Manchester City midfielder Rodri has shared his concerns about the hectic fixture schedule and the Premier League and EFL’s new approach of increasing the minutes played in injury time.
Football league officials in England intend to add World Cup-style amounts of injury time to matches and accurately calculate the time added on to reflect certain stoppages in play.
As a result of the new laws, all 35 EFL matches on the opening weekend of the 2023-24 season featured at least eight minutes of added time, while all but two matches went beyond the 100-minute mark.
Rodri was one of the standout performers in Man City’s historic treble-winning 2022-23 campaign, providing seven assists and scoring four goals including the match-winner in the Champions League final triumph over Inter Milan in June.
The Spain international played 56 times for the Citizens last season and notched up a total of 4,478 minutes, 203 minutes more than goalkeeper Ederson and 349 minutes more than the next outfield star Erling Haaland.
Heading into the new season, Rodri remains a key cog in the Man City machine managed by Pep Guardiola – who stated last weekend that the ‘big brain’ match officials have never consulted him over the new injury-time rules – and the midfielder has concurred with his boss, admitting that playing an extensive number of games is “not healthy”.
“I don’t remember exactly the games I played, but I had a talk with the club and the coach because starting 57 or 59 games and playing in 60 or something is not healthy,” Rodri told reporters.
“You can do it for one season, but when it’s two or three in a row, it can be worse for the team because your physicality can drop. So I have to watch out. We have already spoken that it cannot always be like this.
“But last year, on the other hand, I had the feeling that we were fighting for everything, and I had to push my body to the limit. That’s why I sometimes feel bad at the end of the season – but for me, it was great.”
The 27-year-old added: “To be honest, I never get enough rest. I feel pretty well recovered after having about one month off. It was a good break, and we have a coach who understands and who gives us everything he can to recover.
“I think we are the last team in the Premier League to start pre-season because he understands that rest is important. So, yes, I’m very happy about last season and how it finished, and now we go into another season, and it’s going to be a long one.”
Asked if he is aware of Man City’s concerns regarding his fitness, Rodri said: “I don’t know. But when you look at the stats and look at the number of minutes, I played seven, eight, nine games more than the second outfield player.
“It’s not a problem now. The important thing for me is that they know the situation, and they know that for the next few seasons we will have to watch out.
“Now I am young, but maybe when I get to 30 or 31 I cannot do this kind of thing, so I have to watch the body because 60 games is not the best thing for a player. Also, the seasons get even longer every year. We have to adapt to this.”
Rodri played the full 90 minutes in Man City’s Community Shield loss on penalties to Arsenal last weekend and he is expected to be involved in their opening Premier League game of the new season away at Burnley on Friday.
Guardiola will also have summer signing Mateo Kovacic to call upon, while the likes of Kalvin Phillips, John Stones, Rico Lewis and Maximo Perrone are additional deep-lying midfield options at the Catalan’s disposal.
