Premier League managers split on Covid pause | Jurgen Klopp: I don’t see benefit of stopping | Football News

This weekend’s Premier League fixture list has seen five matches fall victim to the rising Covid cases in England, but what do the managers think should happen next?

There have been calls in Scotland for a two-week football shutdown and for the planned winter break to be brought forward, but with very little wriggle room in a hectic calendar in England, it has left managers having to prepare for games that may not go ahead.

This week, Brighton boss Graham Potter claimed it will be difficult for the Premier League to continue with the current trend of only some games being deemed worthy of postponement due to coronavirus infections among players.

Potter revealed Albion were unsuccessful in their request for Wednesday evening’s clash with Wolves – a 1-0 loss – to be rearranged following a Covid-19 and injury crisis at the club.

The depleted Seagulls were without a host of influential players for the game, with top scorer Neal Maupay and Pascal Gross the latest men to join the growing list of absentees.

Their game against Manchester United this weekend was postponed, only after a Covid-19 outbreak at the Old Trafford club.

The Premier League intends to “continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible”, and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he doesn’t see the benefits of stopping the competition.

“Stopping the league is probably not the right thing but with the schedule we have to be more flexible,” said Klopp, whose players are double vaccinated and some have had boosters.

“So far football kept it pretty much outside with the testing regimes, the massive disciplinary things for the boys did really well, but this time it is really difficult.”

Klopp added: “I don’t see the massive benefit of it [stopping the Premier League] because we come back [and] it is still the same.

“If the virus will be gone then I am the first that stops and goes home and waits until it is gone. But that is probably not the case, so where’s the real benefit of it? We hope we can play and Tottenham can play on Sunday.”

Klopp, in his programme notes ahead of the 3-1 win against Newcastle, urged fans to “trust experts” and “ignore lies” in a rallying cry for supporters to be vaccinated.

He wrote: “My message around this has always been simple and clear, I hope: I trust experts. I follow the advice of smart, educated people who know their field because they’ve dedicated their lives to it and have studied it.

“We are clearly moving back to stricter measures around the team environment and at LFC we are absolutely OK with that.

“As I have spoken about before, we have a very high take-up of the vaccine at our club and have done for a long time. It might be 100 per cent now or as close as is possible, so that’s important.

“I have no issue telling you I received my booster jab as soon as I was eligible and again that will be the case for many if not nearly all within our ranks in the coming days and weeks.”

Klopp’s side achieved a relatively comfortable victory without Virgil Van Dijk and Fabinho, who along with Curtis Jones, tested positive for Covid on the morning of the game to throw their plans into disarray.

The Reds boss remains hopeful the situation has been contained but expects there to be more positives in the coming days.

“The situation is difficult for us, the whole world, and we pretty much woke up this morning and had three positive cases,” he added.

“The process we follow is a lateral flow test and then go back into the car and in this moment we had three positive tests, which is not too cool.

“We had to make the decision to send the boys home: three players out, two of them would have started today but it was not a reason to cancel a game tonight or even ask for it.

“We will see how it develops. This virus is around us so long it is unlikely it will stay at three.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe believes a break might be needed to stop cases rising further and to protect the sporting integrity of the league.

“I don’t think we want half the games played and half the games not played,” Howe said. “The league really loses something if it becomes disjointed in terms of the number of games played.

“I feel a decision needs to be made for the benefit of the league and to make sure there’s integrity through the competition.”

Howe, who missed the first game in charge of his new team last month after a positive Covid test, spoke this week about how his January transfer business will be partly based around the vaccination status of any individual concerned.

“It’s (a player’s vaccination status) certainly something we’ll be considering,” he said.

“The vaccination status is something we take very seriously. We’ve been in regular dialogue with all of our players, educating them and making sure that we’re in tune with everybody else and following the same guidelines.

“Am I comfortable with the vaccination levels within the squad? I’m comfortable with everything that we’ve delivered here to this point.

“Coming into the club, I think we’ve been very good with all our procedures, and the players have been very respectful of that. The staff have been excellent, and we’re doing everything we can.”

