Rooney calls for change to festive fixture list
The Manchester United captain has played every minute of United’s three games since December 20, which ended with their 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
That clash, which kicked off at midday, came fewer than 48 hours after Rooney had scored twice and set up the other in United’s 3-1 win over Newcastle at Old Trafford on St Stephen’s Day.
But such quality was in short supply in north London as Spurs and United laboured to a point each and Rooney says the scheduling is to blame.
United manager Louis van Gaal described the encounter less as a football match but more as a “struggle for life” and Rooney agrees that playing so many games in so little time over Christmas is sucking the life out of festive football.
When asked how he coped with playing twice in two days, Rooney said: “It is difficult. We started so well in the first half but in the second half it was tough and hopefully in the future it has to change because it is tough.
“It will probably take someone getting a really bad injury from doing it (playing twice in two days), which no-one wants to see but it is very demanding and I think it does need looking at.
“As a player you want to play, it is tough, but you want to play and try and help the team win.
“We created enough chances in the first half against Tottenham and should have been two, possibly even 3-0 up and it was disappointing to go in goalless.”
Van Gaal, so often a master of hyperbole, spoke out against English football’s winter schedule before the clash at Spurs but then stuck with the same side who had beaten Newcastle two days earlier.
That decision seemed even stranger given it was the first time during his Manchester United tenure that he has named an unchanged side. In fact, it was the first time for 85 games — a run that started in November 2012 — a United manager made no changes to his Premier League team.
Rooney added: “It is not easy playing two games in two days and you do lose a lot of the quality from both teams.”
The Premier League is the only major league in Europe that does not take a winter break and instead pile up the games around Christmas and the turn of the year.
The last matches in Italy’s Serie A were played on December 21 and they will not reconvene until Monday. The Bundesliga, meanwhile, take 10 days off while the last matches of 2014 played in the French Ligue 1 were also on December 21.
England, bound by its tradition and an already tight season-long schedule, has so far resisted a winter break but Rooney feels the Christmas fixture pile-up is selling the fans short.
“With the weather as well,” he explained. “With the fans coming from London or travelling from Manchester, it has been tough.
“It is a lot of money to spend over Christmas as well. But it is what it is, we have to deal with that.”
United, currently third, missed the chance to close the gap on Chelsea and Manchester City at White Hart Lane and face another tough away trip on New Year’s Day, when they visit Stoke.
United defender Phil Jones meanwhile refused to blame tiredness as the deciding factor behind United’s goalless draw at Tottenham.
“I think fatigue is always going to kick in with two games in three days but it’s the same for every club in the Premier League,” the 22-year-old told said.
“You have to do it, we have done it, and now we look forward to the game against Stoke on Thursday.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
