Arsene Wenger believes that international football interrupts the flow of the top divisions.

Wenger has revealed that he would prefer international football matches to be grouped together during one period to prevent the top leagues from being ‘stop and start’.

“Yes,” Wenger said when asked whether the timing of the interlulls should be looked at considering all the injuries for big teams. “You would still lose players, maybe at the start of the following season but it would make more sense to regroup the competitions during one period.
“At the moment, the big leagues look a bit stop and start. It interrupts the flow of the competition and it’s always difficult because when the players go to the national teams, they are under huge pressure. The pride of their countries is at stake and to get them back and immediately refocused on the club’s targets is always difficult.”

I can see where Wenger’s coming from, especially as Arsenal players have a knack of injuring themselves during international matches. In fact, the more meaningless the match, the higher the chance there seems to be of a Gunner getting sidelined.

mustafi injury
Medical staff help injured Germany’s defender Shkodran Mustafi during the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification football match between Germany and Azerbaijan in Mainz, western Germany, on October 8, 2017. (CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

Just look at Shkodran Mustafi for example. Germany had already qualified for the World Cup in Russia next year but he was started against Azerbaijan and pulled up in the 36th minute. The 25-year-old is now out for four to six weeks with a hamstring injury.

In addition to that, we call it the interlull for a reason. I don’t know anyone that actually looks forward to the random international matches that take place throughout the season. The actual World Cup or Euros is fine but when it disrupts a run of good form in the league, it’s just annoying.

Saying this, I’m not sure whether it would be feasible to clump all World Cup qualifiers, for example, into one block. Although I wish they could.