There's been a lot of talk recently about the ridiculous amount of games that players in this country are having to play.

Only this week we've had the likes of Premiership managers Harry Redknapp (Spurs) and Roy Hodgson (Fulham) complaining about a horrendous fixture list.

But it's not just the Premiership clubs that are suffering, the amount of games we are being asked to play in the Championship is sometimes even worse.

If you take in the Fulham home game, it means we are being asked to play 11 games in 37 days. There are a few words I could use to describe such a schedule - dangerous, neglectful and unfair are just three.

What you've got to consider is that most of our players cover between 10 and 12k every game, with 1500m of that involving high intensity sprints.

And when you add in the mental aspect of trying to get yourself into the right positions or picking the right pass, it's no surprise that the players are sometimes shattered. And that's not even taking into account the travelling involved or the pressure of playing in front of 16,000 people or a TV audience of up to five million as was the case against Fulham.

It was really noticeable on the bus back from Fulham just how tired the boys were looking. So much so that we actually gave them a day off on Thursday this week - something we very rarely do.

But it is important they recover as best they can because when you are tired from playing so many games that's when you start to pick up too many injuries.

In a perfect world, we should only be playing one game a week like they do on the continent.

Anything more is not only dangerous, but unfair on the players and the fans because they don't get to see them performing at their peak week in week out.

We are lucky to a certain respect at Swansea as we've got a really fit and committed squad - our ProZone Stats prove that. But it's still not easy on the players.

It's not surprising then that we were forced to add Garry Monk and Joe Allen to our injured list this week.

Monks missed the games against Doncaster and Fulham with a bad back, but our skipper trained on Wednesday and Friday and will have a fitness test before today's encounter.

Young Joe will be out for a bit longer after an MRI scan revealed a deep tear in his thigh muscle. But he has responded well to treatment and could be back before the three to four weeks expected timescale.

Gorka Pintado has also been back on the training field following his double groin operation. I think today's game has come a bit to soon, but Tuesday's game at Derby is a realistic target.

Darren Pratley is also making good progress from his shoulder operation. He is really surprising us all and is so desperate to get back playing that he could return well before the end of his 10-week rehabilitation programme.

Of our long-term casualties, Ferrie Bodde and Marcos Painter continue to progress, while young Shaun MacDonald has also recovered from the calf injury picked up on loan at Yeovil.