Opinion: The Perfect Time For A Rest

The winter is well and truly coming to get us as the temperatures continue to fall as well as the leaves off of the trees. This means only one thing to football fans. That is that the Christmas period jam packed full of football is almost upon us. Every football fan in the country can watch football nearly every day over this period and it is something that I always look forward to.

The unfortunate thing about it from a players point of view however, is that they have to continuously train over the festive period and games come thick and fast increasing fatigue. Most players often have a couple of bad games over this period of matches purely because they are tired so squad rotation is a massive thing. In order to make squad rotation work, all players need to be rested and fully fit heading into the season of good will because this gives a wider range of players for Rowett to choose from and adapt his formation if need be.

So on one hand, the international break is a blessing. It means that some of the players get a rest heading into a tough run of relentless fixtures. This then means, as I have already explained, that the squad is more capable of being changed in order to make sure everyone in the starting 11 is at peak physical fitness. You don’t want to have to rely on a small squad.

However, the risk of injury on international duty is quite high. I don’t know whether its training with different people or whether players become more aggressive when representing their country; but the amount of injuries that occur in international matches are very high. Therefore, for the likes of Cotterill, the prevention of injury is a big thing and we can only hope that he comes back from the trip, ready and raring to go for the club.

As club followers, it is hard to feel any emotion towards the international break. Yes, I am an England supporter and yes, I want them to win. But I don’t really care if they don’t. Whereas if the Blues’ lost, I sulk until the following Saturday. It’s a completely different way of thinking and I must say, I hate the international break for this very reason. So, I just wanted to try and see the positives in it from a club perspective; I can always try.