Too many games, says Rodgers

BRENDAN RODGERS: The Swansea manager is unhappy with the hectic Christmas fixture list (AFP)

The Swansea manager, Brendan Rodgers, has hit out at the scheduling of Premier League fixtures over the festive period as he prepares his side for a run of four games in 12 days.

Swansea kick off that frenetic period with tomorrow's trip to face Everton at Goodison Park before hosting QPR next Tuesday. They then play Tottenham at the Liberty Stadium on New Year's Eve and travel to Aston Villa just two days later.

While other clubs are faced with a similarly demanding streak of games, the issue is compounded for Rodgers by his relatively small squad.

He said: "The people who put fixtures together do not have a clue about physical conditioning. For our game against Tottenham there will be one team and for the Monday game against Aston Villa there will have to be changes.

"We have games on Wednesday and next Tuesday so there is enough recovery time for me to go with same team, but the plan over four games has always had to be to change it.

"Football is a great tradition in Britain at this time of the year. It's great and fantastic for supporters to have such a number of games but, if you look from a professional perspective, players have peaks themselves and they have not recovered from the exertions of the previous game.

"If we are having a normal recovery period from a game on a Saturday, the Sunday would be the first day of recovery and then the players really feel the effects of a game on the Monday, so they have a second day of recovery.

"They don't properly come back up to speed until the Tuesday because of the tempo of the modern game. So for us on what would normally be a second day of recovery after we play Tottenham, we have to go and play another full-on, high-tempo Premier League [fixture] at Aston Villa. It's not ideal but it's the same for everyone else."

While Rodgers is preparing his side for tomorrow's trip to Merseyside, the Northern Irishman will also be looking to seal the transfer of Cliftonville striker Rory Donnelly.

Swansea had a bid accepted for the 19-year-old last week, and Rodgers revealed the teenager has arrived in Swansea for talks over a January move, with Liverpool and Everton also rumoured to be interested in a swoop for the Northern Ireland Under-21 cap.