Fixture pile-up is killing Cup, warns Wagner
DAVID WAGNER believes English football’s hectic festive programme is diminishing the majesty of the FA Cup. Reacting to a schedule of a match every three days over the past fortnight, Huddersfield head coach Wagner felt compelled to make eight changes for the third-round win at Championship strugglers Bolton. ‘Unfortunately from my point of view it feels just like another game even if everybody knows that the FA Cup is such a great competition,’ Wagner said. ‘Because it was the fifth game in 15 days you cannot give it the credit that it usually deserves.’ Despite leaving the core of their Premier League team back on the other side of the Pennines, the Yorkshire club progressed courtesy of an opportunistic near-post pounce by Rajiv van la Parra and a deflected second 60 seconds later from Danny Williams. Phil Parkinson, whose patched-up Bolton team showed character to half the deficit through Derik Osede’s header, reckons fewer team alterations will be made from now on. ‘Everybody was going to make changes this weekend,’ he said. ‘It’s just after a Christmas period that has been intense for everybody and it would be mad to go again with the same players who have played all those games. “But as the competition progresses, with Man City probably winning the Premier League, a lot of emphasis is going to be put on the FA Cup by the big teams because all those sort of managers want to win a trophy.’