Tired Footballers

[Donut]

I just finished my exams for the year so im a bit bored and i started to think about that common excuse we all keep hearing every summer about footballers being tired..

So, i looked at the team england put out on saturday and looked at how many games they played this season and it looks as follows..

Joe hart - 54

Glen Johnson - 35

Ashley cole - 48

John terry - 45

Rio ferdinand - 27

Jack wilshere - 49

Frank lampard - 32

scot parker - 38

James milner - 28

Theo Walcott - 38

Darren bent - 39

Then i thought.. "well, a lot of players have played less then 40 games in a year.. doesnt seem that much"... The average amount of games played (not including the keeper as outfield players and keepers have different physical requirements) is just over 37 games which is less then a premier league season.. so why are they so tired as we keep hearing??

I cant figure it out.. i looked the spine of barcelona team which did not look tired at all when they played man u and there players have played more games then all of those england players..

messi - 50+ game every season for the last 3 seasons

xavi - 50+ every season over the last 5

iniesta - 2 seasons of 50+ games and 3 seasons of 40+ games with an average of 48 over 5 seasons

gerard pique - 45,49,51 over past 3 seasons

So with that you gota wonder why we keep hearing it.. is it just a sad excuse or is it a sad reality that even with few games our best players are still just not that good..

None of those players are tired because in a typical game they have 70% or more possession against modest teams in a slow tempo league. Simple as that.

[Haydos]

Nope, didnt know anything about the Euros or the WC. Arse.

Im not missing the point at all. Fact is if Spain didnt beat Venezuela last night then the same would be being said about them. Most footballers have young kids to look after, some have their sponsor events or whatever you want to call them to attend, some have both. They train three or four days a week, play one game a week or sometimes two, they have alot of travelling to do especially the players playing in European comps, and this is pretty much for 9 months straight. Personally I wouldnt be surprised if its more a mental thing than physical. Some of the players probably do find it difficult to enjoy playing for their country when they read some of the shit the media write when they dare concede a goal to a team like Kazakhstan.

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like such a dick.

My point is, all footballers in the top 5 leagues (Eng, Spa, Ita, Fra, Ger) have similar workloads. Brazil, Holland, Argentina etc are probably no less. I appreciate the work footballers do but to try and excuse themselves as tired when the other top nations have been doing exactly the same is just not justifiable IMO. A valid reason I would consider but when it's as level a playing field as it is it's hard to make excuses other than they are just not good enough.

If your opinion is different then that's obviously fine and I didn't mean to attack it but for me I don't think I'll see it another way.

[FoxyPV]

Mental tiredness or apathy is the only reason.

[The Doctor]

people seem to be confusing tiredness with exhaustion.

Tiredness isn't just a lack of energy, it's more a state a person is in. Stress in paticular can cause people to be tired and given the pressure the media puts on the england team it wouldn't suprise me to hear that they're very stressed and so tired.

I'm not exactly well acquaintated with the spanish, italian, german etc. media but i would assume they aren't as demanding as the english media and therein lies the reason why their players don't seem as tired as yours.

[shen]

NO sportsman has an inbuilt sense of NOT wanting to give 100%. Its inbuilt in you as a human being.....you dont actively want to lose...... theres players in that England team on sat that are going to be the backbone of that team for years to come and damned it if they arent motivated to show that and become global stars

I don't agree. The personality and professionalism of an athlete determines if he gives "100 %" (what a stupid way of trying to measure performance anyway, since it implies a players' performance rate and talent are fixed). Why else would motivation be such a huge part of sport? If athletes always go out there with the intention of giving their all in training and in games, there would be no need for coaches and mental trainers. All of the England players are rich beyond belief and you can understand the criticism that they don't "show any pashun" while playing for their country when watching other national teams playing to or over expectations. I would rather subscribe to...

Mental tiredness or apathy is the only reason.

this idea than to the idea of physical tiredness. As shown by others, the elite players are physically fit enough.

people seem to be confusing tiredness with exhaustion.

Tiredness isn't just a lack of energy, it's more a state a person is in. Stress in paticular can cause people to be tired and given the pressure the media puts on the england team it wouldn't suprise me to hear that they're very stressed and so tired.

I'm not exactly well acquaintated with the spanish, italian, german etc. media but i would assume they aren't as demanding as the english media and therein lies the reason why their players don't seem as tired as yours.

I have no idea what makes you assume the media in those countries aren't as demanding. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the years without success of the English team has made the media there more mellow and apathetic compared to the other medias who are used to NT success.

[Super_horns]

TBF John Terry came out and didn't use "tiredness" as an excuse but Capello did.

Must have worked them too hard in training?

I think the fuss was partly created due to the team having a 2 week "break" in some cases before Saturday's game so people maybe not clued up on sports fitness expected fully fit performances from each player.

If the game was away in some eastern european outpost during a business period of the domestic season I think people would have been more understanding and the fact they are paid very well to "kick a ball around" in the eyes of some.

Ofcourse it didn't help most of of the 1st half was spend chasing after the ball and Swiss players!

[gazfox9]

None of those players are tired because in a typical game they have 70% or more possession against modest teams in a slow tempo league. Simple as that.

That point is utter drivel. If you've ever played football you'd understand that the reason they dominate possession is because their movement off the ball is the best bar none. And their workrate in winning the ball back, slow tempo or not is phenominal.