Aston Villa boss has been whining on the unusually lengthy international break next week.
The international football is set to back on schedule next week, meaning that all club competitions would have a break. However, there will be quite significant changes for the upcoming international break.
Previously, it only lasted two weeks but the first international break in September to October, the duration will be slightly longer, up to three weeks. It begins on September 21 to October 6.
It might sound like a relief for players as they would have more time to rest, especially those who have not got a call-up for their national team. Yet, Unai Emery sees it differently. Such a three-week break displeases him, as reported in Birmingham mail.
“This break is crazy because it’s three weeks. I don’t like to be three weeks after tomorrow not playing, but we must accept it,”
What Emery concerns more is that this lengthy international break could disrupt the rebuilding process. Villa have had a mixed results at the beginning of this season, they have secured two wins in Europe and Carabao Cup but still winless in the Premier League.
“We are not going to have the players we want so they can adapt quickly with us. For example, Manzambi played the first two matches with us and tomorrow the third, and then he goes with the national team.
“Then back with us, we must again try to join him with us in our structure, and his mind will maybe be confused. It is like that. We don’t want to use the international break as an excuse. We will work with the players who will be here, and those with the internationals won’t be here.”
Fortunately, Villa already have a friendly match scheduled during the international break. The Clarets and Blue have confirmed a match to commemorate Antonio Puerta, the ex-Sevilla man who departed due to cardiac arrest issue, on October 2 against Emery’s former side, Sevilla in Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium.
There are several reasons why the upcoming international break becomes longer. The first one is definitely related to the extended 2026 FIFA World Cup, which just lasted more than a month.
Such definitely alters the balance of resting period for players and the league schedule. Consequently, it shortens the resting period for the players as the league begins slightly later than usual. This three-week international break would compensate for that.
The players’ welfare has finally been considered as this long break would prevent the players from dealing with more fatigue issues after frequent long travel, especially for the African, Asian and South American players. Such was the regular concern in the previous two-week international break format. It created more breaks in one season, which meant more separate long flights for those players. Hopefully, it would reduce the injury risk for the international players.
Here is the complete schedule for the international break for the 2026/27 campaign.
The post Aston Villa boss whines about the lengthy upcoming international break appeared first on AVillaFan.com – Aston Villa Fan Site.
