Swansea kick off that frenetic period with Wednesday's trip to face Everton at Goodison Park before hosting QPR on December 27, they then face Tottenham at the Liberty Stadium on December 31 and travel to face Aston Villa just two days later. While other clubs are faced with a similarly demanding streak of games, the issue is compounded for Rodgers by his relatively small squad, and the Northern Irishman is far from happy at the Welsh club's itinerary. He said: "The people who put fixtures together do not have a clue about physical conditioning. For our game against Tottenham there will be one team and for the Monday game against Aston Villa there will have to be changes. "We have games on Wednesday and next Tuesday so there is enough recovery time for me to go with same team, but the plan over four games has always had to be to change it. "Football is a great tradition in Britain at this time of the year. It's great and fantastic for supporters to have such a number of games but if you look from a professional perspective, players have peaks themselves and they have not recovered from the exertions of the previous game. "If we are having a normal recovery period from a game on a Saturday, the Sunday would be the first day of recovery and then the players really feel the effects of a game on the Monday, so they have a second day of recovery. "They don't properly come back up to speed until the Tuesday because of the tempo of the modern game. "So for us on what would normally be a second day of recovery after we play Tottenham, we have to go and play another full on, high-tempo Premier League at Aston Villa. "It's not ideal but it's the same for everyone else." Some of the division's leading managers, including Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger have long campaigned for there to be a winter break integrated into the English season, in the same manner as in Spain and Italy. But Rodgers does not feel that a break is a solution, and believes that just rescheduling the fixtures due to be played in the middle of the first week in January for later in the season would provide the required respite for the players. "I don't think we need a winter break, but we don't need the Monday game," he said. "They should play that game on the Tuesday or Wednesday or extend the season by a week. "Or we could have a midweek game somewhere else in the season. I can understand the New Year's Eve game but is there a need for the Monday game? I don't think there is. It's ridiculous." While Rodgers is preparing his side for Wednesday's trip to Merseyside, where they will look to follow up their defiant defensive effort in Saturday's goalless draw at Newcastle, the Northern Irishman will also be looking to seal the transfer of Cliftonville striker Rory Donnelly. Swansea had a bid accepted for the 19-year-old last week, and Rodgers revealed the teenager has arrived in Swansea for talks over a January move, with Liverpool and Everton also rumoured to be interested in a swoop for the Northern Ireland Under-21 cap. "Rory is in Swansea for talks. He will be here for the next couple of days so hopefully we can tie up the deal," said Rodgers. "I can only sell the package that is here. It's a great package for any player, youth or senior. "I know the background of where Rory is from and where he is at in his career, then this will be a brilliant place for him. I'm sure in the couple of days he is here, he will recognise that." Rodgers may choose to bring full-back Angel Rangel into his side for the trip to Merseyside after the Spaniard made a speedy recovery from his ankle injury. Rangel was expected to be out for up to a month after suffering the injury against Aston Villa at the end of November, but could be set to return at Goodison, although winger Nathan Dyer is set to miss out with a foot problem. Rodgers said: "Angel Rangel comes back into the fold, he has been working really well and trained with the group. "His fitness is very strong, he is a natural athlete. His injury has cleared up and there has been no reaction in the last week or so. "Nathan Dyer has a little bit of a problem with the inside of his foot so we will get that scanned, it's not serious but we need to see the result of that."
