Rafa Benítez Blog RSS Rafa Benítez Blog

02
Dec 2011
17:06 Comments (10)

How important is the Christmas period in the league season? It was a question always asked in press conferences around Christmastime and it was always the same response. It is a very important phase in the league because you play so many games in a short space of time, a lot of points up for grabs with lots of decisions to be made in a few days whatever your objective. When I was the Liverpool manager, you were not supposed to complain about the fixtures because ‘at a top side it will always be the same’. It was even more difficult for us because we were also playing in the Champions League.

With years of experience and our knowledge of working in different countries, we have learned to cope with the situation but I have to say that you can never have an ideal situation. You must adapt and look for the best possible solution for the team. That’s exactly what we did at Valencia, Liverpool and Inter. If you want to win things you have to make sacrifices. It is easy to keep everyone happy by giving them lots of days off but at the end of the season you won’t win anything if you don’t do what you know is right at the right time.

What we did, depending on the league and the circumstances we were playing in, was the following:

Analyse the fixture list and evaluate the upcoming matches because it is not the same in Spain or Italy where there is a break for 2 weeks as it is in England where you play the Carling Cup or the FA Cup before Christmas and after the New Year for example.

Consider the available players according to the different competitions (some might not be registered to play in the Champions League for example). Also you have to look at the rules on local players (4) or native country players (4) in the 25 on the Champions League list, because you may not be able to include some players who are eligible for domestic competitions.

Consider the short and long term injury list. It’s a time when injuries occur in those teams playing in the most demanding competitions.

Click here to go to the article: 'Too many injuries'.

Consider the religious beliefs of some players and their days of celebration. For Christians, Christmas Day is obviously the most important and, if you are playing in England, you will have to consider the timing of the training sessions.

Consider the players’ country of origin. In Spain or Italy, scheduling the Christmas holidays can be complicated because giving a week off to a European player won’t be the same as giving the same time to a South American player who will lose 3 days travelling, especially if he comes from an area in the centre of Brazil for example. The travelling involved is not the same.Consider fatigue and the powers of recovery for each player, especially with regard to the position they play. It will not be the same for every player with a good capacity to recover, as it will depend on whether he is old or young, or plays centre back and runs less or plays on the wing where you run more and with more intensity.

Consider the weather and the training conditions. This is another aspect to take in to account because we have had experience of not being able to train in December before a Champions League match because we didn’t have undersoil heating. Or because we couldn’t get to the training ground due to snow and the condition of the roads.

Also in the same vein, in Spain and Italy what can happen is that the players that have travelled some distance may have problems getting back due to adverse weather and you have to foresee this because, if you change the holidays too much, some players may not have enough time to train sufficiently before a crucial match.

Consider the travel arrangements to matches. It’s not the same playing at home as it is away – the distance and weather conditions in relation to the travel arrangements have to be planned for.

Consider the squad and rotations. Depending on the size of the squad and the quality of the players that you have, you will be able to manage better or worse the changes you can make for different matches.

Click here to go to the article: 'Why should you rotate players in squads which have a high number of matches?'.

Consider the intensity of each match. You can have an easier or more difficult match than you expected and you must consider this when choosing the line-up in the next game – to maximise player and team performance and to prevent injuries.

Recently a coach was talking to me about the difficulties that he would have this season adapting to two top level competitions at the same time, playing two matches a week and travelling a lot. They didn’t have the experience in planning this level of demand, they didn’t know if it would be better to change players for each game or play the same team if they were winning and risk injury. This is the difference between some clubs and others, the capacity to adapt during the season at the highest level of competition or, even better, like us, reaching the end of the season and still being in contention for a few trophies.

For this reason, the staff you work with are also important as the planning for this time of year is crucial so that you have all options available to you at the end of the campaign.

