The prevailing wisdom coming out of the press in the last week or so is that Stuart Pearce and Fabio Capello will make Liverpool striker Andy Carroll and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere go to the European U21 Championships in June. Liverpool legend Alan Hansen is mystified by the apparent decision:
“Jack Wilshere has every chance of developing into English football’s next superstar. Like Andy Carroll, the Arsenal player seems set to be a cornerstone of the England team for next year’s European Championship, and for years to come. It is mystifying what benefit Fabio Capello and Stuart Pearce seems to think either of them will gain by being deprived of a summer break. Instead, both the Italian and the former Manchester City manager are considering sending them to play in the European Under-21 Championship in Denmark in June.”
For me also, it seems totally at odds with what Liverpool have been trying to do with Andy Carroll over the last few months. The Reds have been careful with Andy’s recovery back to fitness with Kenny Dalglish stating he is with the club for five years rather than just a few months. The club’s sports science team have managed the striker’s thigh injury very well, and despite speculation he could be out for the rest of the season, he came back in good time to make his debut against Manchester United.
As Hansen says in his article for the Daily Telegraph, the decision to put both Carroll and Wilshere back in the firing line during the off season, could be very counter-productive for the player’s footballing development. There is a huge risk of burn out earlier on in their careers if they are forced to play all year round, rather than having at least a month’s rest in June. In Andy Carroll’s case, it may undo all the hard work the Reds have put into him over the last few months to get him back to fitness. After all, he is a £35million commodity and the last thing Liverpool’s medical team would want to hear is that Andy comes back to pre-season training next campaign with another injury.
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This week it is former LFC WAG Edita Hortova!
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Your sentiments echo those of many of the Arsenal sites. Wenger has previous with Pearce , who did the same to Walcott and sent him back as a crock waiting to happen. Truth is that international managers pay lip service to the clubs , but really are only interested in their own legacy. Pearce will not worry if either player misses the first ten games of next season as long as his profile is lifted.
I have never understood this idea of rest for top football players. To play for a couple of hours 2-3 times a week in competitive matches really shouldn’t be too difficult. They have the ultimate in training and medical facilities backed up by consultants, dieticians and a pampered lifestyle. I am an ex Royal Marine and we trained 15 hours a day sometimes 7 days a week for months on end and went away on exercises all over the world. We never had any top of the range facilities, or great food, nor did we travel first class yet we performed 100% all the time with very few injuries and on very little sleep. A professional footballer plays when they are in their prime and at their most fittest and agile, so stop all this debate on whether they should be playing a few extra games in a season. To play for your country regardless of at what level or what month is a great honour and all players should be expected to give 100% at all time.
It’s a different scenario and you know it.
Only different in that it’s obviously much easier for a pampered footballer to play on perfect lush turf for 90 minutes a few times a week. Why do they need a rest in the summer? The majority of hard working people in the UK are lucky if they get a 1 week break in Spain once a year, the rest of the year they are working a 50 hour week whilst managing a family and paying the bills.
It’s a disgrace that at a time when we have young lads the same age as most footballers out in Afghanistan giving 100% for our country, we have footballers who are moaning they are too tired to kick a ball and run around a pitch for our country.
Mate, you are comparing apples and oranges.
Besides this, if you performed 100% all the time lets see your OPTA stats to back it up. If you lot never had non-combat related injuries then can I have my tax monies back that went to your physios, who presumably got so bored with nothing to do they joined in your 15-hour training sessions? Finally, even if you bad asses were super human you still had your limits. The point is that if Stuart Pierce was in charge he’d have pushed you past your limits if it suited his short sighted agenda.
Regardless of apples or oranges . .
Surely we can expect a professional sportsman to perform at optimum level for 90 minutes a few times a week all year round. Especially when in between them times they have every modern facility available to them and don’t have to lift a finger.
