Moyes wants a clean break when it comes to the winter

DAVID MOYES has called for Premier League players to be given a compulsory week off during the mid-winter break.

West Ham’s stars returned to training yesterday after five days off to begin preparations for their rearranged clash with Manchester City on Wednesday.

Moyes had planned on Mark Noble and his team-mates being back in this weekend – even before Storm Ciara forced the postponement of their clash with Pep Guardiola’s men last Sunday, giving them five or six days in line with most top-flight clubs.

However, in future the Hammers chief (above) believes the Premier League should follow La Liga’s lead by insisting players get a full week away from their clubs to switch off from the mental and physical demands of a season.

He said: “My experience, coming from Spain, was that it was a two-week break.

“But one week was compulsory and if you chose to give the players a little longer, that was up to you. Here it would be better if it was a week compulsory.

“We have to be careful in this country that we don’t introduce a break and then go back to not giving the players any time. “Most clubs are trying to give the players some time off.

“If it was a break to go to a training camp we’d be thinking, ‘What’s the point?’

“We need to understand what the break is for. It’s mainly mentally for the players – and the managers.” In March 2018, during Moyes’ first spell in charge of West Ham, he took advantage of a weekend without a game to take his squad to Florida. The hope was it would give his side a boost in the battle to beat the drop, which they did.

The Scot said: “I took a lot of criticism, the last time I was here, for taking them to Miami. “People thought it was wrong but I felt it was 100 per cent right.” TOM HOPKINSON