10 Comments Send us your opinions
02/12/11 at 19:33:03 #1
ChriSmitH
I was at "Audience with Rafa" recently and sorry I didnt get a question to you, I would have liked to have heard some of this explanation because i hear/read ridiculous statements by so called experts (ex-players/"fans") whose preferred (playstation?) selection isnt the one you chose, for us at Lfc.. I repeadedly said "you dont know what is going on behind the scenes" and Rafa must keep some "council" as the opposition listen to press conferences too. he cant "explain away" every decision, there must be also some decisions that "feel" right?? thanks for the insight..enjoyable!
02/12/11 at 19:47:47 #2
Phill
Interesting article. Clearly there are many logistical issues that need to be considered. The argument about whether there should be as many games played over the Christmas/New Year period is always debated.

As a supporter I love the additional games; the Boxing Day, New Years Day traditional games as well as the normal scheduled Saturday games. Hope it remains but do appreciate that it has a not insignificant impact on professionals involved in football, and their right to spend the festive period however they choose.
03/12/11 at 02:48:28 #3
Mahsoud Farouk
Thought provoking analysis as usual Senor Benitez!
it's the attention to detail which delights me on your blogs.
03/12/11 at 16:16:21 #4
Curt C.
In the USA the NBA does not stop during the winter holidays. In fact they schedule some of the best games on Christmas day throughout the day so as to make sure TV audience and revenues are at their peak. It is a matter of money. Professional football should also please the needs of those who pay (TV networks and fans) and have larger rosters as to be able to compete in different competitions at the same time, especially at times when the fans have the free time to enjoy watching.
04/12/11 at 07:32:45 #5
kum
thanks for the article.paid attention to small details.what can i expect from rafa benitez website.good read.and i learnt why england have so many players injured during/after this period.
04/12/11 at 17:47:16 #6
Michael Perry
curt C, this complete franchisation of american sport is half the problem with it, if there were quarter breaks in football to advertise, nobody would watch it, it ruins sport. I would also argue nobody wants to watch football on christmas day anyway, centimental value. I would probably be in favour of a mini christmas break like in the rest of europe, but it does make this league unique, just a pity the top clubs benefit more from it with the ability to rotate their squads.

if the speculation is true, go to PSG rafa if the conditions are right, re group your rep abroad and come back.
04/12/11 at 21:53:29 #7
DANGERDOUG
Great insight to how you plan tactics behind the scenes RAFA. Truly it is a great time for fans to enjoy many games, but clearly a lot of luck is needed for a club (manager & players)to get through successfully! Evidence that a good SQUAD is needed with many options should one player be fatigued from too many games or travel and obviously injuries.
SANTA has my request for you to return to Anfield RAFA when the time is right. Rudolf (the RED nose)reindeer will be there to pick you up..HO,HO,HO ! :-)
05/12/11 at 20:09:40 #8
V5
Good to see the "engine room" view of xmas management!

The demands on a club in the festive period are a part of the reason that makes the Premier league such a difficult title to win.

Ultimately, it depends on two things, resources and management. The "biggest" clubs have better resources but also need the right management.
Other clubs may have the right management but get snookered because of one or two or more resources.

If you don't have the best resources, hopefully, you get lucky.

Fans never want to hear that the club can't or won't try their best in certain competitions (eg. Carling Cup, FA Cup), we always want 100%.

When Rafa was at Liverpool, I was always confident that he never took any decision lightly, and I always knew that I didn't have enough information to know why he made his decisions, but I trusted his experience, professionalism and character.

Thanks for taking on those headaches Rafa, hope you didn't have to eat too much paracetamol for us! 

Response:

Hello my friend, I was always thinking about to win, but with the right people depending on the players that we had, as I said before you had to manage the squad and this 'crucial' period needed too much work behind the scenes. Thank you.
06/12/11 at 12:44:49 #9
sibusiso
Wel thought analyses
06/12/11 at 16:25:06 #10
Derek McLean
Interesting article Rafa, I thought I had problems with my Under 21 team, wondering if they will turn up at all, what condition they will be in after the Saturday night out in Liverpool city centre.
I did not have to consider which competition they were available to play in or which country they could be flying back to for a break!!!
Love to read more in depth article's on formations and tactics.
Derek