The Assistant Manager didn’t mince his words regarding the increasingly compressed COVID-affected schedule.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool FC’s Carabao Cup quarter-final tie against Leicester City, Liverpool FC Assistant Manager Pepijn Ljinders spoke on the situation Liverpool find itself in at the moment, having to play two games in four days with a barebones squad due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and injuries at the club.
This comes after both the Premier League and English Football League announced on Monday that fixtures during the busy festive period will proceed as planned despite the surge in COVID-19 cases across the league.
“We always make our recommendations and give our honest opinion to improve the quality of the game. This is what we did in (Monday’s) meeting. We love the intensity but we all have to respect recovery,.”
“We think it is absurd we have to play after 48 hours. It’s a much higher risk of injury… You’ll have to ask the teams why they want to play. With the COVID cases being this fresh, it’d make sense to have more time before the next game.”
Ljinders also commented on the decision-making process that led to the edict to continue.
“For me, the experts are not the managers. For me the experts are the scientists and the doctors. And we should follow their guidelines… The Premier League should ask them – not the CEOs, not the managers.”
Fingers crossed that Reds make it to the weekend with 13 lads available to play then.
