The Leicester City boss is not at all thrilled with the Championship organizers after Sky Sports shifted his side’s long trip to Plymouth to Friday evening.
Enzo Maresca has criticised Championship organisers for Leicester City’s match calendar and what he sees as a lack of concern for players’ health.
Maresca is irritated that City is making their longest trip of the season to Plymouth on a Friday night, with kickoff at Home Park barely 72 hours after another away day against Millwall. Sky Sports has moved the match up from Saturday afternoon to be televised live.
City did not return from their midweek trip to London until 3 a.m. on Wednesday, and the necessity for rehabilitation means the players will not train much before facing the Pilgrims. Wednesday and Thursday’s sessions will be focused on rehabilitation, with City’s tactical planning taking place on the day of the game, Friday. The squad is scheduled to fly down on Thursday, but a coach will return after the play.
Heading into the weekend ahead of Ipswich on goal difference and with a one-point advantage over Leeds in third, Maresca was unhappy that only his squad of promotion contenders was being forced to deal with such a turnaround. Ipswich, having played on Wednesday night, has a shorter gap between games, although both are at home.
At his press conference on Thursday morning, Maresca stated: “Thanks to the organization, we played Tuesday night and arrived here at 3 a.m. Today, we need to travel. We have a five-hour drive back from Plymouth. However, the organisation makes the decision.
“We are the only team that plays on Tuesdays and Fridays, and we are now the only team that plays two away games from our competition. But I don’t believe people care too much about healthy players; otherwise, you wouldn’t comprehend this type of decision. If someone is concerned about healthy players, that is not the right thing to do.
“Absolutely (I am concerned about the players’ health). About my players and all of the players. They play after 48 hours, two games in a row away, with Plymouth being the season’s longest travel.
“If the players do not perform, are they bad? No, they are not wicked; they are humans. We’ve already played 50 games this season. They are human creatures. People do not care about them.
“This isn’t the first time it has happened. It happened in many leagues. They don’t seem to care much. If they keep doing it, I believe it is because they don’t care too much.
“It’s unusual to play away on a Tuesday night and then again on Friday night. We need to adjust. Since the beginning, the players have done an excellent job of adapting to these types of situations. We’ll attempt to be ready and finish the season as best we can.”
The lone advantage for City is that a win assures first place for another weekend, putting pressure on their opponents to stay up. Leeds host Blackburn at midday on Saturday, while Ipswich host Middlesbrough at 3pm.
“I prefer to play Saturday, then we have more hours to recover,” he said. “Could it be advantageous? In terms of whether we win, certainly. But in terms of energy recovery, absolutely not.”
