Tony Pulis column: ‘Bigger doesn’t mean better’ – why more fixtures wouldn’t be in the game’s favour

The above approach has worked well for me, so, after reading about the number of soft tissue injuries occurring now, I contacted medical people in the game that I respect to try to find out why.

Obviously I wondered if strength and conditioning programs like the one I used were being discontinued, but I got a lot of pushback on that. I was told that, as in most sports, today’s soccer players are bigger, stronger and faster.

It’s not about gamers playing more games either. Manchester United played 66 competitive matches in 2008-09, Liverpool had 63 in 2021-22, and this season Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal will all experience something similar.

So, what has happened over the past five years to influence our best players?

Today, there are more than two or three fast bowlers in every team, and the difference is huge compared to when I started as a coach more than 30 years ago.

This means that although the distance players cover hasn’t changed much over time, players are accelerating more, and more often, too. It leads to more pressure in the upper levels of its payload.

Surely this can be managed? Yes, but it’s getting more difficult. Not because players play more games, but because they play more in a shorter period of time.

Over the past few years, players have begun to question the number of matches they are now being asked to play at international level, in addition to the demands of club football.

FIFA and UEFA have increased everything, not only the fixture lists, but also the number and size of competitions.

Let’s start with this year’s World Cup, where 48 teams will compete and play a record 104 matches – double the number the last time the tournament was hosted in the United States in 1994. It would take 72 group matches for just 16 of those teams to lose before the first knockout stage.

Likewise, the new format of the Champions League also features a large number of teams.

It takes 144 games to eliminate 12 clubs out of 36, before they even reach the knockout stages, and I’ve completely ignored all of these early matches because I don’t understand how teams can lose game after game and still qualify for the next round.

Add to that the two Europa League competitions and the new format of the Club World Cup, and you can understand how busy FIFA and UEFA are building their own empires.