Thread:

*A Case in Congestion*

The current season is by far the shortest in a long while at just 246* days, but the number of games remain relatively the same.

But just how congested is this season as compared to a regular season? And how is it affecting us?

Let's dive in:

This is a long read where we'll dicuss

1. Comparing this season to previous seasons
— by season's total length
— by no of rest days between games
— by gap between seasons

2. How it's affecting players

3. How #mufc are combating it

4. Final thoughts

Let's go!

1. Comparing this season to previous seasons:

On average United play anywhere between 50 to 65 games a season depending on how far we go into each competition.

Let's take a look at how long previous seasons were and how many we played in each.

#mufc

2017 season — 285 days | 57 Games
2018 season — 276 days | 54 Games
2019 season — 274 days | 61 Games
2020 season — 246* days | TBD

The no of days reduce each season while no of games remain the same (the diff is how far we go in cups)

*252 if we reach CL Finals

Now let's look at our current season:

We've played 13 games, of which:

6 Games 3 day break
4 Games 2 day break
Other 2 after intl break

Usually a season starts with one game a week, this season there has not been a single game with more than a 3 day break — congested

Let's take a look at number of days we had per game in the previous seasons, as this gives us a broad idea of how much rest on average the team gets between games

#mufc

No of days/game

2017 — Game every 5 days
2018 — Game every 5.1 days
2019 — Game every 4.5 days

Assuming we play 60 games this season
2020 — Game every 4.1 days

Gap between games was already dwindling but now it's becoming not only impractical but also dangerous

Why?

It is said a player needs at least 3 full days of rest without any training or playing to recover from one full game of 90 mins

The 4 days of rest might sound good enough, but in reality it's barely a day or two of rest when you factor in travel, recovery, training & preparation

Another aspect is, if they don't get adequate rest for one game then they're starting the next game at a lower level. Combine 3 games like that and suddenly they're at 60% needing a weeks rest to recover fully instead of 3 days — cumulative

This is why injuries are on the rise

Now let's look at the gap between seasons and how that has changed — this gives us an idea of how much rest time the players got between seasons

For simplicity, I'm calculating the gap as the number of days between the last game of season and the first game of the next season

#mufc gap between seasons

2016 to 2017 — 76 days
2017 to 2018 — 83 days
2018 to 2019 — 91 days
2019 to 2020 — 34 days

The gap usually stays anywhere btwn 2.5 to 3 months depending on how far you progress in the cups

This season — just over a month

2. How does this affect?

No gap btwn seasons means no time to:

Rest
Switch off
Heal injuries
Recharge physically + mentally

Players usually use this gap to heal the niggles they've accumulated over the season & rest

They also use this time to spend with family & recharge mentally — crucial

On top of all this, this season every club has to adhere to strict protocols for obvious reasons

Continuous testing
Strictly sticking to your bubbles
Restriction on travel
Restriction on meeting friends/off days

Having the freedom to go out, meet up with your friends, enjoy family functions etc on the few days you get off are crucial for players to maintain their mental health

But these restrictions aren't just physically and mentally taxing, they also affect the games too

Case in point:

#mufc had just 1 training session that too yday morning to prepare for the WestBrom game. Players returning from the intl break have to get covid tested before training & results take 24 hours

In other words — they had a 1hr session to prepare for a must win game

So to recap:

This is the shortest season in a while
Number of games havent reduced
Players are playing more often with shorter breaks
They had no time for mental + physical rest

In other words
This is NOT a normal season

This isnt an excuse — this is the reality

How have United combated this?

Smart rotation
Smart handling of minutes

Ole has rotated his squad exceptionally well, this can be seen if you look at

1. Changes we make to XI from game to game
2. How our mins are spread out

#mufc's number of rotations to XI per game

2. Luton — 10
3. Brighton — 9
4. Brighton — 10
5. Tottenham — 10
6. Newcastle — 5
7. PSG — 3
8. Chelsea — 3
9. RB Leipzig — 5
10. Arsenal — 3
11. Istanbul — 5
12. Everton — 4
13. WBA — 2

The lack of a pre-season meant we were forced to use the first 5 games to bring everyone up to sharpness — hence the heavy rotations

If you remember I mentioned we've never had more than 3 day break between games — so since Spurs we've still averaged 3.75 rotations per game

Now let's look at how well we've spread out our mins

13 Games | 1170 mins total

General
— 26 used
— 25 have starts

Specific
— only Rashford has played all 13 (10 starts)
— no player has more than 11 starts
— most mins: Harry, 990 mins (85%)
— only 5 players more than 75% mins

But being forced to use your first 5 games as pre-season and having to continuously rotate also means:

No consistency in selection no consistency in play
Large no of rotations less mins per player

Finding this balancing is Ole's biggest challenge this season

Now before you say it's the same for all — not entirely

All teams who play in all competitions are facing the same issue but Utd & City went furthest in Europe meaning we'd the shortest pre-season of them all

Also as @bbyphase pointed out scheduling hasn't been kind to us yet

None of this is to say the inconsistent results are *completely* down to the congestion — far from it

Although they've contributed to a fair extent, #mufc have suffered from errors from both Ole & the players

This is by no means an excuse — United can, should & will play better

Final thoughts:

When Ole, Klopp & Pep are talking abt protecting players, they're pointing out the reality

This is NOT a normal season — assuming it to be would be to assume the world hasn't changed completely this past year.

Context is crucial when discussing this season.

PS:

1. Ive talked only abt Utd bc this is a Utd page

2. You can look at all PL clubs who played in Europe & see similar patterns — goes to show this isnt an excuse but trying to point out things we miss

3. Just bc other teams have the same issue DOES NOT make the issue go away