Tottenham could not play Rennes because there was not a spare day in the calendar. Nothing in between December 9, 2021 when the match was due to take place and February 17, 2022 when the next round of Europa Conference League fixtures were scheduled.
Not a clear weekend, not a free midweek, nothing when two clubs had sufficient time to play a single game vital to the fair completion of a supposedly important UEFA competition. And yet the sausage factory mentality continues. Football learns nothing from the pandemic and continues piling fixture commitments into a schedule already fit to burst.