Following his side’s 1-1 draw with Everton, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel was asked if the rising cases and match postponements means we have now reached a point where the competition needs a break.

The German told BT Sport: “I don’t know. I don’t want to get involved in this political stuff. If the other games are postponed, they are postponed. If they decide we have to play even with our cases, then we play and do the best.”

Rafa Benitez said: “We can see that the virus is going up everywhere, so then we have to be really careful.

“If the Premier League decide to cancel games, I feel that it could be an opportunity to be sure that we control and test them again, like we’re doing all the time, so that we can start again without any issues.

“Today we had little issues, and other teams had bigger issues so I think we need to be an example for all the rest of society. The health of everyone is the most important thing.”

Brentford manager Thomas Frank has called for all this weekend’s games in the Premier League to be called off – and Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa was asked if he would be in favour of a circuit break and whether he felt the integrity of the competition comes into question if teams are playing with understrength squads.

Bielsa said: “I wouldn’t like to come up against a team that is depleted due to Covid as I wouldn’t like to take advantage of that.

“The authorities are the ones who have all the information to make these types of decisions.”

Hayes: My players were all over the place

Chelsea Women head coach Emma Hayes blamed the stress of the current coronavirus situation for her side exiting the Champions League on Thursday night.

They started the night top of their group but were knocked out after a 4-0 defeat by Wolfsburg.

In a very honest and frank press conference, Hayes said the stress, worry and anxiety of her players left their heads “all over the place” during the match.

Hayes said: “This is going to be one of the more difficult post-game interviews because I don’t expect anybody to understand. We had 20 cases of Covid last year that saw my entire team struck off and unable to go home and see their families.

“They don’t earn £100,000 every week. A few days ago, we had two players struck down with Covid, and we know inevitably when we land tomorrow there will be positive cases.

“Our heads were all over the place. They’re human beings. The stress, the anxiety and the worry of having to perform in a game when you’re thinking, ‘I just want to go home, I haven’t seen my family, I’ve been to the Olympics, another Christmas alone’.

“I’m not making excuses for the players, but I can tell you that the last three days we’ve been all over the place with the worry of having to play this game.

“While fixture congestion is a thing, Covid is real and when you’re in a team environment and you know it spreads like wildfire in a team, I’m gutted for the players because we all know that performance doesn’t represent my team.

“We’ve got players who are being sick in there and who have diarrhea. They’re exhausted and maybe some of that mental anxiety plays a part in it.”

Premier League resisting calls to suspend action

In confirming the postponement of a second Manchester United match, a Premier League statement read: “It is with regret that this is the fourth Premier League fixture to have been postponed in the past week.

“While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks, it is the league’s intention to continue its current fixture schedule where safely possible. The health and wellbeing of all concerned remains our priority.”

Despite confirming four additional postponements on Thursday evening, the Premier League added: “The league understands fans will be disappointed these games have had to be postponed and apologises for the inconvenience and disruption caused.

“All other fixtures due to be played this weekend are currently scheduled to proceed as planned.”

Covid cancellations: Which PL games are off?

Brighton vs Tottenham – Sunday, December 12

Brentford vs Man Utd – Tuesday, December 14

Burnley vs Watford – Wednesday, December 15

Leicester vs Tottenham – Thursday, December 16

Man Utd vs Brighton – Saturday, December 18

Southampton vs Brentford – Saturday, December 18

Watford vs Crystal Palace – Saturday, December 18

West Ham vs Norwich – Saturday, December 18

Everton vs Leicester – Sunday, December 19

What are the Premier League rules around postponements?

The 2021/22 Premier League handbook includes Covid protocols, and states the Premier League board will “only permit the rearrangement or postponement of a league match in exceptional circumstances”.

The board make calls on a case-by-case basis, and by way of guidance, the Premier League says permission for a postponement will not be granted if a club have 14 or more players from their squad list available.

In a statement, the Premier League added it would “assess a number of factors, including the ability of a club to field a team; the status, severity and potential impact of the Covid-19 outbreak at the club; and the ability of the players to safely prepare for and play the match.

“The Board must also consider the wider risks to the opposition and other people the club may come into contact with.”