Ole: No explanation for fixture schedule

Friday 01 October 2021 14:50

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has bemoaned an absence of "common sense" as he prepares for Manchester United's second match in less than 72 hours.

The Reds may have avoided the rigours of travelling into Europe, given Wednesday's game against Villarreal was at home, but being asked to play in the earliest Premier League match of this weekend, against Everton at 12:30 BST on Saturday, means Solskjaer's men have had only two days to recover and train since the midweek victory.

The manager has often spoken about the challenges presented by fixture schedules, highlighting situations where players have had little time to rest, both physically and mentally.

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When asked about the situation in his pre-match press conference, Solskjaer told reporters the club had received "absolutely no explanation" for the tight turnaround, before adding, "well, it's TV."

Ole continued: "It’s absolutely no common sense at all. We had this scenario last year when we were in Turkey [playing against Istanbul Basaksehir] and we came back and played Everton."

The Reds came from behind to beat the Toffees in that lunchtime game last season, as Bruno Fernandes scored twice and Edinson Cavani once to give the team a 3-1 win at Goodison Park.

"But it’s not like we did it last year, so it is going to happen again," Solskjaer said.

"The crowd’s going to have to help," said Solskjaer. "That’s important, and I know they will.

"We could have easily played on Sunday and the Liverpool-Man City game could have been the Saturday one. Common sense might not be so common, unfortunately, but that’s for another day.”

From next season, fixtures will be organised so that no club has to play in the early Saturday lunchtime slot after they've played on the Wednesday night in the UEFA Champions League.

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