Should we play some games on a monday night?

[Simmo]

You can say that isn't enough, but that is the realities of playing midweek in Europe. There's 7 days in a week. It's difficult, but must be possible.

Russia is what...a 4/5 hour flight? CL teams have to travel there too btw, Zenit, CSKA, Dinamo & Spartak all regularly reach the group stages.

We live in the smallest continent on the planet. Copa Libertadores teams travel thousands of miles, play at ridiculous altitudes...Australian clubs travel throughout Asia to play AFC games.

We have it good. Our clubs have the most money, with the best nutritionists and physios to deal with these situations.

It's complete nonsense, it really is.


Then it's our managers job to get them up for these games. They should be motivated to play in Europe and try to win the EL. It would be the biggest achievement for most of our squad. Hardly any of them have played CL football, so I'm not sure how that is relevant?

Lack of decent pitches...you ever see the DW stadium after a Rugby weekend? I haven't seen worse than that on our European travels.

I agree no coincidence our performances are flat, but we need to sort that out. We have a squad big enough to deal with it. Poch needs to balance that better next season.

We manage the grueling Xmas schedule every year. Midweek Europa games offer more rest than that.

Completely overanalysed and blown out of proportion in this country in my opinion.

I don't disagree with what you're saying in theory but the performances and many results speak for themselves so it obviously does cause problems. Squad depth is an issue as well, we've been threadbare by the end of this season and teams in the Champions League will generally have a bit more in their lockers in quality and numbers all round. How did Everton get on this year having been in Europa League, how about Hull?

 

[Millbanks]

I don't disagree with what you're saying in theory but the performances and many results speak for themselves so it obviously does cause problems. Squad depth is an issue as well, we've been threadbare by the end of this season and teams in the Champions League will generally have a bit more in their lockers in quality and numbers all round. How did Everton get on this year having been in Europa League, how about Hull?

Agree our performances do suggest we struggle, but I don't think it would be any different to CL. a midweek game is a midweek game. It's 3 games in 7/8 days, regardless. If we want to be in Europe, we need to deal with it. End of.

Everton's drop in form just shows how well we cope with so many games. I pointed that out already.
Hull? They didn't even qualify for the group stages so not sure they're a good example.

 

[Kris]

I don't mind the odd midweek premier league game, Swansea at home this season for example was an excellent game with good atmosphere. However with a fan base like ours it would be unfair on fans to have football played on any other day than the weekends.

 

[moley]

For me it's not the fixture schedule that's the problem. It's the lack of squad rotation, we've barely used the whole 25man squad this season and it shows with the return after Uefa games.

If we had two players for each position and a youth player for each position ready to step in then we'd reduce the perceived problems caused by the overflow of games.

We'd have enough to have a Prem team and a Cup team and youth players to step in when injuries occur. This would allow a fresh team each game we play.

 

[YidoBuckler]

For me it's not the fixture schedule that's the problem. It's the lack of squad rotation, we've barely used the whole 25man squad this season and it shows with the return after Uefa games.

If we had two players for each position and a youth player for each position ready to step in then we'd reduce the perceived problems caused by the overflow of games.

We'd have enough to have a Prem team and a Cup team and youth players to step in when injuries occur. This would allow a fresh team each game we play.

We've had 2 players for each position for practically the whole season. The problem lies with the usage of some of those not in the 'first XI' by the management. whether they have been a pain in the arse on the training ground or deemed not good enough is another matter which has been argued to death (sinbins) by various other posters.

 

[Eskimo]

Juventus have done this in the past and it has reduced the effect of europa hangovers, so why can't we? On that general note, I dont think we do enough to lobby for better fixture dates and times.If the squad are coming back from russia on a thursday night, wouldn't it make more sense to play at 4pm on sunday rather than 1pm?. and Yes it does make a big difference.
Why can't we lobby to have post europa games especially the ones from longhaul destination scheduled for monday night, is it even possible or are we at the mercy of the big TV companies?

Yeah look at how our form improved once we didnt have the Thursday night games