Per Mertesacker has shown his professionalism once against after our lacklustre draw against Spurs in the Premier League by claiming footballers have no right to complain about fatigue.
Speaking about our intense run of games recently and how that could have impacted on our performance against Spurs, the captain was quick to say that they have no right to complain.
“We’re not going to complain,” the centre back said.
“There are lots of sports where they play game after game and I think us playing two away games in a row is intense but we shouldn’t complain.
“We came through it and it was fun to play in. We suffered in the first half but the way we came back and the way the fans backed us was the joy of the game. We want to continue that, even if it’s two games a week.”
I both agree and disagree with Per’s point. While I find it frustrating when our players are tired, especially as they’re professional athletes, I also have to remember that they’re human. Although the defender doesn’t feel like they have the right to complain about fatigue – and they shouldn’t, at least not publicly – exhaustion is a very real excuse.
Cazorla, for example, had to be taken off at half time because he was dizzy. Of course, we don’t know that this was related to being tired but we have had an intense month.
I just hope they all rest up.