The cost of football’s packed schedule is a double-edged sword for players and managers alike | OneFootball

It’s a week where only four Premier League teams have double fixtures, so it consequently becomes a little double-edged. Although the Carabao Cup semi-final managers are at a stage of the season where their squads could badly do with time to breathe, the fact they are so close to Wembley means they feel they have little choice but to go all in. There’s a trophy to be won.

That just means they lose a little bit of ground on, well, the training ground after the hectic December schedule. It’s perhaps just as well for Mikel Arteta and Arne Slot, in particular, that they have the FA Cup rather than Premier League at the weekend. We can expect some drastically changed sides.

There should be a sadness to that but it does point to one of many contradictions in the modern game. Football has become so forensically systemised - to the point some call it “NFLisation” - and yet there’s so little actual time in the calendar for the elite teams to hone those systems.

It is a dynamic that may well mean the Carabao Cup again becomes a bit of a survival of the fittest - or perhaps the best rehearsed.

You only have to look at one of the teams that actually went out in the last round. The five full days that Ruben Amorim had with the squad between the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United and the 2-2 draw with Liverpool were the longest since he took the Manchester United job. Before that, it was never more than three, and often just two. The difference showed.

It is perhaps the two clubs for whom the Carabao Cup would mean the most, in Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur, who best display this difference. They have almost traded situations, and seasons.

Last term, Spurs had no European football so Ange Postecoglou’s players were much fresher, and it resulted in a revitalising campaign. By contrast, Newcastle enjoyed their first Champions League campaign in two decades, but it came at the cost of sapping Eddie Howe’s side of their intensity - and often bodies, through injury.

Now, Newcastle have no European football but a lot of energy, and are on their most impressive spell of form in almost two years. It makes it a really challenging match for Arsenal, who have had tension with Howe’s side, and also injury concerns of their own. Spurs have meanwhile had a lot of Europa League fixtures, which have played its part in the squad looking stretched for weeks. Postecoglou badly needs some of his bodies back. He also needs some of the feeling back.

That reflects how there is more to this than just physical cost.

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Tottenham’s Ange Postecoglou (left) is feeling the strain of a packed schedule (EPA)

Those at Arsenal point to the example of their 0-0 home draw at Everton in mid-December, a drab performance which led to perhaps the most anxious discussion of the season from the fanbase. It looked like they were running out of ideas. For the staff, it was much more prosaic.

Arsenal went into that Saturday 3pm game having played Monaco in the Champions League on the Wednesday, and having not had a free midweek since August. That meant Thursday was a recovery session and Friday was the only day to actually prepare for the weekend.

Leaving aside the physical demands, there’s also the psychological. Modern tactics are now so detailed that players have a lot to absorb from match to match. The less time you have, the more rudimentary that instructions for individual games have to be.

Against that, and due to the postponement of their Merseyside derby against Liverpool, Everton had a full 10 days to prepare for Arsenal. The difference told, just like with United.

It suddenly became far more rational that Arsenal were struggling to open Sean Dyche’s defence without the little ideas and tactical insights that more time might have allowed. Everton were meanwhile primed to shut out every angle.

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Ethan Nwaneri faces a spell on the sidelines with the youngster’s injury a possible byproduct of Arsenal’s busy schedule (EPA)

The unexpected make-up of the Premier League table so far shows that such factors have become something of a leveller this season, although it should always be pointed out that fixture saturation is not a viable solution to football’s long-standing issue of financial disparity.

Arsenal and Liverpool do still have that greater strength in depth, and that makes them favourites for these semi-finals.

The competition has so far proven valuable for Arteta in terms of giving young talent opportunities, especially if they don’t spend in this January transfer window. That is the other side to this, that marks a difference to a manager just in like Amorim. Arteta has had most of these players for so long that they have a muscle memory in terms of his broader game principles. It was the same with Howe even last season, while Slot has obviously fitted in so well with what Liverpool were already doing. A greater challenge, as Postecoglou is now finding, is adapting your approach around the schedule.

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The strength in depth for Arne Slot’s Liverpool makes them favourites to defeat Spurs in the Carabao Cup semi-finals (AP)

As insiders from all clubs state, it’s about getting the team used to all the travel and hotels. That has a pronounced effect if a squad haven’t really gone through it together as a group, or if they have inexperienced players. They need to get used to the constant cycle of hotels and travel that has a genuine effect in terms of physical output. It’s also then when “physical load” can start to affect players even more, and the threat of quad and hamstring injuries rise.

Those who are more critical of Postecoglou, in particular, say his preference for high-intensity training in such circumstances may be an issue in terms of Spurs’ performances.

The wealthiest clubs naturally have far fewer excuses here. They just have to get used to it. This is what the top level is about.

The top level is also about the most sophisticated tactics, though, which is why most of the managers would appreciate the time off. They’d just appreciate a trophy much more.