I can rememeber when City would play matches on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday.There’s nothing wrong with playing on a Wednesday night and playing at 12:30 on a Saturday. It’s happened for decades and nobody has ever even thought it was an issue for a single second until those two wankers Olly Smeagol and Mary Kloppins had their moans about it this season.
Two full days between game days is absolutely fine.
No different to playing Thursday night in the EL and Sunday at 12:00 or 13:30, which also happens all the time.
This has never been thought of, let alone discussed, by managers or fans ever before those two clowns brought it up earlier this season.
Players come back from international duty from South America on Thursday afternoons sometimes and play, and play well, on the Saturday.
Very often in team sports it’s the recovery after the second game in close succession that is the most important, not the recovery between the first and second games. It’s been talked about for years in rugby league when they play the Good Friday and Easter Monday fixtures. Managers and fitness coaches have found that the most important gap needed for recovery is the gap between the Easter Monday game and the next game after that.
Well, they didn't wait for the Champions League draw after all ... and now with CL Quarter Final's first leg on Tue or Wed (6th/7th April) between those two games ... as the poster above said, we've been "shafted" with the Sat early kick-off after (on 10th) without knowing if we get the Tue or Wed QF!
Edit: If we get to the CL QF (and we should) ... then if we get the Tue QF, we're definitely not playing first choice XI straight after the international break against Leicester ... and if we get Wed QF, forget giving Leeds a proper game the Sat after ... yup, no agenda ... PL just trying their to close that gap for United and somehow make a title race out of the current situation. (like Pep said - in cre di ble).
Edit 2: The plot thickens ... am going to paste the PL statement below, the fixtures with * are apparently subject to change due to Champions League but funnily only City v Leicester has got an * which is anyway on Saturday (not like it's on Sunday and can move back any further) ... but no * against Leeds game which is more troublesome if QF is on Wed. Who knows what they're doing ... or maybe they know exactly what they're doing!
Here's the official statement:
The first two weekends of Premier League fixtures in April have been rescheduled for live broadcasts in UK
With all remaining Premier League fixtures this season made available to fans to watch live in the United Kingdom, rescheduled fixtures for Matchweeks 30 and 31 in April have been announced.
Latest amended fixtures
(all times BST)
Saturday 3 April
12:30 Chelsea v West Brom (BT Sport)
15:00 Leeds v Sheff Utd (Amazon Prime)
17:30 Leicester v Man City (Sky Sports)*
20:00 Aston Villa v Fulham (Sky Sports)
Sunday 4 April
12:00 Southampton v Burnley (Sky Sports)
14:05 Newcastle v Spurs (Sky Sports)
16:30 Arsenal v Liverpool (Sky Sports)*
19:30 Man Utd v Brighton (BT Sport)
Monday 5 April
18:00 Everton v Crystal Palace (Sky Sports)
20:15 Wolves v West Ham (Sky Sports)
Friday 9 April
20:00 Fulham v Wolves (BT Sport)
Saturday 10 April
12:30 Man City v Leeds (BT Sport)
15:00 Liverpool v Aston Villa (Sky Sports)
17:30 Crystal Palace v Chelsea (Sky Sports)
Sunday 11 April
12:00 Burnley v Newcastle (Sky Sports)
14:05 West Ham v Leicester (Sky Sports)
16:30 Spurs v Man Utd (Sky Sports)
19:00 Sheff Utd v Arsenal (BT Sport)
Monday 12 April
18:00 West Brom v Southampton (Sky Sports)
20:15 Brighton v Everton (Sky Sports)
*subject to change dependent on participation of Premier League clubs in the UEFA Champions League the next Tuesday
exactly this when i read the whole list. they will see who gets tue or wed qf and then just swap those two liverpool or our game with each other.Are they considering swapping our game to 4:30 Sunday if we get a Wednesday CL fixture and Liverpool get Tuesday, as both PL games are on Sky Sports? That’s all I can think of
if we play tue first leg then next midweek will be wed for us or if we play wed first next week will be return leg on tue. so that sat 1230 on sat is stupid either way to fix now especially when we dont even know if we are away first or home.It will definitely be this. We really need the 1st leg to be on the Tuesday, otherwise we will have 4 tough games in 9 days.
There’s nothing wrong with playing on a Wednesday night and playing at 12:30 on a Saturday. It’s happened for decades and nobody has ever even thought it was an issue for a single second until those two wankers Olly Smeagol and Mary Kloppins had their moans about it this season.
Two full days between game days is absolutely fine.
No different to playing Thursday night in the EL and Sunday at 12:00 or 13:30, which also happens all the time.
This has never been thought of, let alone discussed, by managers or fans ever before those two clowns brought it up earlier this season.
Players come back from international duty from South America on Thursday afternoons sometimes and play, and play well, on the Saturday.
Very often in team sports it’s the recovery after the second game in close succession that is the most important, not the recovery between the first and second games. It’s been talked about for years in rugby league when they play the Good Friday and Easter Monday fixtures. Managers and fitness coaches have found that the most important gap needed for recovery is the gap between the Easter Monday game and the next game after that.
(Sorry to always bring up rugby league but there is far more fitness discussion in that sport than there is in football, football pundits are too obsessed with talking shit so you don’t get good insight into this sort of thing in footy) Once, Sam Tomkins played two games in two days, one for England and one for Wigan. I remember Anthony Watmaugh playing for Queensland one day and Manly the day after once over in Aus as well. And in both instances, the coaches and players we’re fine with it as long as the recovery after the two games was sufficient because that’s the most important recovery period.
So if City play on a Wednesday night, then it’s actually beneficial to play in an early Saturday kick off ahead of the next fixture, as there is a greater recovery time between the Saturday morning and the next game.
I'm not sure it is daft, if we play Wednesday 7th and tue 13th we can only play the Saturday. If we play Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 14th the Saturday gives us 3 clear days either side, much better than a 2 and 4 gap. The timing on the Saturday makes little difference In my opinion.if we play tue first leg then next midweek will be wed for us or if we play wed first next week will be return leg on tue. so that sat 1230 on sat is stupid either way to fix now especially when we dont even know if we are away first or home.
maybe. but its also been tue tue and wed wed sometimes. they could simply have waited fri. not like fans need travel arrangements sorting. then just announce all of april instead of just two games in april. which on its own is fishy to me. why announce only two games not all.I'm not sure it is daft, if we play Wednesday 7th and tue 13th we can only play the Saturday. If we play Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 14th the Saturday gives us 3 clear days either side, much better than a 2 and 4 gap. The timing on the Saturday makes little difference In my opinion.
I'm making the assumption the premier league know the day splits are Tues / Wed and Wed / Tues. I may well be giving them too much credit!maybe. but its also been tue tue and wed wed sometimes. they could simply have waited fri. not like fans need travel arrangements sorting. then just announce all of april instead of just two games in april. which on its own is fishy to me. why announce only two games not all.
And the pitches were mud heaps unless completely frozen and ankle deep in snow over Christmas time.I can rememeber when City would play matches on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday.
It was much the same over Yuletide playing Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and the Saturday after at least in the 1950s.
And there was no squad rotation back then either.