NORTH Queensland Fury coach Franz Straka has taken aim at his side's busy A-League schedule, blaming it for the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle Jets at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday.
Fury, who defeated Gold Coast United 2-1 in midweek, conceded twice in the final quarter of an hour to go down 2-0 to the Jets on Saturday evening.
"This team only had 48 hours to prepare for the game," Straka said.
"The question is how is this possible? You play on Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday."
Straka continued: "Don't forget there's travel to Townsville or if we fly for instance to Adelaide.
"It takes between five and seven hours and this was today the point why we lost the game.
"You have only 48 hours to go into the next game. It's impossible, I'm sorry.
"In January it is the same plan for the squad. We have six games in 12 days and the question is how can you do that?"
Fury skipper Ufuk Talay said the club's schedule made it difficult for the players.
"It's tough. I think it's just the time in between to recover but what are you going to do?" he said.
"The schedule has been put out and you just have to deal with it. I think if we had a squad of 30-odd players it would make life a lot easier, having that depth in the team.
"When you've got a smaller squad it's a lot harder to back it up."
Fury's next match is away to Adelaide United on Friday night.
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