We´re going to kill the players – Tuchel slams scheduling

Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel hit out at the scheduling of games, warning the fixturing would “kill the players”.

The Ligue 1 giants will visit Nantes on Saturday in what will be their fifth game in 16 days.

PSG will then face RB Leipzig and Rennes before the international break, and their players will return for 10 games between November 20 and the end of the year.

Tuchel slammed the scheduling, with PSG having seen star Neymar suffer an adductor injury in a 2-0 Champions League win at Istanbul Basaksehir on Wednesday.

“We’re going to kill the players. That’s what I’ve always said. We are going to kill them because there is an important link between preparation, performance and rest,” he told a news conference.

“In football it always falls on the greatest players because they will always play for their country. They play during the break, they travel and that’s too much in my opinion. They don’t have a recovery phase to allow them to come back and a preparation phase. This is not a secret, it happens in sport. Preparation influences injuries and performance.

“Without preparation, players are more fragile and difficult to manage. This is not an excuse, it is the truth. We are going to look for solutions and I hope we will find some.”

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— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) October 30, 2020

Tuchel said it was not just his side dealing with injuries, highlighting setbacks at Premier League giants Liverpool and Manchester City and Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

“Honestly, we came back [from Turkey on Thursday] and [Friday] is our second day after playing. It’s the riskiest day in terms of injuries, which means we’re doing almost nothing,” he said.

“We are working on recovery and training a little with those who haven’t played at Basaksehir and [on Saturday] we are flying out to play another match, this time in Ligue 1.

“We lose a player for every game at the moment and we are not the only ones concerned. Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, it’s the same thing.”

PSG top the Ligue 1 table after earning 18 points from their opening eight games.