Pepijn Lijnders handled press conference duties ahead of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup game against Leicester City and was outspoken on our congested festive period.
Jurgen Klopp’s assistant spoke very well as he handled questions on the current COVID situation, fallout from the Tottenham Hostspur game and updated on squad injuries.
The Dutchman commented on the fact that the Reds are set to face Leeds United on Boxing Day and then Leicester City in the Premier League, just two days later.
The 38-year-old said: “We are in the position where we want to protect our players, we think it’s absurd that we have to play within 48 hours.
“Because it’s a much higher risk of injury and second of all, the quality of the game will not be as good.
“What happens if players are fatigued? You don’t get the offensive attitude we want, or the offensive quality we want.
“Second of all, football is a team sport so the moment we lose players and we have to push players through these situations, the risk becomes much bigger.
“That’s what Jurgen has tried to explain and that’s what I try to explain – I think it’s absurd”.
Fair play to the former NEC manager to be so passionate about this subject that is clearly very important to him and the boss.
Seeing as we haven’t missed any games through postponement yet, it does seem strange that there’s a need to stuff the games together when others will be playing with a bigger break between games than they would have faced if they played them during this festive period.
There’s little we can do now though, other than cross our fingers for no injuries and positive results.
You can watch Lijnders’ comments on the two games in 48 hours, via our Twitter account @empireofthekop:
🗣️ "It's absurd that we have to play within 48 hours because it's a much higher risk of injury and the quality of the game will not be as good".
Lijnders on #LFC playing 2 Premier League games in 2 days vs. Leeds (26/12) and Leicester (28/12) 😫 pic.twitter.com/xQNIjce5zc
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) December 21, 2021
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