Monitoring will be key in Brewers’ safe return says JFH
BOSSES AND ‘14-15’ PLAYERS HAVE ALL BEATEN COVID-19
FITNESS levels will be paramount for Burton Albion when they return to action against Crewe Alexandra today, says manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
The Dutchman revealed that “1415” players in his squad have been impacted by Covid-19, to varying degrees.
He is also among those who tested positive, as is his assistant, Dino Maamria.
Now, with all but a couple of players having returned to training, Hasselbaink says the key will be to try to assess them to see if they are ready to be involved in today’s game.
“We had around 14-15 cases of players and four staff, including me and Dino,” said Hasselbaink.
“I had no symptoms at all, nothing whatsoever, but obviously I had to isolate for seven days. Dino had a few more symptoms.
“The majority of players are back. We still have two cases who are not back and two have come back today (Friday).
“We are getting on with it. We had a group of nine that was training and we added to that group slowly with people coming back.”
Being back does not necessarily mean being fit enough to complete 90 minutes or even to be involved against Crewe, the manager pointed out.
“They have been OK but, obviously, they haven’t played any matches so I don’t know how they are going to react,” he said.
“We have tried to keep them on it, even when they are at home, but it’s not the same as playing.
“If you have not played for three weeks, you’re going to be a bit off it.
“At the first training, we are not allowed to get them at more than 80% of their heart rate, especially with the ones that had some kind of reaction.
“That was not a lot; I think there were two or three who had it bad for two or three days but that was it.
“You need to monitor everyone differently. On the surface they look OK but we don’t really know what will happen under the bonnet when they are stressed at a high level on a Saturday, a Tuesday or whenever.
“Luckily, we don’t have a Tuesday game (this coming week), so if I have to give someone a longer recovery, I can. That’s vital.
“We’ll have to look after them, see how they react and how they recover.
“We’ll try to get the cobwebs off us as quickly as possible and try to get back to some good habits.”
Hasseelbaink hopes that the Premier League and the EFL heed calls to return to allowing five substitutes in a game, as they did last season.
But he suggests that it would be fairer if the two extra subs have to be youth team players.
“I don’t think five substitutes is a bad idea but I think your two extra substitutions should have to be youth players who are coming through the ranks, who have not played more than x amount of first team games,” said Hasselbaink.
“If they want to save the seniors’ legs, as all those (Premier League) managers are saying, then that’s the way forwards.
“Otherwise, it favours the big clubs, whose benches are stronger because they have more strength in depth.”
As for today’s opponents, Hasselbaink says he will not be fooled by Crewe’s lowly position in the table, not least with them having beaten the Brewers 2-0 in September.
“Crewe played on Wednesday and they will have a good feeling, they came from behind to win,” he said.
“They have been playing OK and they are not a bad side. I know where they are in the league but we are underestimating no-one.”
They are OK but they haven’t played matches so we don’t know how they will react. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink