The SIMON GARNER column

I'VE got a lot of respect for the jobs Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez are doing at Chelsea and Liverpool this season.

The two foreign bosses have adjusted well to life in English football, which is never easy when you've come here from another country.

But I had to smile earlier this week when they both joined forces to slam the amount of games we expect our footballers to play over Christmas and the New Year.

By Monday evening, Blackburn Rovers will have played four games in nine games over the festive period - a punishing schedule in anyone's book.

But if you want to be crowned the Premiership champions then these are exactly the kind of obstacles you've got to overcome.

In England, we've always played football over Christmas - it's part of the fabric of our national game.

Matches come thick and fast over a short space of time and a club's whole season can hinge on how they fare during that two-week period.

No-one will win their league between now and the middle of January, and no-one will find themselves relegated.

But what happens over the Christmas period goes a long way to deciding the eventual winners and losers, which is why it's such an important time in the overall context of the season.

Okay, so it might leave the players feeling knackered at times, which hardly makes for free-flowing football.

But the sheer amount of games at this time of year makes it an exciting time for all football fans and people like Mourinho and Benitez should respect our traditions rather than look at ways to undermine them.

As it's turned out, Chelsea have actually strengthened their grip on the Premiership over Christmas anyway but that shouldn't come as any surprise given the quality of their squad.

If anyone has the resources to rotate his players and rest key individuals then it's Mourinho so maybe he should stop moaning and concentrate on what he does best, which is preparing teams to win football matches.

As for Rovers, Mark Hughes must be happy with a haul of four points out of six so far.

After a tough game against Newcastle on Boxing Day, Hughes didn't have the luxury of resting key players for the trip to Bolton 48 hours later.

It didn't matter, though, as Rovers showed great resolve to beat Wanderers 1-0.

Now we need more of that fighting spirit against Aston Villa tomorrow and Charlton on Monday.

Four points from those two games would see us going into the New Year in great shape.