Fixture congestion ‘absolutely ridiculous’, claims Newcastle boss Bruce

Steve Bruce has warned that England will not be able to compete for international honours if the nations top players continue to be run into the ground.Newcastles head coach was speaking as he prepared his men to return to action at Arsenal on Sunday, following the Premier Leagues first winter break, with the repercussions of a gruelling programme in December and January still limiting his choices.Asked if he felt the break was a good idea, Bruce, who saw the Magpies scheduled lay-off cut short by an FA Cup fourth-round replay against Oxford, said: Yes, I can see that.Getting it cut short like it was wasnt quite right, but weve got 13 games over the next three and a half months, so to ask players to do 15 games in two months is ridiculous.And then we wonder why, when we get to a tournament England cant perform to the level. For the international footballer of today, its a huge problem, its absolutely ridiculous. They dont get a break any more. They are machines and they break down.Someone like Harry Kane, an injury like he has had comes from playing too often, playing Saturday, Tuesday for evermore. As fit as he is, to pull a tendon like he has, its fixture congestion.We have to scrap international friendlies or sacrifice one of the cups. You cant keep asking the top players to play Saturday and Tuesday for evermore.Indeed, Bruce has called for a longer break to allow players, particularly those for whom international duty often means a severely truncated closed season, to fully recharge their batteries as he continues to try to nurse his squad through an injury crisis which has persisted for weeks.He said: All of Europe, they have a break even Scotland has three weeks. It has to be a good thing. If you dont have a break, you lengthen the season somehow.We keep asking players to play tired. Here, we have had people question the training methods its nonsense, its playing players tired.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){

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