#360view: EPL winter break makes sense

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  • Louis van Gaal has been particularly outspoken against the amount of Premier League games with Manchester United picking-up over 50 injuries so far.

    Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino, Gus Poyet and Paul Lambert: five managers representing a quarter of the Premier League who, during the festive period, voiced concerns over the volume of fixtures played.

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    Van Gaal’s criticism was the most vocal, and also the most criticised; traditionalists complaining that the Dutchman has to like it or lump it, as this is English football.

    Once upon a time, managers rarely grumbled and just got on with it. However, through a combination of greater overseas influence in the Premier League and the realisation that a winter break has benefitted German, Spanish and Italian football all these years, slowly but surely the idea is becoming more bearable and less blasphemous than before.

    The negative effect of playing three games inside seven days (four in 10 once you factor in the FA Cup) is obvious.

    If players weren’t picking up niggling injuries, managers – with the exception of Burnley’s Sean Dyche whose decision to start the same XI in three straight games backfired with a number of injuries against Newcastle – rotated their teams across the course to ail weary muscles.

    The result of such saw the dynamism and physicality the Premier League prides itself on emerge only sporadically: Tottenham v Manchester United, Chelsea v West Ham and Southampton v Chelsea, for example, were fantastic for 45 minutes and then petered out. 

    The packed schedule has also had a consequence on the FA Cup third round ties with Newcastle, Swansea and West Brom all fielding weakened sides yesterday and expect more of the same today from Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, QPR and Stoke.

    The magic of the cup becomes more mythological with each passing season, and not for the right reasons.

    You can’t blame the managers, why should they be expected to field a first team with such relentless demands placed on the players. At some stage the Premier League and the Football Association will realise that sticking so steadfastly to tradition is proving detrimental to their own products. 

    Any fitness or conditioning coach will tell you that the amount of days rest in between matches is conducive to how they perform.

    Removing games on December 28 and New Year’s Day and rescheduling them later in the season may cause initial discontent among some fans, but ultimately in the long run, the quality and intensity will be more consistent.

    There are concerns that a winter break could be used to promote clubs overseas with exhibition matches like the Dubai Football Challenge.

    Reducing the risk of injury and fatigue, and raising the probability of having your best team for all 38 league fixtures, is also an obvious vote winner with any manager.

    The continual argument against the winter break – when it is considered as a mechanism to improve the English national team at major tournaments – is that some clubs will instead use it as a window to promote and market their team overseas.

    A convention that certainly will appeal to the aggressive capitalism of the Premier League. Exhibitions such as the Real Madrid v AC Milan game at 7he Sevens last week, or Paris Saint-Germain v Internazionale in Marrakech will feature Premier League clubs.

    So what? Let them. Place the decision in the clubs’ hands. If they want to hawk their players around the world and risk burnout, that’s their fault, not the league’s. With so many different parties having a vested interest in a winter break, why not give it a try?

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