David Moyes has become the latest manager to hit out at the Premier League following a series of congested fixtures for West Ham United.
The Hammers had to play three games in a week which ended with a defeat to Leeds United in the most recent fixture. That loss has affected their hopes of playing Champions League football next season.
West Ham’s fixture against Norwich City, which was postponed last month got rescheduled for last Wednesday, much to the chagrin of the club.
As a result, United were left without a free period for recovery following the busy festive period around the turn of the year. Their manager Moyes feels his side, who are also missing five players, are suffering because of the schedule.
“We did not agree with why we had to play Norwich when we did. We missed one game and not by our doing and we were made to go again at this point in the season. We had a busy Christmas period like everybody else, like Leeds, but Leeds have two games to play, and were not asked to play midweek.
“I cannot understand it and it only tells me that the people making those decisions do not understand what recovery means, what it means to play games on a regular basis and the people putting the games are getting that wrong for sure.”
the Scot said.
The scheduling of games in the Premier League and the decision-making surrounding postponement has been under fire recently for non-uniformity after Arsenal’s game against Tottenham got postponed. Moyes, however, was reluctant to comment on the matter.
“I don’t really care about that. Maybe we are not being tough enough, maybe I am not being tough enough in saying we could have done with the game against Norwich being off and we could have fought harder for it.
“Maybe I will have to do that in the future because it put us under pressure to play today. Leeds had a full week to prepare. But it is done and I can’t put the result solely down to that. It is down to us not playing well, making mistakes, missing chances,”
he added.
The 2-3 defeat to Leeds, which involved a Jack Harrison hat-trick, was a cause of great disappointment for the club. West Ham are currently fourth in the with 37 points,
but Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United behind them have several games in hand.
