Brendan Rodgers criticises Leicester’s fixture pile-up over festive period

Jamie Vardy has been told to expect a game off during what Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has described as a nonsense festive schedule.Leicester face an 8pm kick-off on Boxing Day for their top-of-the-Premier League clash with Liverpool at the King Power Stadium, and then go again 45.5 hours later when they visit West Ham.Only Wolves have a shorter turnaround time at 44 hours and 45 minutes in between matches just after Christmas.The Foxes then complete four games in 10 days with a trip to Newcastle on New Years Day, before hosting Wigan in the FA Cup on January 4.The game is about money now, said Rodgers. You cant say its about the welfare of players.Were playing at 8 oclock on the 26th, and then on the 28th we are playing at 5.30pm. You can manage that if then somewhere there is leeway for the players.Well then have a busy January (with Leicester reaching the Carabao Cup semi-finals), which is brilliant, thats what you want. You want to succeed and play lots of games, but the players arent robots. Its not a computer game. Asked whether the Premier Leagues leading scorer Vardy, at 32, could cope with the demands of such a schedule, despite his importance to the team with 16 goals this season, Rodgers replied: No chance.Appreciating he will have to rotate his squad, Rodgers added: You cannot risk the fitness of a player.You play on the 26th, a high-intensity game against Liverpool, fighting for the result. In football, its the second day where the players suffer.You get that first day of recovery but its the second day where its really tough for a player. If we go along that route then the second day, instead of recovering, were kicking off at 5.30pm at West Ham. Its just nonsense really.Leicester will play two Premier League matches in less than 48 hours over the festive period (Mike Egerton/PA)The players understand where were at. This is where our squad really comes into it. We cant have the same team playing every single game, because we want to keep the energy in the team as much as we can.Rodgers also criticised the so-called winter break, with each team getting a weekend off in early February.Its a Lets pretend to have a break, bemoaned Rodgers, whose second-placed side bid to close the 10-point gap to Liverpool when they visit third-placed Manchester City on Saturday.Check out those next #PL fixtures pic.twitter.com/Pq1VxMv9VP Premier League (@premierleague) December 19, 2019When I was in Scotland (with Celtic), they do it properly. You play a game on New Years Eve, and then you have a three-week break.You have a week to recover, the second week to maybe do some training with your team, and the third for getting ready. The players are then refreshed.I dont think this is that at all. Its certainly not a mid-season break. This year theyve wanted to do it, and theyve had a little play at it. Hopefully next season they can do a proper break.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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