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Brentford鈥檚 Frank urges EPL halt
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Brentford manager Thomas Frank has urged the English Premier League to take a break and postpone all games in the coming week as rising numbers of COVID-19 cases continue to hit the game.
Brentford鈥檚 match against Manchester United on Tuesday was postponed after United鈥檚 training ground was closed due to an outbreak of positive cases and on Wednesday Burnley鈥檚 home match with Watford was called off after the visiting team had positive test results.
鈥淭he COVID cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs,鈥 Frank told a news conference, where he said the club had 13 cases. 鈥淓veryone is dealing with it and everyone has a problem at this moment in time.
鈥淭o postpone this round (of Premier League games) and the Carabao Cup (League Cup) would give everyone a week at least to clean and do everything at the training ground so everything is fine and we break the chain at every club,鈥 added the Danish coach.
Brentford is scheduled to play at Southampton on Saturday and then take on Chelsea in the League Cup on Wednesday.
鈥淲e want to carry on but this way we can have Boxing Day going no problem, 100 percent sure of that,鈥 said Frank. 鈥淲e think that would be very sensible to do that. The club have been in regular contact with the Premier League over the last couple of days.鈥
The EPL鈥檚 policy is to address postponements on a case-by-case basis.
Top sports cardiologist Sanjay Sharma, who is chair of the Football Association鈥檚 cardiac committee, has also called for increased vaccination among players, warning that the league could 鈥渃rash.鈥
The EPL last released data on vaccination levels of players in mid-October saying 81 percent of players had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination dose with 68 percent double vaccinated.
鈥淎pparently sensible football players say 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to be vaccinated鈥. They might become ill and you鈥檝e just seen so many clubs are crippled and games postponed. There is a massive knock-on effect,鈥 he told the Daily Mail.
鈥淪o apart from a societal responsibility, you鈥檝e got a responsibility to the league. If people are getting infected left, right and center, the Premier League will crash as well,鈥 he added.
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he is happy with his squad and has options to cover for the absence of key players during the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 24-team event will take place in Cameroon on January 9- February 6 and Liverpool is set to lose Egypt鈥檚 Mohamed Salah, Senegal鈥檚 Sadio Mane and Guinea鈥檚 Naby Keita for several weeks.
Salah has scored 21 goals in all competitions for Liverpool, while Mane and Keita are also key members of the side.
鈥淚 am happy with the squad and we still have options,鈥 Klopp told reporters on Wednesday. 鈥淲e knew three would be qualified and be there and we knew that at least two of them will go pretty far in the tournament.
鈥淐an you be prepared for something like that, properly, perfectly? Like a one-for-one replacement for Sadio, a replacement for Mo, one replacement for Naby? That鈥檚 tricky in each situation.
鈥淲e are quite confident we will find solutions.鈥
Klopp added that while Liverpool might not be able to play the same way without the trio it would adapt its game plan to suit the line-up.
鈥淲hoever will play in a period when the three boys are not here will have a plan and gives us the chance to win a football game,鈥 Klopp said.
Second-placed Liverpool, which trails Manchester City by four points, was hosting Newcastle United later yesterday.
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