In the Premier League this season, it feels like most players are playing at forty percent rather than the sixty percent we are used to. Teams are merely surviving games. It is hard to critique what they are doing tactically because of that.

When a hostage escapes, you don’t critique how he cut the zip ties. You congratulate him.

The tactical tinkering, the one-on-one battles, the big matches—technically still there, but hollowed out. Every big decision is forced upon the manager based on who is available. And most of those picked to play aren’t fully there physically.

Those running the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup have these teams tied up. If they don’t make it out of a competition alive, you can understand why.

Imagine how much more exciting these games would be if players had time to prepare. If the best eleven could face off against another best eleven in an even setting with actual training between games.

They had that time years ago. But every year another match is added, another batch of teams, another expansion. Now there’s a game every day of the week.

When does it end?

All this money spent. Most of Europe’s most talented players collected into one league, and we will never see them compete near their ceiling again.

That’s why I don’t have as much to say lately. What is there to say? Their high line isn’t working? They should have converted more of their chances? One manager DOMINATED the other manager tactically? The players look beyond exhausted. I’m looking at them and in my mind I’m saying ‘what are they supposed to do?’

It is a watered down product.