There is a heated debate raging at the moment about how many games the top teams in England are being asked to play over the festive period.

With matches coming thick and fast at this time of year, many clubs will have played a quite hectic four times in as little as eight days.

At face value this seems like a bit too much to ask of players. With just 48 hours recovery time between games, injuries will pile up and performances will start to suffer.

Yet, somehow, I can't seem to help thinking so what?

These men get paid tens of thousands of pounds a week to play football. And the operative word in that sentence is 'play'. It is just a game, a sport, a hobby that most of us gladly pay to play.

For the best part of the year they do little other than play one or two games a week and train in the mornings, leaving plenty of free time for them to buy more cars, bigger houses and expensive clothes. And rest if they want to.

It's unfortunate that the busiest football time of the year happens to coincide with Christmas festivities but it is a small price to pay for the fame and fortune that goes with their 'job'.

Christmas just happens to be a time when the average spectator has more time on his hands to do things he enjoys and spend time with the family. And pretty high up on his list of favourite pastimes is football.

And it's not as if each team only has 11 players is it?

The modern club has a squad of upwards of 30 first team players which should be more than enough to cover any tired legs or injuries they may pick up over the festive programme.

If nothing else, the festive games are an opportunity for fringe players to show what they can do. And, if for no other reason than that, the tradition should not be messed with.

Anfield fans and Owen

I have to say how saddened I was by the small pockets of Liverpool fans who took the opportunity to boo Michael Owen when he returned to Anfield on Boxing Day.

It was the first time little Mickey's had played at the famous old stadium not wearing the red of Liverpool, instead leading the line for his new club Newcastle.

But the sections of the crowd who thought it was appropriate to taunt the striker displayed all the sensitivity and understanding of true morons.

Owen scored so many important goals for Liverpool during his time at the club, I find it bordering on ludicrous that any true red fan could even think about giving him anything other than a warm reception.

This was a player who gave everything for the club and only moved on for contractual reasons. And you also have to remember that when he was in the process of leaving Real Madrid, he always said his first choice would be to return to his beloved Anfield.

It's not his fault the board and the manager didn't want him back.

My disgust at Owen's reception on Monday was echoed by current Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard who said it was totally disgraceful that some sections of the crowd sang hate songs at Owen.

"I am disappointed. He should be a legend here for all the goals he has scored for us in the past," Gerrard said after the game.

"He got a mixed reception. I do not think they were booing him much but he deserves a standing ovation."

Possibly that's going a bit too far. After all, Owen is now a fully fledged member of a rival team. But the lad certainly didn't deserve the boos and those that saw fit to turn on their one-time hero need their heads examined.

David Moyes

Looks like another young coach is set to join Steve Bruce on the Premiership's managerial death row.

Everton boss David Moyes may have led them to Champions League qualification last season but his passion for stifling, boring 4-5-1 formations has been found out this year.

It was one thing scoring a goal every other game when they weren't conceding many, but it's quite another now that their defence has more perforations than your average teabag.

Everton have lost their last three matches letting in a rather worrying 10 goals in the process - including four in each of their last two matches.

Added to that is the even more worrying statistic that they have only scored nine goals in 18 matches so far this season and it becomes fairly obvious why they are in trouble.

In the previous campaign many teams tried to combat Everton's defensive style by matching it – and it rarely worked. Now teams like Bolton and Villa have gone on the attack and exploited the fact that Everton are not only goal shy again, but very likely to concede.

Like Bruce, there is no doubting Moyes has a lot of potential in terms of management. But equally the same as Bruce, Moyes is not even close to fulfilling it this season.

And with so much at stake and a considerably healthy five months left to turn things around, I would imagine he is second on the list when it comes to those most likely to be looking for work by January.

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