Daizen Maeda: “He’s everything that I want to see in a central striker,” Brendan Rodgers

Q: How would you square that with perhaps a worry about playing too many games? I know that’s an ongoing discussion, but I think you’ve spoken as well. Is there a part of you that would like to see fewer league games, or how do you feel about the number?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think the number has been 38 for a period of time, so I’m fairly comfortable with that. I think there’s lots of other football that gets added in, and then obviously your recovery time gets diminished. I think especially when you’re a successful team, you expect to play and play more, so we accept that. When I look at the bigger picture of the game, there’s absolutely no doubt about the recovery of players.

“When I see the competition in the summer, with teams at possibility of getting to the Champions League finals, and then literally a couple of weeks later going into a tournament that’s clearly driven by money, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But it’s the players that will suffer in the end, as will the supporters, because of the quality of the game.

“There can be too much football. There absolutely can, and we all love football. I watch football from all around the world, games most nights, and sometimes three or four games a day. But you’re risking just showing too much football, which in time might turn people off. So I think we just have to be careful with the game. I also mentioned before, I do think that it will become a 12-month season, the game, and then players may have to look at different recovery periods other than just in the summer. I think how it is going; you can see more games being added. Winter break has now been taken away. So there’s obviously a lot of discussion points in it, but certainly from a domestic perspective, I think the notion of if you could have a few more teams in there, I think it could work well.”

Q: Brendan, just on the discussions, there talk of a working group of people on that. Do you think that you as a manager, and maybe even the players as well, should have a bigger input into the way the game is going forwards?

Brendan Rodgers:“Well, players and managers are two of the major stakeholders in the game, alongside supporters. So there’s absolutely no doubt that the welfare of the players should come into it first and foremost, because these are the guys that are having to prepare themselves, go out, train every day, train really hard, live with the pressure of performing or not performing, and what that looks like. So there’s absolutely no question.

“I think we’re all pretty clear, let’s not beat about the bush, this is a money thing. It’s based around finance. One federation not getting a tournament, so they put in another tournament, so it’s all financial. But the players have to have a big part in that, of course, as one of the leading stakeholders in this amazing game that we play.”

Q: Given the extra European games on this season, that was obviously the reason why there was no winter break. Would you welcome if they played two less league games if it got that winter break back?

Brendan Rodgers:“I think this season has been interesting because it’s been the first, well we’re nearly there, nearly through the season, but this has been the first full season with the extra Champions League games in there, and without the winter break. There’s no doubt that period was a tough period, and we managed to get through it incredibly well.

“That’s not to say that happens every season. I would have to think on that, I’m not sure I can answer that now. I think whatever protects the game and the quality of the game. Like I said, players just turning out, and clubs like ourselves, we are fortunate in relation to, obviously we play more games, so we have a bigger squad and a pool of players that we can pull on, but there are other teams that will, you look at the pre-season this year, Kilmarnock and teams like that in European football, it’s a real challenge.”

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