Football League has put players’ careers at risk, says Villas-Boas
TOTTENHAM manager Andre Villas-Boas has slammed the Football League for inducing fixture congestion, which he fears could endanger his players’ careers.
Spurs play Tromso of Norway in the Europa League tonight, which begins a run of three games in six days with a trip to Cardiff City in the Premier League on Sunday followed by Tuesday’s Capital One Cup third round tie at Aston Villa.
But with five other third round ties scheduled for Wednesday, Villas-Boas is perplexed as to why his team are being forced to play so soon after the visit to Cardiff.
“How can a game be scheduled after two days, immediately putting the players’ careers at risk with injuries?” he said.
“The second day of recovery is the most dangerous day for a player to pick up an injury. If this is not taken into account I think it’s bad.
“The problem is that Tottenham was chosen to play on Tuesday, with only the Monday to recover from the last match and that puts us in a very difficult position.”
Villas-Boas is likely to have to use the full depth of his squad in these three fixtures, but is without injured midfielders Nacer Chadli (adductor), Aaron Lennon (foot) and Etienne Capoue (ankle) tonight.
Tromso, who have never faced Spurs, qualified for the Europa League by virtue of the Uefa Respect Fair Play ranking.