Are footballers less fit or is it an excuse for bad form?

[Garawa]

In the last week we have had Peter Taylor and Arsene Wenger stating key players needed a rest. In the case of Arsenal and Mesut Ozil, his lack-lustre performance in the Champions league struck up further debate about the need for a mid-winter break after many Gunners supporters questioned his interest given the size of the transfer with his manager claiming he needed a rest. Really? Ozil's last three seasons at Real Madrid (a country that that plays the same number of league matches but plays two-leg cup matches) saw him play 53, 52 and 52 games respectively and they were just his club appearances!

Given the likelyhood that Arsenal won't progress as far in Europe, will possibly not use their best players for most of their cup games, will not have to face a cup team twice unless a replay is required, will rotate their squad for league games and will probably not have players available for international matches unlike their European counterparts, getting remotely close to half a century of games in this country would be virtually impossible. Quite why he would be so tired when he is likely to play far LESS matches makes no sense after a long summer break, one that was considerably longer for Ozil who featured very little before his transfer to Arsenal. Other managers are claiming the same for their players all at a time when squads are bigger and better, cup football is an inconvenience and international games are ignored. Gone are the days when players played the entire season for their clubs.

Now we heard the same reasons behind Cody's demotion to the sub's bench. At the beginning of December Cody played a total of 118 minutes from a possible 270. The next 12 matches saw him miss only 9 minutes but players such as Harriman, Martin and Barrett had played much more, the latter two only missing 92 minutes in total all season BETWEEN them. Even Kedwell had been used more whilst carrying his injury.

So are we seeing players less fit then before? They certainly are not playing more games than they did previously so is it down to faster games or heavier pitches which sap for more energy than normal? Or are we simply making excuses for player's drops in forms?