THE TRUTH ABOUT BURNOUT
In February, some Premier League stars were afforded the opportunity to sun themselves on sandy beaches and plaster idyllic photographs all over Instagram, as they enjoyed their first ever winter break. There will be no time for any of that this time around.
In case you missed it, the spread of a global pathogen created a 14-week hiatus in the previous campaign and sliced four weeks from the new one. It means the 2020-21 season will be truncated into eight frenzied months between September 12 and May 23. During that period, there will be only four spare midweeks. And, as if that isn’t exhausting enough, the delayed European Championship will kick off on June 11, ending a month later.
There’s more. Some of the English sides who qualified for Europe may have to wait until January 19 for their first empty midweek, as they prepare for six consecutive weeks of Champions League and Europa League fixtures. Spurs were set the task of slogging it through three qualifying rounds to reach the Europa League group stage, with a trip to Bulgaria to face Lokomotiv Plovdiv on the first Thursday of the campaign. Luckily, Jose Mourinho doesn’t like to complain.
In an attempt to lighten the load, FA Cup replays have been scrapped for 2020-21, while the semi-finals of the League Cup will be played over one leg rather than two. But there are fears this simply won’t be enough, with stressed bosses ominously dreading that their stars will succumb to the strain.
Burnout is a blame game. As managers point the finger at bigwigs for facilitating the festival of football to come, supporters and even a smattering of former players have pooh-poohed the red zone’s existence and suggested that today’s snowflake generation isn’t up to it.
