im confused. Does anemia cause tiredness or is it caused
BY tiredness??

Because if it only causes tiredness then the anemia has nothing to do with the recovery periods between matches.
Also modern football training methods supposed to allow for enough recovery after matches to maintain peak fitness. Some players even go on holiday and do nothing for 3 or 4 days if they feel a lot of tiredness. Like when drogba went back to africa recently to rest for 3 days but got malaria

And Tevez is always going back Argentina to see his daughters. And Rooney's New York trip is a whole week or smth.