4 Games in 10 days.

[Footy-Vill]

Shades of 1981-82?

42 games
Jimmy Rimmer
Kenny Swain
Ken McNaught
Dennis Mortimer,
Des Bremner
Gordon Cowans
Tony Morley

40 Gary Shaw
39 Allan Evans
36 Peter Withe
21 Gary Williams
19Colin Gibson
David Geddis
5 Eamonn Deacy

Oh, I heard that just 14 players were employed in the championship season or something.
40 and 42 games wow ! that is extremely remarkable.
And the physical nature was considerably far more.
Seemed players were robust back then and just played on.
For those who were watching then and now must feel like a different sport entirely.
And then there's VAR too!

[Footy-Vill]

I know the game has changed a bit but I remember when we used to play 3 games in 4 days at Easter.
Some of the stuff here about fixture congestion sounds like the moans you used to hear from Wenger/Fergie and has been continued through to Klopp/Guardiola etc.
Just get the fuck on with it, we're Aston Villa and we play when we want and we score when we want.

That sounds illegal! Of course, that was a different time. Player welfare, health, and safety would never allow that now. Playing games and attending in quick succession must have been fun for all concerned.
I heard too that there was a time when English football teams played a fixture on Christmas Day, then reversed on Boxing Day, or something.

These days totally different of course. And this season (23/24), there's a mid-season winter break after Christmas.
Villa will have a two-week break in the Prem from January 15th to January 30th.
But if still in the FA Cup 4th Round, the boys will be back playing on  the weekend of January 27th 2024.

[SaddVillan]

David Geddis made 9 appearances - missed his number off my original post.

[Risso]

The Christmas period 1994/95 was fairly 'busy', we played 26 and 28 December, plus 31 Dec and 2 Jan. We were lucky though, Spurs were one of four teams to play games on consecutive days, ie 26 and 27 December, which seems like madness now.

[olaftab]

The next 10 days are going to be mental.

[usav]

I remember in the mid to late 90s playing Newcastle at home on a Saturday morning, after having played a Uefa cup game on Thursday night.  It might even have been the Inter Milan game that went to penalties?  From memory we played decently against Newcastle who were a bogey team at the time, but tired badly in the second half and lost.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Correct. I went to Inter away in ‘94 on the coach. It was a Thursday night game in Milan and we had West Ham away at 3pm on the Saturday. I remember some lads on the coach had brought their West Ham tickets with them in case we were delayed on the way back from Milan and they had to go straight to West Ham!

In the end we got back to Brum Friday night (nearly 24 hours after leaving straight after the game).

[Aldridge Villa]

Always remember the Villa playing on Sunday November 28th 1993 losing at Anfield in the league and then rocking up 48 hours later at Highbury in the League Cup and duly winning.

[dcdavecollett]

The Villa great Vic Crowe once related that when Villa played three games in four days (70/71), the players complained of how tired and sore they were. Villa took one point from three games.

The following year, we played Wrexham, Swansea City and Bristol Rovers over four days and none of the players said anything re workloads. Villa had won all three games!

[Footy-Vill]

The price of success as mentioned in this thread sees 4 games in 10 days.
There are must win games I feel in at least two of those matches
That being Spurs and an Ajax tie.

7th Ajax away
10th Spurs home
14th Ajax home
17th West Ham away


But the question is who do we start those 4 games with Ajax and then Spurs 3 days later?
Remember Moscow and O’Neill now he decided to rest all of his top midfield and attacking players, effectively abandoning any serious effort in Europe and focus purely on finishing in the top four.

[Footy-Vill]

I think under Emery its a different story when the players had four games in ten days earlier this season, the squad performed wonderfully and achieved great results and one of the best ever Villa performances beating Man City anf being unbeaten , so I am optimistic that they will do the same again and remain unbeaten for this period due to the high stakes demands Emery has for matches and the squad players' understanding of what they must do.

I think Martinez may even get rested in the European first leg match as was the case in the Leg Warsaw tie.

What's coming up is going to be very exciting 10 days.

Up the Villa! 

[tomd2103]

It is a bit reminiscent of the week of Moscow and Stoke under Martin O'Neill.  That was a real watershed moment which could be argued was a big turning point in the club's recent history.

 

[Footy-Vill]

Glenn Whelan scored for them and seasons later ended up missing that penalty for us -he's had a big say in recent history of things!

[Somniloquism]

I think if we were playing in Belgium or Amsterdam instead of Moscow, the players might not have been rested as much during that infamous time. That was why I was glad we drew Ajax this time as it was one of the three closest teams we could have played.

[Footy-Vill]

The price of success 5 games in 15 days
6th Brentford
11th Lille
14th Arsenal
18th Lille
21st Bournemouth