Jose Mourinho latest Premier League coach to complain about fixture congestion
Jose Mourinho has joined the ranks of discontented Premier League managers.
With the lack of a winter break, two domestic cup competitions, and games coming thick and fast week in week out, top teams in England are constantly in action this month. It makes it tough for coaches to keep their players fit throughout the season, and with the English FA not budging despite increasing shouts for the Premier League to institute a winter break, coaches are getting mad.
A group of top managers, from Arsene Wenger to Jurgen Klopp, have complained about the Premier League's fixture congestion this year, and it's continued to be an issue for the big clubs who are often involved in three or four different competitions at once through the hectic winter months.
Jose Mourinho is the latest to voice his issues with the stacked-up match slate, speaking to the press after Manchester United's win over Wigan to advance to the FA Cup fifth round.
"We are going to have a very difficult season compared with other clubs," said Mourinho. "Liverpool will play 16 matches until the end of the season, Chelsea will play 16 plus some in the FA Cup, and we are in this really crazy situation."
On top of at least one more FA Cup fixture, United have made it to the EFL Cup final, which means their Premier League match against Manchester City will have to be rescheduled. Plus the Europa League knockout rounds start next month.
Complained Mourinho, "Southampton will have 15 days without football before the [EFL Cup] final. In those 15 days we are going to play two matches against Saint-Etienne and the next round of the FA Cup, so the calendar in the best country of world football is nonsense."
Mourinho's been through all this before, but it's understandable that he and the other coaches in the league are upset. Their players are enduring a hellish number of games in an absurdly short amount of time (not to mention inhospitable weather conditions), and they're not machines. Something probably needs to change, and if it takes coaches complaining about it, so be it.
