Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl says that he enjoyed the Premier League winter break.
The Saints went without a Premier League match last weekend, as part of the new winter break imposed upon the division this season, and they now face Burnley at home this weekend.
Speaking to The Athletic’s Carl Anka, Hasenhuttl also adds that that the break could be improved if they tweak the FA Cup fixture scheduling.
Twitter: Hasenhuttl said he enjoyed the winter break, said would have been nice to move it to the end of Jan to give new sig… https://t.co/NCpUfUajxw (@Ankaman616)
READ SOUTHAMPTON VERDICT
Southampton’s winter break was cut short slightly by their FA Cup replay against Tottenham in midweek. They had three fewer days off than the other Premier League sides without a replay.
Hasenhuttl clearly feels as though this needs to change, although that would mean that the FA need to find another space in the footballing calendar for such games to take place.
There are Champions League games next week and then the following week would only leave six-to-seven days before the fifth round, which would be difficult for supporters and clubs to organise the fixture without knowing who they are playing.
Another way of working around it could be to scrap replays from the fourth round onwards, but then you could need to have every club agree to this, which may be a problem for teams outside of the Premier League.
It is a difficult position for the FA to be in and there may not be a perfect way around it. However, Hasenhuttl did still enjoy the break, which shows that there have been positives to take away from it.
