I can’t get my head around the fact that people don’t understand that human footballers may feel fatigue. Surely it’s common sense that if you’ve run around for 90 minutes on Boxing Day, you’re not going to have the same energy levels 2 days later. The more your muscles are fatigued, the more chance you have of injuring said muscle in the next match.
I once remember sitting in a session with Mark Ashton who was one of the sports scientists at Sheffield United. They played Burnley on the Saturday, performance levels showed that player A (I think it was Henderson) was trainingnthe day prior to that game at an all round percentage of 91%. He told us 91% wasn't actually that good for what Kevin Blackwell wanted but that he probably would still make the starting 11. They then due to play Ipswich away on the Tuesday, so before they set off down on Monday afternoon all those who played any part in the Saturday game against Burnley were once again analysed. Henderson was at (I think) 77%, and that was before any training had taken place (the would have trained Tuesday morning. A light session with an hour's ball work at the most). Playing 2 games in 4 days isn't easy, even for professional players. If a player drops on average 10% then you're going to know about it. The average winger for example will run between 3 and 6km per game, and around 3 max in training. How many km do office workers clock in a 9 hour shift? Next to 0, but they will still complain of tiredness. Footballers workload on their bodies, regardless of time spend at 'work' is quite remarkable. There are also other factors that come into play such as diet and build up of lactic acid, it's all interesting stuff. The science side of the game will have come on tenfold since I was on my apprenticeship over 10 years ago too.
