Manchester United captain and striker Wayne Rooney has urged the Premier League to change the famous winter schedules.
In countries like Germany we already see teams having a two week break over the festive period which is in strong contrast to the English football league. Manchester United were the most highly documented during the festive period because they played two matches in a space of just forty three hours.
Manchester United first played Newcastle at home in which they won 3-1 on Boxing Day, only to have to travel to London without any training and face Tottenham at White Hart Lane just forty three hours later. Wayne Rooney is quoted as saying “Hopefully in the future it has to change.”
He argues that the two games within such a short period of each other have and always will lead to a decline in the quality of football, saying that players are just too fatigued and unable to recover to truly play at their best standard.
Rooney’s argument was noticeable throughout the Tottenham match with Manchester United starting strongly in the first half but fading away drastically in the second. So much so that Louis Van Gaal felt the need for all three substitutions to be defenders, just to make sure the defensive line didn’t make any mistakes with fatigue.
Wayne Rooney has not been the first player or manager to argue that they need a break over the Christmas period, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has argued it for many years now. However, it is unlikely the fixture list will be changed anytime soon to accommodate the tired footballers.
