyway.

Rashford limping off today gives me hope he might sit the England games out.
 
Casemiro and Eriksen will hopefully be fresh for the run in. Today was actually the main game I was worried about with Casemiro missing with it being the knockout one. You don't want to drop points in the league but you can afford them and still get top 4.
 
It’s all good now. Players coming back and slightly less games in the future. The tough period is over.
 
If you want to win trophies you have to play 2 games a week, its nothing new, really isn't anything to moan about,
Lots of our players will get a rest now,
 
BluesJr said:
It’s all good now. Players coming back and slightly less games in the future. The tough period is over.
Click to expand...
Erm, no? We're playing twice a week until the start of June if we make both cup finals.
 
We need to play our fringe players more, playing same players every 3 days isn't sustainable. Signs are already showing in March and it'll only get worse in April/May

I also think we'll find ourselves in a dogfight for Top 4, so we have to prioritize competitions at some point

BluesJr said:
It’s all good now. Players coming back and slightly less games in the future. The tough period is over.
Click to expand...

It really isn't. We have a tough match up in Europa League, meaning we can't rotate much. If we get past the QF, we have Juventus which will be another tough tie.

Also, Brighton and Brentford games are yet to be rescheduled. Plus, one more game if we win FA Cup SFs. Basically, our midweek is clogged even after International break. And, our 2 most important players will have more minutes racked up in this time.
 
'The break' as some above have said is not a break - it's international qualifiers. Players like Bruno and Rashford will very likely play in them.

I can see the performances nosedive quite frequently unless ETH starts rotating more, especially in the league.
 
Skills said:
I mean it's only 8 weeks of football to go now. It was more daunting in December
Click to expand...
Don't think so - there is a lot more tangibly at stake now and the pressure is intensifying because of that. It's also cumulative fatigue, so we know the players are going to be more likely to conk out before the finish line in those remaining weeks.

The resources across the board (mental, physical and momentum) are so much more tentative now - the element of psychosomatic belief compounding from wins (or losses) is at its strongest of the season in the period coming up.
 
It's a shame we kinda ballsed up a healthy distance from the top 4 race. If we can get some big important wins in the league then we should start prioritising the cups.
 
We have to get on with it. Returning players will help. Our manager’s poor squad management (in my opinion) does not.
 
If Fergie was in charge, many of our players would drop out if upcoming national squads due to 'slight injuries'... Rashford, Bruno for sure.
 
Most of our core players play their last game of the international break by Sunday the 26th. That’s a full week rest before the Newcastle game. Which is something they haven’t had since the Queen died.

Only guy I’m worried about is Licha as their second friendly is on the 28th and he’ll have a long flight back, arriving 3 days before Newcastle.
 
We’re going to struggle, first team players are fatigued and alternative is players who aren’t good enough and/or don’t fit way of playing.

We’ll probably see a lot more performances like today and will need to grind out a lot of results.
 
PoTMS said:
Does anyone who how we've done it so far? Are they skipping one/two days training every week?
Click to expand...
From what I've read, matchday players don't really do any high-intensity training; just recovery and tactical training. Instead, the matches themselves serve to stay fit for them. The rest supposedly does have more high-intensity training to stay fit. That way, physical tiredness might not be a huge issue, but it doesn't affect mental tiredness. Also, it might not be good for matchday sharpness to mostly have less intense training.
 
It's going to be difficult. I feel as though we should have given less priority to one of the domestic cups and heavily rotated in one competition. Given how far we'd progressed in the Carabao Cup, this should have been the FA Cup. ETH goes on about how all these competitions are energising the players but it's at odds with what we're seeing on the pitch. Aside from the fatigue aspect, there's virtually no time to prepare tactically for each game.

We should do better in subsequent seasons if we recruit as well as we did last summer, but I can imagine our performances will continue to be patchy until the end of this season.
 
BluesJr said:
It’s all good now. Players coming back and slightly less games in the future. The tough period is over.
Click to expand...

We have at least 9 matches in April. We have been on this pace since Nov. This excludes FA cup and Europa League matches.
Not sure why you think the tough period is over.

Yes we may get Erikson back. But the rest of them may have physical breakdowns soon.
 
app says we play Brighton on Saturday after playing Sevilla on Thursday??? Surely they have to move our semi to Sunday! That’s insane turnaround
 
sglowrider said:
We have at least 9 matches in April. We have been on this pace since Nov. This excludes FA cup and Europa League matches.
Not sure why you think the tough period is over.

Yes we may get Erikson back. But the rest of them may have physical breakdowns soon.
Click to expand...
Casemiro will be also be fresh and there’s the mental boost of it being the final push to the end of the season which gives players the extra 5% needed. Smooth sailing.
 
marktan said:
'The break' as some above have said is not a break - it's international qualifiers. Players like Bruno and Rashford will very likely play in them.

I can see the performances nosedive quite frequently unless ETH starts rotating more, especially in the league.
Click to expand...

They’ll nosedive if he rotates as well. We are brutally thin especially in midfield.

Sort of what I was afraid of in January when people thought we had a shot at the league. Competing on 4 fronts is great but we have to be willing to accept the crap performances that will inevitably occur in some games because of this. Happens to every team.

The biggest issue currently is our severe lack of technical quality throughout much of the squad. It’s damning on previous recruitment, and means that it’s difficult for us to control games with any sort of regularity unless we have our fully fit first choice XI out there
 
MyBloodIsRed said:
app says we play Brighton on Saturday after playing Sevilla on Thursday??? Surely they have to move our semi to Sunday! That’s insane turnaround
Click to expand...
It’ll be rescheduled. Not even sure Tv have picked what to show when just yet
 
Ice bath, sleep, nutritious food and good-lovin' will get the players through this.
 
The trick is to half-arse it and somehow get the wins anyway. Get Sancho to do more of his voodoo shit and snap their players out of existence, like he did today.
 
It's the fact they had the flipping world cup in the middle of the season, so has added extra games on top too.

While I was disappointed at the performance, I'd half made peace with the fact we weren't progressing in the FA cup as Brighton are a nemesis for us recently, and City have been handed practically a free ticket to the final and it's unlikely we'd beat them. I'd obviously like to win more trophies but if something had to give I'd have picked that. Id rather win the Europa as it then guarantees CL in the event top 4 falls to pieces

And now we have yet more internationals, with most of our most important players bar Varane having yet more games. If any of Licha/Rashy/Bruno get injured we are fecked especially Rashy

I know I keep mentioning him but it'll be infuriating if Martial remains unavailable after the break is over
 
You must log in or register to reply here.