Spurs play Shamrock Rovers on Thursday 15th December Then Play Sunderland on Saturday 17th December which normally gets moved to a Sunday with us playing in European Football Then play Chelsea on Tuesday 20th Surely the games should be rearranged like the Sundewrland game to the Sunday and the Chelsea game to the Wednesday? The Christmas Period is always a clutter of fixtures and seems unfair Fulham play Wednesday Saturday Wednesday Stoke Play Wednesday Saturday Wednesday Celtic play Thursday Sunday Saturday Spurs play Thursday Saturday Tuesday
Will certainly test our squad that's for sure,but hopefully the Shamrock Rovers game shouldn't be too hard.
It does seem very cluttered, but if we can get a number of our injured players back soon, then we should have the squad to handle it.
Shamrock Rovers is going to be another tester for our youngsters, with perhaps a bench loaded with experience, just in case we look like slipping up.
That'll be the 2nd time we only get 1 day between two match days, odd...is the Saturday a 12 o'clock KO aswell!?
I agree this is unfair, we'll just have to play a B team in Ireland. Don't even have the first team travelling to Ireland, same as they didn't go to Greece. Unless we need a point or three to ensure qualification still, then unfortunately I guess some will have to travel/play. Hope Daws is back by then (I've no idea how long he is supposed to be out).
Fulham play Wednesday Saturday Wednesday Stoke Play Wednesday Saturday Wednesday Celtic play Thursday Sunday Saturday Spurs play Thursday Saturday Tuesday We had a similar debate in the Championship towards the end of the season but look a it another way........... The week you play on Thursday, you get a longer break from the previous match than the other teams & by playing on the following Tuesday you get a longer break until the next game than the other teams, a bit of swings and roundabouts
Not that we were going to but they've made it impossible for us to take the Shamrock game seriously. On the plus side it's only in Ireland and we're at home for both Chelsea and Sunderland games.
Only problem with that SF is, if we need 1 or 3 points to qualify. Should we fail to qualify by failing to beat Shamrock, there'll be lot of unhappy Spurs fans, probably myself included. I hope we don't reach that dilemma by winning our next 4 EL games, and being certain of qualification.
It is a problem but I can't see how we could justify prioritising a Europa League game over a Premiership game.
Hi SF, as I say let's hope the dilemma doesn't arise. But if we want to talk abstractly, I would say I can easily see times when we'd prioritise EL over PL. Basically, we have a realistic chance of winning the EL, not so with the PL. If we're in an EL semi-final, we might see that as priority in April/May, depending on our lge position. I find our lack of European trophies a great sadness over the past 27 years, and would love to see this recitified. I'd rather win the EL and finish 5th, than finish 4th. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but that's how it goes for me. However, I can't say how I'll feel about the spcific Shamrock game till I know the actual circumstances on the day before. I completely backed Harry's team for PAOK and Shaktar as well a few years back, it just depends on the overall picture.
its not been this bad before, we've just done 3 in 5 days, thats usually Crimbo and end of congested season stuff.
Having said that, of the 3 games, we didn't lose any in normal time, got maximum PL points, and 3 clean sheets in normal time, keep that up I'll be happy!
Yep, the EL scheduling does cause problems, but for obvious TV reasons it can't clash with CL games, otherwise teams like us would barely get any TV time for Euro matches. If the Chuckle brothers aka Pav and GDS could actually remember how to play football, we'd have enough fire power for the EL games without calling on the 'first XI'. I wish Coulibaly was available for EL games, because surely he could do better than Eric and Ernie, to switch comedians We'll just have to see how things go, I would absolutely love it if we could win the EL, but we'll have to see how the fixtures pan out. If we weren't playing Arsenal straight after Shamrock next week, I'd be thinking JD could get a run out in that game from the bench, as it is I just don't know what to think. C'mon the deadbeat duo, fill your boots v Shamrock, is my plea
If we had a fully fit squad, then we might not need them to play at all, Ghoddle. If Parker, Modric, Bale and van der Vaart play against Arsenal, then we could pick Huddlestone, Sandro, Lennon, Pienaar and Kranjcar with Kane leading the line.
