PSG boss Tuchel warns fixture congestion means players will suffer

Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel is furious his players are being forced to play so many games and warned it could become bad for their health.

Tuchel has told the football authorities they have packed the calendar with so many matches and tournaments that the game will suffer.

The German coach will take his players from the French capital to the south coast for a clash with Nice on Friday, having barely had time to reacquaint themselves after the international break.

And after losing star forward Neymar for four weeks to a hamstring injury sustained on Brazil duty, Tuchel is understandably angry his job is being made more complicated by factors over which he has no control.

"Friday night for us after an international break is a bit bizarre. I can't understand it," Tuchel said. "We'll have to adapt."

Tuchel was speaking in his pre-match news conference on Thursday, and when asked about the busy schedule for his players, he was stinging with his criticism.

"There's too many competitions, too many matches, too many friendlies," Tuchel said. "We've got a big problem for me because there's no preparation phase [for the Nice game]".

"There's too much competition. This summer we had the Africa Cup of Nations, the European Under-21 Championship, the Copa America; next year we've got the Copa America again, the European Championship – it never stops".

"For me, it's too much. There are too many matches for the same players. At the end you feel the lack of quality, lack of health, lack of preparation, lack of time to train for sport at the highest level."

He added: "We're convinced it's necessary for everyone to have a holiday and to have time to recover and prepare, but that's not the case in football. Teams play too many games and get too many injuries to players."

 

October 17, 2019

PSG lead Ligue 1 but have struggled to assemble a fully fit squad all season, with the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Julian Draxler all battling to return to peak fitness.

"We're doing all we can. Injuries happen," Tuchel said. "As I said, we're convinced the best thing to avoid injuries is to have proper time to prepare – good endurance and capacity for creating performance".

"It's a shame we never have the squad fully fit. We expect a lot from them – results and good performances. We have to find solutions. We're going to control as much as we can."