Depth is always a focus of attention of the best European clubs. A club like Manchester City, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid have legitimate aspirations to win at least three trophies every year.
For most clubs, that is a big dream. With the presence and similarity of injuries and the simply unpredictable nature of cup competitions, that’s a challenge. Still, the best bet to at least remain a contender at anything a club puts their name on is depth.
The top clubs shell out millions of their respective coins to attract as many big names as possible. Consequently, the benches of these teams could very well compete in any domestic competition in the world. For example, Manchester City’s first game of the season against West Ham featured Kalvin Phillips, John Stones, Julian Alvarez, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez on the bench. That set of six starts for pretty much any club in the Premier League, but Manchester City have more to offer.
On the one hand, Manchester City prevents its rivals from having these players. However, in 2022/23 in particular, clubs like City need options outside of the reserves and the bench more than ever. The packed schedule as a result of previous successes and a mid-season World Cup throw wrenches into common plans for a season. Rest, form and morale will play a bigger role this season than in the last five years.
The importance of 2022 and more competitions
While the COVID-19 pandemic is now taking a backseat in terms of affecting players, the 2022 World Cup is putting pressure on the season.
Domestic and European competitions have tighter schedules ahead of the World Cup before they resume after Christmas. Each of the national leagues started about a week before their traditional starts. For example, the Premier League opened play in 2022/23 on August 5. LaLiga started on August 12, which is no different from last season.
The real difference maker is the European game. The Champions League, which usually spaces games for each team by a fortnight, now completes all six games for all 32 teams in less than two months. Therefore, teams have no midweek European games in just three of nine weeks from September 6/7 to November 1/2.
MatchdayUEFA Champions LeagueEuropa/Conference League16-7-Sep-82-Sep 13-14-Sep 153-4-5-Oct 64-11-12-Oct 135-25-26-Oct 2761-2-Nov 3- nov
Tottenham Hotspur central defender Eric Dier is likely to feature in every one of his club’s Premier League and Champions League games. Even though the midweek games haven’t started yet, he already has complaints about the packed schedule.
Speaking to Standard Sport, Dier discussed the struggles of midweek games non-stop into the season.
“We have improved the squad, we have a squad with a lot of depth. We knew that the last three weeks would not represent what the season would be like, but now it really begins. There are many games. I think it’s weird that we’ve had one game a week for three or four weeks and then all of a sudden you’re playing weekday games all the way through November. It doesn’t make much sense to me. But it is what it is.”
Also, the only reason there is a bigger break from matchday two to matchday three is because of the international break in September. That covers September 19-27. Yes, the players move away from their individual clubs. However, this is a time when these athletes are competing for places on the World Cup final list, it is difficult for a ‘pause’ as the name suggests. Most countries have at least two games scheduled in that time frame in preparation for the World Cup in November.
The World Cup 2022
The World Cup itself plays a role. Players are usually at their peak after a few weeks or a month away from their club to prepare for the biggest sporting event. This year is unfortunately different. Qatar 2022 kicks off less than two weeks before the last game on the club calendar. That means less than two weeks of hard training and adaptation to different systems before at least three of the biggest games in each of these players’ careers.
Based on the results at the World Cup, some players qualify for a break. However, players from contenders like France, Germany, Argentina and Brazil can watch seven games in a month-long competition. Combined with the club season, some players, including Eric Dier, could see 28 games from the beginning of September to the end of the calendar year, not including international duty.
Depth therefore plays a key role in ensuring that these big European clubs don’t lose players to injury. In that case, any ambition in the season could be unexpectedly derailed.
Depth in European clubs
There are reasons to believe that the best clubs don’t need depth. If clubs charge players who are only there for the starting line-up, they can use them constantly and get results.
When Liverpool won the 2019/20 Premier League, only 12 players played more than 1,000 minutes in the league. Virgil van Dijk did not waste a minute. Almost five players played more than 3,000 minutes, or the equivalent of more than 33 games. With talent across the board, Liverpool hummed its first Premier League title and first top-flight title in 30 years. The lack of change allowed the players to take advantage. It facilitated the work of Jürgen Klopp. Choose the same team, get the same result. That Liverpool won the title by 18 points.
That is, unfortunately, theoretical most of the time. The ever-existing potential for injury is a consuming threat to players young and old, talented and not.
Last season, Pedri’s injury at Barcelona cost the Catalan club one of its most promising players in a generation. A hamstring injury sustained towards the end of the 2020/21 campaign resurfaced in the summer of 2021. Then, early on under Ronald Koeman, Pedri aggravated the injury. That injury, officially suffered on September 30, sidelined Pedri until the new year. At that time, Barcelona fired their coach, reformed their squad through transfers and suffered relegation to the Europa League while Real Madrid ran away with LaLiga. All of that happened as a result of a big European club lacking crucial depth in a crisis.
Even that Liverpool team that came through the Premier League realized the importance of depth in years to come. While no key players left on contract, the players lost time. Virgil Van Dijk, who didn’t miss a minute in that record campaign, tore his ACL in October of the following season. Eventually, the lack of options came back to haunt the Reds, who struggled to finish third in the league.
In 2022, those fights are more likely to happen. With the transfer window now past, rotation and fitness are very important for the clubs with the highest ambitions.
