Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been advised to aim his anger at UEFA and FIFA rather than the FA after his rant over player welfare in the wake of his side s 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final.
Guardiola s side had to play Chelsea on Saturday having been dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid on the Wednesday before, and .
Unacceptable FA scheduling
Guardiola told BBC Sport: It is unacceptable. It is really unacceptable.
Coventry [and] Man United and Chelsea don t play in the week and let us play today. Next week on Friday would be better, instead of Saturday put it [the match] on Friday for recovery.
It is for the health of the players. It is not normal. Honestly, it is not normal. It is not possible. It is unacceptable to go 120 minutes. All of you are football players. The emotion too, Madrid, the way we lose.
I know in this country this is special for many things, but it is for the health of the players. I don’t understand how we survived today.
Guardiola s comments were backed by and other big club managers who have spoken about the issues of increased game time for their players in recent months.
But the City boss has received backlash from others, particularly in the wake of FA Cup replays being scrapped, with clubs more than willing to go on money-spinning off-season tours that add to their players workloads.
Push back against UEFA and FIFA
Keith Wyness, who served as Everton CEO between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs, insists Guardiola s indignation was misdirected, with UEFA and FIFA creating the problem having announced expansions of the Champions League and Club World Cup.
Wyness told Football Insider: The biggest issue with player welfare is at the top level.
