Matt Maher: Added time is adding fuel to players’ welfare issue

“The lads will now have a rest,” he began. Then came a pause and the smile, as he continued: “Some of us, obviously, will get back on the horse for a game in a few days.”

For McGinn, a crucial component of two teams in Villa and Scotland, there is no let-up, albeit he can rarely have experienced a schedule quite like his current one.

Last night’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Spain was his 16th appearance for club and country in a season which began only 62 days ago, an average of a match every four days. Already, the midfielder is a third of the way to matching his total appearances, both domestic and international, from the whole of last season.

Such are the consequences of success, in a campaign where Villa are back competing in Europe for the first time in more than a decade. McGinn, the most grounded of Premier League players who fully understands the privilege of being able to play sport for a living, wouldn’t want it any other way.

His sole frustration is appearances now last longer than ever before. Sunday’s comments on the international break led into a discussion about the Premier League’s new stoppage time rules during which McGinn, in his own considered way, was typically forthright.

“A bit ridiculous” was how he described them, before declaring the near 18 total minutes added to the derby against Wolves as “extravagant.”

Neither was Sunday the first Villa match this term which, at some points, felt it might last forever. Their last three Premier League fixtures alone have seen a total of 45 minutes added, an entire extra half. The total stoppage time across Villa’s first eight league fixtures is now 125 minutes. Wolves have not been quite so busy but with a tally of 105 added minutes, Gary O’Neil’s team have also already played the equivalent of an extra match.

Such numbers make it easier to understand why Unai Emery, eager to take advantage of Chelsea and Manchester United’s struggles and target Champions League qualification this season, has found it necessary to juggle his pack and risk disappointing results in cup competitions.

But this is a discussion which stretches far beyond Villa. Fixture scheduling and the demand placed on players is becoming an ever hotter topic. Earlier this month, the world players’ union Fifpro called for compulsory breaks to be introduced to avoid the risk of player burnout.

It referenced a study, conducted between 2018 and 2021, which found many top professionals were now playing two-thirds of their season in the “critical zone” – equating to appearances of at least 45 minutes in matches less than five days apart.

With the calendar now even further compacted due to the knock-on effect of the pandemic, next summer’s Euros being the third major championship in as many years, it has proposed players should now miss a match after as few as three matches in the zone.

Complaints are not confined to the top end of the sport.

Shrewsbury Town boss Matt Taylor was among the first to express his displeasure at the new stoppage time rules after some surprisingly lengthy added periods in their opening fixtures. His belief is the accumulative impact will be felt in the legs of players later in the season. Taylor also feels there is a risk of harming the spectacle for supporters, with players unable to go at full pelt for 100-plus minutes and required to manage their effort. The same point was made by McGinn on Sunday.

The trouble is while there is clearly a decent case to be made for addressing the schedule, or at least showing some common sense when it comes to stoppage time, too often players do not make it easy for themselves.

McGinn was merely giving an honest response to questions asked, yet Sunday felt totally the wrong time to be making the argument, after a match which demonstrated exactly why the authorities have felt the need to crack down so strongly on time-wasting.

Sure, referee Rob Jones adding 12 minutes (and playing nearly 14) in the second half seemed a little excessive. Yet only four extra minutes at the end of a first period blighted by stoppages, with players going to ground at the merest touch, felt far too few. And while Jones might have been a little quick on the whistle, he was hardly helped by the players. It was possibly the worst half of football in the Premier League this season.

McGinn believes players are getting better when it comes to reducing dissent and time-wasting and while, broadly, he might be right, anyone in attendance at Molineux would struggle to agree.

Any discussion on the calendar, meanwhile, is countered by schedules clubs are happy to create for themselves during pre-season.

Villa played three matches during 12 days in the USA this summer, jetting out to play in Spain five days after their return. Manchester United played in Norway, Ireland and three different US time zones, while Manchester City, whose head coach Pep Guardiola is among the most prominent critics of fixture congestion, toured the Far East. All the above examples, of course, were done for the name of the brand.

Therein lies the crunch. Football and footballers probably would benefit from a reduced schedule. Less can often be more.

But while time-wasting and dissent remain so prominent, together with those long-distance off-season marketing trips, it’s always going to be a tough argument to sell.