Players complain about long days

At Anderlecht, players aren’t happy about the training schedule. Up until the previous season the second training was early in the afternoon, so players could leave at 4o o’clock. This season however, it’s different.

From now on, the top clubs are changing their schedule. The second training is planned in the early evening and in between the players can’t do anything else but stay at the club.

Yesterday, Anderlecht trained at 10 am and 5pm. Also tomorrow it’s the case. This schedule will also be applied in between European games. Trainer Ariël Jacobs introduced this system so players can rehabilitate a bit better. Physical trainer Mario Innaurato gave the advice to do this. He says 2.5 hours isn’t enough time to rest in between trainings. This way he hopes to reduce injuries.

Because of this, the players have to stay longer at Anderlecht. When they arrive at 9am for the training in the morning they can only leave at 7pm after the evening training. That’s 10 hours. Also the accommodation isn’t that well. During those few hours when they need to rest, there’s not much to do. There’s no ping-pong table, no pool table, even no beds to rest. In the pressroom there are three computers with an internet connection, but most of the time they are taken. Except reading the paper or playing cards, the players have nothing to do.

They already went to the trainer to talk about the situation. Also because players who have children can’t spend enough time with them. However, the coach hasn’t changed his opinion yet.