Manchester City captain calls for “common sense” in scheduling high-profile games
Bernardo Silva has criticised the Premier League’s schedulers after Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal, saying the short space of time from their Champions League game to Sunday’s match left Pep Guardiola’s side at a disadvantage.
Arsenal played against Athletic Club on Tuesday evening, while City faced Napoli on Thursday night, leaving just 66 hours for travel and rest time before facing the Gunners at the Emirates.
Guardiola started the game with the same XI that played against Napoli and they took an early lead, which they then uncharacteristically retreated to defend all game, before Gabriel Martinelli scored in stoppage time to rescue a point for Mikel Arteta’s side.
“The reality is we cannot come in to one of the most important games in the season with such a disadvantage, in terms of rest,” said Silva. “It is not fair to play one of these games like this. It is just not right.
“They had five days, and we had two and a half days. In one of the most important games, this cannot happen. It is just not enough.
“I wasn’t feeling in a perfect condition to play like this, and people who have not played at the highest level don’t know how it feels to play a game like this. You need to be at your best condition.
“We saw [Abdukodir] Khusanov getting injured because these games demand a lot. I feel it is just frustrating that we couldn’t be at our best level simply because of the decision of someone that thinks it is fair to come away after two and a half less days than Arsenal.
“With the travel, you need at least one more day to recover. It doesn’t matter if Arsenal had four, five or six days [to recover], just give us one more day, and that gives us three-and-a-half days, and then you make it an even game.”
Silva admitted the players understood the demands of the modern game and why the fixture schedule was so tight. The City captain said what they were asking for was not a reduction of the workload but simply “a bit of common sense” in scheduling high-profile games.
“We don’t mind playing every three or four days, and we don’t mind playing 60 games [in a season] because we are used to that. But what we ask for is common sense because this is one of the biggest games of the season.
“In such an important game the players need to be in the same physical conditions otherwise I don’t think it is fair,” said Silva. “It did not feel like we were in the same physical condition as them.”
The midfielder suggested the players had raised their concerns with governing bodies before but felt little progress had been made.
“They don’t listen to us,” said Silva. “We would like to change something, but it never changes. “It does not really matter, but for the fans, for the respect of the clubs, and for the fairness of the competition, I don’t think what happened was good.”
