Liverpool star Robertson weighs in on fixture congestion debate

The debate surrounding the amount of football players are asked to play has been dragged kicking and screaming back into the limelight recently.

With the ACL injury to Manchester City star Rodri coming merely days after he floated the idea of players going on strike to protest the ever-increasing demand for football, the problem was laid bare for all to see. 

And with Liverpool on a run of seven games in three weeks between the two international breaks the situation affects them as much as most.

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Overworked Robbo

Speaking after the Wolves game in the Premier League at the weekend, star left-back Andy Robertson concurred with the opinion that it is getting too much for players.

"I don’t think the players are ever asked," Robertson said, "I think that’s where our frustrations lie. We all love playing football. We love playing games. That’s what we work so hard towards. As I speak, we’ve got a game in a few days’ time at

Anfield

in the Champions League.

“It’s one of the best games to be involved in. But extra games get added. Extra tournaments get added and I just don’t think players get asked what their opinion of it is and how we feel about it. That’s where the frustration lies with us. These organisations just put on extra games and tournaments and we’re never asked. That’s frustrating.

"It doesn’t seem we have much of a say in it. We just get put out there. We always want to put on a show for the fans. We always want people to get value for money. We know how important fans are to football. When lads are getting overworked or whatever, sometimes you can’t do that. We’ll keep doing it. We’ve got no real option.

"We’ll let other people discuss it. We’ll let other people try to help us out but, like I say, when games are put in front of us, when you are in the changing room you don’t think about it. You get excited by it. You just go out and play your heart out and that’s all we can do. But, in the future, I think it would be best to get the players together and ask their opinion as well."

New Format, More Games

When asked what should be done about the situation, Robertson replied, "Whatever [the governing bodies] think [can help]. There are a lot of experienced professionals, captains who can have a say on these things. They are never asked. Just asking players or managers, it’s always wise to ask the people who can feel it, week-to-week instead of people sitting in offices."

The issue has been around for a while now and only seems like it’s going to get worse. The revamped Champions League format, which sees teams going from playing six games in a group stage format to eight in a 36-team league system, is one of the most stark examples. The new format also ensures that ‘Pot 1’ teams - the eight with the highest UEFA club coefficients - play two games against other Pot 1 sides, which did not happen in the previous group stage format.

Liverpool’s version of these come against Real Madrid and RB Leipzig. Additionally, teams that finish 9th-24th in the league stage will compete in a two-legged playoff round to qualify for the Round of 16, adding two more games to the calendar that didn’t exist in previous seasons.

Rotation has already been necessary for Liverpool and will undoubtedly continue to be so. The first Champions League game against Milan saw Cody Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas replace Luis Diaz and Robertson, respectively, in the starting lineup. For the League Cup game against West Ham last week, manager Arne Slot made 10 changes.

Commenting on the state of the season so far, Robertson said, "So far, so good [this season]. We don’t leave any stone unturned. The staff have been really good at making us prepared for every single game, making sure we are as fresh as possible. It’s the start of a hectic period for us. We’ve got games every three days and it won’t end until god-knows-when. Let’s see how we are in the months to come when it really ramps up.”

And the Scottish captain wasn’t lying. As evidenced above, the next run of nine games includes fixtures with the four teams immediately below the Reds in the table - Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City - as well as European occasions against German champions Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, who are arguably the most daunting matchup in world football right now. 

If Arne Slot is going to get success out of this period then he’s going to have to hope that his squad runs as deep as we all hope it does.