Heckingbottom blasts 'foolish' schedule
Paul Heckingbottom is frustrated with fixture scheduling in between international breaks
- Published
Paul Heckingbottom has blasted the 'foolish' scheduling which he feels has contributed to an injury crisis at Preston and beyond.
North End defenders Lewis Gibson and Andrija Vukcevic sustained muscle injuries in the win over Sheffield United which will rule them out for several weeks and they join Ali McCann, Brad Potts, Will Keane, Jordan Thompson, Robbie Brady and Pol Valentin on the sidelines, though Jamal Lewis arrived on a short-term deal as cover on Friday morning ahead of Saturday's trip to Southampton (15:00 GMT).
The victory over the Blades was a third game in six days for Preston immediately after the international break and Heckingbottom said the load on players' bodies amid the intensity of the modern game is leading to more injuries.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "It's a blow. We've got too many senior players out.
"Look around the clubs and the injuries. I just find it foolish when lads have been away and you get three games in six days as soon as they come back.
"When you're with the big boys in the Premier League there's people travelling with them, masseurs, squads are big enough to rest and adapt for that - ours is a bit different and it's tough to contend with and it's a consequence of that."
Heckingbottom predicted nothing will change in terms of the scheduling, adding: "It's about the number of games. We had it last year with the [cup runs] and that caught up with us at the end of the season.
"It's just something you have to try and navigate through the season. If you have a bigger squad, more options, you can change things."
Asked to compare the number of injuries with football in the 1970s and 80s, he said: "The bar has raised. The intensity of games, the forces that go through the body increase year on year, it's tough.
"Pitches have improved and there's less tackling but the outputs of players, the amount of sprint distances, are huge, that's why the type of injury is changing - they tend to be big injuries when they happen. They are athletes now."
