That Friday feeling leaves Boro boss Pulis fuming
MIDDLESBROUGH MANAGER UNHAPPY AFTER SHEFF WED GAME SWITCHED FOR TV
Tony Pulis has claimed Middlesbrough will have to overcome a ‘massive disadvantage’ when they face Sheffield Wednesday later this month.
Boro’s trip to Hillsborough has been moved forward to Friday, October 19, to be televised on Sky Sports.
The fixture will follow next week’s international break, when a large group of Boro players will jet off to represent their countries.
Most of those players, which include Mo Besic, George Saville, Paddy McNair, Martin Braithwaite and goalkeeper Darren Randolph won’t return to Rockliffe until Wednesday, which, according to Pulis, will significantly hamper his side.
“We’ve got nine or 10 players, so we’re going to have two days to prepare for the Sheffield Wednesday game when they come back, which I don’t think is good,” said Pulis.
“I’m really disappointed that they’ve picked our game for the Friday, when you think that so many of our players are not going to be back into the football club until the Wednesday.
“I’m really, really disappointed because we have more players away than most clubs in the Championship, more players playing for their country. You’d just hope that someone with a bit of common sense in the league would have looked at that.”
In contrast, Atdhe Nuhiu is the only Wednesday player who will represent his country’s senior side, after being called-up for Kosovo’s upcoming Nations League games.
And Pulis doesn’t believe the different circumstances of the two clubs have been taken into account. He said: “For us to be asked to play a day earlier when they should know we’ve got more players away than anybody else, I find very disappointing.
“I don’t think the people at the Football League have taken any notice of the fact that we have so many players away. I think they’ve just looked at it as a good game, and thought, ‘We’ll play that game’.
“If it was better managed, they would have looked at it and thought, ‘No, that’s a disadvantage to Middlesbrough’ – because it is. There’s no doubt.”
“You’d just hope that someone with a bit of common sense would have looked at that”