As February transitions into March, Leeds United will play four games over ten days because Daniel Farke believes that enough is enough.
Daniel Farke can no longer ignore the agony of having too many fixtures to choose from, especially because Leeds United has a difficult start to March. The management told the reporters on Friday afternoon that “enough is enough.”
Leeds knew they would play at either Chelsea or Aston villa on February 28 after securing their spot in the FA Cup’s fifth round on Tuesday night. The decision to forward the Sheffield Wednesday trip on March 9 one day closer to the previous evening has sent Farke over the line, even though the early kickoff against Huddersfield Town on March 2 had already been scheduled for months.
Just as the Championship approaches its final stretch, the Whites now have to play four games in ten days, three of them away from home. Fixture congestion is nothing new, and Farke has never before discussed its effects, but on Friday, it was hard to contain his rage.
It’s a challenging subject, he remarked. You know that I generally don’t moan about the workload. I never focus on anything that we cannot control, and I particularly dislike talking about athletes who are fatigued and carrying too much weight.
“I usually try to brush it off and tell you that the players would rather be playing games and playing football than participating in training sessions. I’m never very worried about this subject, even though I realize it’s challenging since broadcasters help everyone by bringing in a lot of money, so we have to take that into consideration. However, there are some topics where I would say, “Okay, enough is enough.”
“When I consider the schedule events that follow and surround the Chelsea game, it seems a little bit like this. I don’t hold it against anyone since this is our 18th consecutive season that we have been selected for a TV game in the league alone—without the cup.
It’s ridiculous, but it’s also fantastic because it indicates that our squad and club are appealing, and that everyone wants to watch us play football. I think it’s a terrific decision that the broadcasters chose us. That’s terrific, but generally it should also be a little in the sense of fair play and when I think about what occurs after the Chelsea game, we play on Wednesday, a late-night kick-off away to Chelsea.
That implies that we had just returned to Leeds in the wee hours of Thursday morning. What would happen if we spent the night in London on a Thursday afternoon, when the next game is on Saturday?
“We have to get there for the next away game at 12.30 p.m., as soon as feasible. Already, it seems off. Then, you were expecting that the following games would be moved—possibly even a little bit farther away.
Not at all. The following game is scheduled for Tuesday, which means there will only be two days between them. At that point, you may say, “Okay, come on, let’s at least move the next game to the weekend, from Saturday, maybe to Sunday, or whatever.”
“What takes place? They reschedule for Friday. This implies that we have ten days to play four games. Even if it’s our own fault that we’ve been so successful in the cup, I could still tolerate it if the second, third, or fourth game is maybe a cup game. After all, we begin these four games in less than ten days with a cup game, and there are then three league games.
“Three away games, with the earliest kickoff on Saturday, incidentally.”
Farke would not mind if everything was the same for everyone; in fact, he would welcome the challenge, but he believes Leeds are being treated unfairly. The closest competitors of United, Southampton, also secured a spot in the upcoming round of the cup this week.
On the same night that Leeds are in the city, for instance, the Saints go to play at Liverpool. Then, on March 2, Russell Martin’s team will have to wait until 3 p.m. for their league match, which is away against Birmingham City.
The main distinction is that, unlike Leeds, they will have till March 6 instead of March 5 for their next midweek game, and on March 9, they will play a home game at 3 p.m. instead of on a Friday.
“This is the most important part of the season, and I would never be upset if it applied to every team equally because then it would be fair,” Farke stated. “I think we are really fit and the players are prepared to play, so I would even like it.”