Chelsea’s Italian head coach Enzo Maresca shouts directions to the gamers from the touchline in the course of the pre-season pleasant soccer match between Chelsea and Inter Milan on the Stamford Bridge stadium in London on August 11, 2024. (Picture by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Picture by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca criticised the packed sport schedule that footballers are subjected to, saying there may be ‘little question’ they’re enjoying an excessive amount of and that making their voices heard is an efficient start line.
Extra competitions are rising the variety of video games, a problem that a number of gamers and coaches have raised in current weeks.
The brand new expanded Champions League format added two additional matches within the revamped group section earlier than the knockout stage, and the brand-new Membership World Cup, to be held between June and July 2025 on the finish of an already busy season, will contain as many as 32 groups.
“We don’t defend the gamers”: Maresca’s stance on packed sport schedule and potential strike
“Sure, little question [they are playing too many games],” Maresca stated at a press convention on Friday, as quoted by Soccer London.
“By way of video games, it’s an excessive amount of. We don’t defend gamers. The one ones who can do one thing are the gamers. We may help them.”
“I believe within the final two weeks, some gamers have defined what they assume, and I believe it’s start line.”
Chelsea’s Italian supervisor continued by explaining his considerations a couple of schedule that leaves gamers little probability to relaxation, which is strictly associated to his resolution to omit some outstanding gamers from the Blues’ Europa Convention League record.
“The explanation why Cole [Palmer], Wes [Fofana] and Romeo [Lavia] are out of the squad in Convention League is to guard them just a little bit. For Cole, it’s a combination by way of it’s been an intense season for him final yr. We try to guard him.”
Manchester Metropolis’s Rodri arguably shared the strongest view on this regard. He admitted gamers are “shut” to hanging and have “no different choice” if issues received’t change.
Requested to touch upon such a situation, Maresca merely added, “The one factor I can say is that there are too many video games.”
Maresca’s compatriot Carlo Ancelotti stated in August that he would take into account giving his Actual Madrid gamers particular person holidays in the course of the season to deal with a packed fixture record.
