Why AVB puts Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger to SHAME

After allowing Chelsea back into their FA Cup quarter final tie at Old Trafford, Fergie blamed the Red Devils' second half shocker on tiredness. "We are lucky to still be in the FA Cup," said the Scot, whose side had four days break after losing at home to Real Madrid. "We ran out of legs."

Compare that with Andre Villas-Boas' comments, after Tottenham's 12-match unbeaten Premier League run came to an end at Liverpool: "We looked very strong," said the Portuguese manager, whose team played Inter in Europe on Thursday night, giving them just two days rest before their trip to Anfield. "[Tottenham's defeat] had nothing to do with tiredness."

In the modern era, the game's richest clubs boast large squads packed with internationals, allowing them to rotate players to keep them fresh throughout the season, and yet still they frequently use tiredness as an excuse. Alan Hansen - a man who played 67 games as Liverpool won a treble in 1984 - has said that teams chasing the game's biggest honours "can forget about fatigue at this stage of the season", but some managers never tire of the old tiredness excuse...

Arsenal - "People don't understand" how tired they are, said Wenger before Christmas
Arsene Wenger reckoned his boys were physically jaded in December, as he attempted to explain why his team had lost 2-0 at home to Swansea. "People don't understand tiredness very well in England," said Wenger. "They think you can only be tired at the end of the season." A few days later, the Frenchman rested a number of first team players for the trip to Olympiakos including Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott. His well rested Gunners duly lost 2-1 and ended up finishing second in their Champions League group, where they drew Bayern Munich. Szczesny certainly looked tired of picking the ball out of his net when the Germans came to town.

Man City - Big spenders didn't have a big enough squad to escape the effects of tiredness
When his side barely managed to scrape past Wigan in March 2011, Man City manager Roberto Mancini cited the tiredness of his squad and lack of players at his disposal. “Every other team has 20 or 22 players to choose from and you need that if you are playing every three days,” he moaned after the 1-0 win against the Latics, who were bottom of the Premier League. Later that month, City were beaten by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Mancini attributed the loss to a Europa League hangover, claiming his players were tired again, heading into the last 25 minutes of the 2-0 defeat.

Man United - 'We lost because we were tired, although so were the winners'
Sir Fergie has previous for using fatigue as an excuse for poor performances against Chelsea in the FA Cup. After missing out on the chance to win the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley in 2007, when Chelsea beat Man United 1-0, Fergie said: “The number of games they [his players] played eventually gets to them. It was the same for both teams but I think in two or three positions we were tired.”

England - Too tired to take penalties?
A year after blaming the players' poor physical condition for their World Cup exit at the hands of Germany, then Three Lions boss Fabio Capello said his England players lacked energy when they were forced to come from behind to earn a draw with Switzerland. “I can see during the game that the players were tired," said Fab. "In the last 10 minutes some players were without energy and I understood that it was a difficult moment to play such a game.” Warming to his theme, the Italian got some pre-Euro 2012 excuses in early by complaining that English players are always knackered before major tournaments as a result of their exertions during the domestic season. Happily for England supporters, the FA tired of Capello before he got the chance to blame tiredness again in Poland and Ukraine.

Liverpool - Dalglish spends over £100m but his squad's still tired
In March 2012, Kenny Dalglish said playing three games in six days took its toll on his players. The Reds beat Stoke, but then lost 3-2 to QPR and following a 2-1 defeat to Wigan said: "If that is the schedule, we have to live with it and we have to have a stronger squad to be able to handle it." Unfortunately for King Kenny, his Liverpool team were rubbish even when they were well rested.

Real Madrid - Mourinho doesn't claim the best team won (even though they did)
Roy Keane thought Jose Mourinho didn't suit being humble, when the Portuguese coach claimed “the best team lost” after his Real team beat Man United in the Champions League. Last year, though, there was no sign of humility when the Spanish champions went out of the same tournament at the semi final stage, losing to Bayern on penalties. The manager pointed to a hard fought win against Barcelona four days earlier, as well as bad luck, as his excuse for exiting a competition the club have won nine times. “Apart from freshness, the team played great though. These players aren’t supermen, that is just a film. The players went to their very limits.” Funnily enough, Bayern also played a game four days prior to facing Madrid in the Bernabeu.

Bonus
“I’d been ill and hadn’t trained for a week and I’d been out of the team for three weeks before that, so I wasn’t sharp. I got cramp before half-time as well. But I’m not one to make excuses.”
Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison is not a man for excuses as evidenced in 2005 after a match against Palace