Jordan Henderson is concerned by the fact that the Premier League is not considering the mental well-being of its players seriously. On Monday, it was announced that the schedule for the end of the year will go on as per the previous plan and none of the games will be postponed despite the coronavirus cases across the country increasing massively.
A total of 10 games in the last week were called off due to an outbreak in a few clubs, resulting in an urgent board meeting between all shareholders of the Premier League. The decision taken by all of them was to go ahead with the games on Boxing Day and New Year.
This decision turned out to be a massive disappointment for the clubs impacted by this crisis, and Henderson voiced his frustration in an interview with the BBC. He said that people aren’t realizing how intense things can get in football.
Having mentioned that football is everything for him and all those involved, Liverpool captain said that it is difficult to operate at the same level during these tricky times. The midfielder suggested that the players deserve a break to get themselves back on track to perform at the highest level.
“I think decisions get made – of course we want to play as footballers, we want to get out there and play, but I am worried about player welfare. I don’t think anybody takes that seriously enough, especially in this period.
We will try to have conversations in the background and try to have some sort of influence going forward, but at the minute I don’t feel the players get the respect they deserve in terms of having somebody being able to speak for them independently and having the power to say actually this isn’t right for player welfare,”
the 31-year-old stated.
Liverpool are one of the few clubs in the English league who didn’t have any of their games chalked off and have been on a busy schedule. After dropping crucial points against Tottenham, they will be facing Leicester City in the EFL Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, followed by a tricky Premier League clash against Leeds United.
