It’s the festive season in the English Premier League. While most leagues are hibernating for the holidays, the world’s richest league doubles its fixture list. All 20 clubs play an immense amount of games and everyone’s depth is challenged to the limits. But one club is taking particular offense this year, with Manchester United’s official website complaining about fixture congestion.
Every year Premier League sides know they’ll have to play a bunch of games in a row and it’s not unusual for managers to bemoan the lack of rest for key players and the increased likelihood of injuries. Most every manager has done it, including the man who should know best, Arsene Wenger, the longest-tenured coach in the league.
But it’s unusual for a team’s website to come out and whine about it, specifically in the manner in which ManUtd.com has done it. The website released a story this week that sounded just like Jose Mourinho at a press conference, coming equipped with stats to back him up in his us-against-the-world mentality.
Jose Mourinho, apparently trying to wink. Photo: @F365 | Twitter
Does the article make some valid points? Sure. But everyone has it rough. At least in the Premier League (unlike American leagues), everyone plays everyone once home and away, the fairest way to schedule. A few hours or days here and there shouldn’t really be that big of a deal for players who do nothing but play soccer.
Plus, fans have it rough too. Think about how many times we have to check our Fantasy Premier League teams over the holidays instead of spending quality time with family?
Chief among Man United fixture congestion complaints are the days of rest in between matches in the coming weeks. The Red Devils will have six days without matches, tied for the fewest of anyone, while Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham have nine days of rest. Are those three days really that big of a deal? It certainly helps, but Arsenal also gets less rest before its Friday clash with Liverpool. (In a way, only Arsenal and Leicester City really have additional rest over the rest of the league because they began the season a day before anyone else.)
Oh but Mourinho the story wasn’t done. In addition to pointing out Antonio Valencia has already been injured, the article bemoaned United’s travel times, particularly the journey to play Leicester City. It’s tough to have sympathy for any Premier League club when it comes to travel distances as the farthest they have to go is often the shortest any professional team in the U.S. has to go.
United’s visit to King Power Stadium is about 200 miles round trip. For comparison, the Houston Dynamo’s closest MLS opponent is 240 miles one way. Sorry England, you can’t complain about travel and have Americans take you seriously.
Jose Mourinho will have to rely on young guns like Marcus Rashford during the Man United fixture congestion. Photo: @OptaJoe | Twitter
The Mourinho-tinged article finishes by saying because Manchester United is so great, the fixture list in January will be busy too, with the FA Cup picking up. “It's the price of success, in many respects, but it all means Jose will have to juggle his resources accordingly in order to deal with such an exhausting programme,” the article read. Fortunately, Bristol City made sure the successful club won’t have to worry about the Carabao Cup.
Mourinho has a long history of airing his grievances at press conferences, not mincing words when it comes to letting everyone know how awful the world is to him. He likely wants to influence future decisions to go his way or gain sympathy in case his team doesn’t perform up to par. But his us-against-the-world attitude seems more like a woe-is-me outlook that no one appreciates. And now that his club’s website is following suit, it’s hard to have any sympathy for the Man United fixture congestion.
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