Monday, September 20, 2021 at 5:22 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 17:24

Raymond Verheijen understands from a scientific point of view that Roger Schmidt changes a lot at PSV. According to the exercise physiologist, who worked at the KNVB and Feyenoord, research shows that it is impossible for players to have fully recovered on Sunday from a match the previous Thursday. “In an absolute sense, the trainer is right when you look at the studies that have been done,” Verheijen says to Broadcasting Brabant.

PSV lost to Feyenoord (0-4) with big numbers on Sunday. Afterwards, Schmidt received a torrent of criticism for his substitutions. For example, the German took Cody Gakpo, Mario Götze, Davy Pröpper and Eran Zahavi to the side early in the game. “It is a fact that players cannot fully recover if they play a match on both Thursday and Sunday, but the various authorities are wrong about that,” said Verheijen. “Research has shown that no player can replenish his energy supply within 72 hours.”

The exercise physiologist knows that younger players have even more trouble with this. “A 28-year-old player can handle this schedule better than a 22-year-old boy like Cody Gakpo.” Yet, according to Verheijen, there are also arguments against Schmidt’s exchange policy. “Fitness and freshness is part of football, but not of the most important order. Communication on the field remains the most important within football.”

“A football campaign consists of three phases,” explains Verheijen. “The first phase is communicating with your fellow players and seeing what they want. Then a player comes up with a plan and then implements it. The first phase is of course the most important because with miscommunication the action fails.” Verheijen’s conclusion about Schmidt’s substitution policy is: “In an absolute sense he is right, in a relative sense not. You can rotate to keep players fresh, but that should not be at the expense of the most important aspect in football: communication.”