ALL I seem to hear these days is how tough life is for footballers playing two matches in three days.

Well, as someone who has covered football home and away for many years and also travelled as a fan, it is a lot harder for Joe Public, believe me.

Holiday train cancellations, public transport redirections and bumper-to-bumper motorway traffic all contribute to a stressful time – and that’s without the unplanned time off work for those switches to Monday nights at the other end of the country.

So for the ‘inconvenience’ of playing 180 minutes in quick succession, let’s not go overboard here.

Every 12 months at this time of year it is the same on these shores – managers bemoaning the close proximity of games.

We even get the ridiculous argument about playing Thursday night then Sunday in the Europa League being tough. How can it be any tougher than playing Saturday-Wednesday?

Sam Allardyce was the latest to use the old excuse for Crystal Palace’s tiredness on Tuesday.

Come on Sam, football may have moved on to greater levels of athleticism but you must remember the days of two games over Easter weekend as a player and probably watched going further back when teams played on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

You never heard about ‘too many games’ when players were earning a few shillings.

Don’t get me wrong, I can see the argument for a winter break – it would certainly aid our national side’s summer tournament hopes if utilised properly.

But if you were to give those huge money-making machines a break in January, I can guarantee some will jet off for warm-weather training and probably fit in a lucrative friendly while they are at it. Then where is the break they all crave?

Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho both lamented two quickfire matches for tiredness in the legs of their players on Monday – but their teams were hardly alone.

What about the less high-profile sides who were in the same boat? Hardly a murmur from them who just get on with it.

Naturally, it is difficult to play big games to a high level in quick succession but the outcry seems to be a recent complaint.

I honestly believe we will one day see a winter break in the Premier League at least – I just hope it is not at the expense of our festive fixtures.

It is a tradition most fans love – it goes along with the turkey and mince pies that we have plenty of football to watch at Christmastime.

And if the plan for next season goes ahead it could be six games in 17 days at the most wonderful time of the year. I'm sure that will go down well but bosses may have to like it and lump it. Tis the season to play footy after all.