Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Pawlett sure United can hit ground running in top flight
“So this summer you’d expect the manager to tinker with things – which is a good thing because you always need one or two new faces – but the fact he won’t need to bring in loads of players helps.
“The stability will stand us in good stead.”
United will return to training on Monday, albeit in a vastly-different format to anything players are accustomed to.
Social distancing will be strictly enforced in small group sessions, while regular Covid-19 tests will be undertaken.
However, Pawlett insists he is looking forward to getting a ball at his feet again.
“It will be good to get back to some sort of normality, even though it’s not going to be what we’re used to,” he said.
“We have not had too much detail on exactly what it will look like, we know we’ll be in small groups but the club are working on getting the testing sorted.
“We will get an update from the club in the next few days I’d imagine and, hopefully, we’ll be back next week.
“It has been a strange few months, I can’t wait to get back going again.
“The first few weeks, I thought it would blow over but it quickly became clear we were in this for the long haul.
“For most of us, this is the longest we’ve been without football in our lives – apart from time spent out injured.
“So it’s going to take a while for everyone to get back up to speed.
“Six weeks seems sensible because although everyone has been working on their fitness at home, the sharpness will be an issue.
“Obviously, it’s taking so much effort to get league matches on we don’t know if we’ll be able to play pre-season friendlies.
“Maybe we will just have to play games amongst ourselves for that, we’ll just have to wait and see.
“The first few games are the ones where you blow the cobwebs away, so it’s going to take time for everyone this summer.
“There are so many things to deal with throughout this.
“It would be strange if the first game is the opening day of the season and until then all we’ve done is play between ourselves.
“But it’s strange times for everyone and football is no different. We’d just have to get on with it.
“The main thing is that football is coming back.
“Watching English teams play again in a couple of weeks will get everyone ready for it again and hopefully we’ll get going as soon as possible.”