Liverpool Coach Blasts Decision To Continue Season Amidst Covid-19 Outbreak

Written By Jacobs Dunga

The Premier League has vowed to continue with the fixtures through the festive period despite clubs being hit by the Corona virus pandemic which has caused the Liverpool coach to speak up.

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Liverpool assistant manager, Pepijn Lijnders has condemned the Premier League’s insistence to carry on with the planned schedule despite clubs struggling to have their players fit for these games.

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Covid-19 cases in the country continue to rise with players being affected and Jurgen Klopp suggesting on Monday that the season be suspended with clubs voting against the idea.

Lijnders has warned there would be a drop in quality as clubs will struggle to rotate due to lack of time for players to recover from previous fixtures with Liverpool themselves having up to four players in isolation at the moment.

“We really believe we are in the position to protect our players. We think it is absurd we have to play within 48 hours because it is a much higher risk of injury and the quality of the game will not be as good,” he said to the club website.

“If players are more fatigued we don’t get the offensive attitude and quality we want.

“If our players are more fatigued they don’t make as quick decisions, they are not as brave, they are not as creative, there are not as many spontaneous actions, we will play the ball to the side instead of forwards.

“The quality of the game goes down the more fatigue there is. We have to respect the fact that a Premier League (team) needs 72 hours to recover if we want more quality.

“Football is a team sport so the moment we lose players we have to push (other) players through these situations and the risk becomes bigger.

“You have to ask the teams why they want to play in these circumstances, but I think it would be a wise decision (to postpone).

“Because of our individual situation here with the COVID cases being this fresh, we would have more time before the next game.”

Meanwhile…

The Reds are expected to field players from their academy against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday in order to have enough players fit for their next Premier League game.

The Jurgen Klopp led side fielded a second string side in the last round with two academy players making the eleven and five others on the bench, such line up could be seen again this round despite the change in opposition.

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Lijnders has said they would once again rely on their reserves to negotiate their way through this period but stressed it is nothing new to the club having to rely on their second team.

“We always rely on them. The one thing if you want to have a healthy club is to have a proper inside pathway, that the academy is important, that the academy has a chance to improve inside our club to become first-team players,” he added.

“That is why we construct our squad like we construct it, why we give so many young players opportunities.

“We have five Liverpool debuts in the League Cup this year. That is healthy, it is something we want.

“We have the talents – it’s not as if we don’t have it – but we want to give them the opportunity to grow inside our club.

“If (senior) players are unavailable, we see it as a challenge, but it is something which will create new players and that is what we want as well, so it’s only a good thing.”

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