Sorry but I have to agree with Mike Arms, as far as the fitness levels go. It is possible they can take a knock in a game and end up being out for a few weeks and that can have an impact on the fitness. But generally speaking playing a few games extra should be well within a professionals ability. Even in the early 80’s and 70’s they used to play more games a season and they never had a rotating squad. Then they used to smoke and drink in the pub after. Look at George Best. How much alcohol did he drink and was still the lyncpin of the squad./ Footballers nowadays are pampered.
Yes, Mr Arms makes a good point. This is their job. There is a culture at football clubs like at any business. If the culture amongst the players is one of try to play as little as possible internationally to make sure you can perform optimally at club level then the players will start to believe that they are only expected to play optimally if they get enough rest. It is difficult of course if you play many games, but that is what must be expected of footballers and if some of them are not up for it, there are plenty more where they came from.
Yes but nowadays players that get injured tend to go under the knife alot and they don’t come back the same player majority of the time, and the injury comes back and cuts 3-4 years off their careers in some cases.
Its more about the clubs not wanting to let their best players go to meaningless tournaments and stay fit for the league and more important games. The amount of money that is paid to these athletes is huge and over the top so they want as much from the players, if the best players are not playing whose going to come watch…….YNWA
Mike Arms… you have to be having a laugh. The problem is too many people think that playing football as a pro is a doddle. It is not a doddle at all or we’d all be playing football for a living. To expect a 19 year old to maintain peak performance all year round without a proper rest is sadly the opinion of a troglodyte like Pearce. That is why he was cack at ManCity and why he is still Cack as the U21 manager…
All you hear from these bitter, jealous no-marks is blah, blah, blah 30k a week, blah blah blah… “I used to play football 7 days a week as a kid”… complete bollocks. Go on a pitch with even a semi-pro side and do their training and then come back and talk. The speed and athelticism of a premiership footballer of the class of Wilshere is not something that any old couch potato would understand or appreciate… it’s like asking why a thoroughbred horse can’t run a race every single day because all they do is eat and sleep!
During the summer all the talk was of rebuilding a side in the mould of Germany, with players coming through together as part of successful teams. Now as soon as the opportunity comes to actually follow through everybody’s up in arms all of a sudden.
Btw, footballer’s have plenty of little trips off to sunnier climes throughout the year. I know a couple of pros, not even at Premiership level, and they’re always off on R&R trips. Players say that they are fatigued because everybody tells them that they are supposed to be fatigued.
Truly, no one gives a damn why you, Mr David Tully, are as mystified as Alan Hansen. Do Stuart Pearce and Fabio Capello owe you an explanation?
Normally the under-21’s is a place for the younger players to showcase what they can do to the senior manager in the hope to catch his eye. What we’re doing here is putting two players who appear to be on the verge of being regular senior players back into, effectively, a lower class of football. U21 football is not in th e same league as senior international football and both Wilshere and Carroll shouldn’t be made to play.
Isn’t Walcott still young enough to be called up? Why not call him up.
Once you have a certain number of senior caps (maybe 5 or so) then you shouldn’t be allowed to be picked for the U21’s
There have been numerous studies on the optimal amount of time (ie minutes) a player should play a season before they suffer from burnout or injuries. It happens in all codes, body building, rugby, soccer etc. And it is a reality..
If I was Kenny I’d make Carrol fake an injury.. Who cares about an U21 tournament?
It’s where your priorities lie, me it’s Liverpool over country but then I’m Welsh at least we admit we’re awful. If the English want to really compete they’ll have to do something about the EPL the players are done by the end of the season and to the ex marine maybe you should realise how many ex forces guys have mental problems, nobody can work all the time the mind cracks up.
The only way of achieving anything is by hard work and 100% effort at all times, it isn’t a doddle and no it’s not in any way easy. But just because something is hard we shouldn’t immediately try to make things easier and give players excuses.
With regards the idea that it is continued hard work that causes mental problems in ex soldiers is ridiculous, seeing kids in mass graves, watching your mate die in front of you or watching him blew to pieces causes mental instability it has nothing to do with hard work and commitment. We need to instill a winning mentality at international level, we will never achieve that by asking for more rest and feigning injuries to dodge our responsibilities.