West Ham players, many of which have only just returned from International duty, now face a fixture pile up of six lane motorway proportions! Between this Saturday's game against Southampton and the end of the month the team will play a staggering SIX times!
There will be some who say "back in the day players had to play three matches in five days over the christmas period, but that was a long long time ago in an era when pitches were mudheaps, but they were compliant mudheaps unlike today's slick but firm pitches.
There are far more impact injuries now, but they are due to hard surfaces as opposed to hard defenders getting stuck in. Hammers strength in depth is going to get an early test, it is to be hoped September will be remembered for all the right reasons.
Other clubs that have experienced the added work load of the Europa League have found that it impacted badly on their domestic season, David Moyes has to strike a balancing act between all four competitions and ensure he gets 'maximum bang for his bucks' which might mean prioritising certain games above others, particularly the Carabou Cup.
In a way it is farcical to expect the team to play so many games in such quick succession without a lot of selection manipulation. It is going to be an exciting time, in 19 days the team will play SIX games in three different competitions on three different continents, it's a lot to ask of a really threadbare squad, but it is what it is. -ED
Comments
Frenzied Fixture Farce
My advice: Forget the Caribou Cup. Not worth it. The dilemma is the European Fixtures. We want to focus on the League, ... in order to qualify for Europe. Aye, there's the rub! These are group stages now, though, so Moyes should just focus on doing enough to qualify and no more. Meantime, build up points and momentum in the league while Antonio is healthy and in-form. Get the new signings some experience in the Europa League, keep bringing Benrahma along, and keep an eye on Fornals, who is in a purple patch right now. The lad will score more goals!
Along with, "There will be
Along with, "There will be some who say "back in the day players had to play three matches in five days over the Christmas period, but that was a long long time ago in an era when pitches were mudheaps, but they were compliant mudheaps unlike today's slick but firm pitches" there's also a ridiculous International calendar now that clogs up the rest periods for players. Of course without those players we'd be down the bottom of the table so it's preferable for more games.