‘I’ve got to be honest, I think the welfare of my players here is absolutely fantastic – the way they are looked after.’
Sean Dyche has claimed that player welfare is “off the scale” after Jurgen Klopp accused Burnley of endangering players’ safety by blocking the return of five substitutions.
The Liverpool manager has consistently called for substitutions to be increased from the current three per game to five per game to help deal with the current fixture congestion.
Klopp also took aim at Burnley earlier this week, saying that he was not sure how many of their players are internationals and because of this, they are resting when “our players play three games”.
However, the Burnley boss has previously stated that implementing a five-substitute rule in the Premier League would significantly benefit the ‘big clubs’ due to the size of their squads.
“I keep hearing this term player welfare,” said Dyche. “I’ve got to be honest, I think the welfare of my players here is absolutely fantastic – the way they are looked after.
“Health and well-being is top of the list and we do that well here. Add to that the challenge of Covid – the players have got information coming out of their ears over the situation – medical support and the Premier League offering them all the testing programme… so it does make me question the idea of player welfare.
“The players have to be careful themselves because the welfare is off the scale for me, personally.”
🗣 "I think players are really well looked after."
Sean Dyche feels the Burnley players are looked after and have everything at their disposal for recovery pic.twitter.com/VuhsB4r8Hd
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) December 28, 2021
Dyche – who has clashed with Klopp in the past – did admit that ‘top clubs’ have a “lot of demands” on them with league, cup and European commitments.
Despite this, the Clarets boss said that the teams and players challenging on a number of fronts have always had to deal with an intense fixture schedule.
He said: “I was thinking of people like Frank Lampard, season after season knocking out 60-odd games with England games on top. I don’t remember too much about player welfare being spoken about then.
“Times change, and I like to think against some popular belief that I change with them, but there still has to be a root inside you what your beliefs are in football.
“You have to go: ‘Come on, let’s get on with the challenge in front of us. Remember what we are – professional footballers – and whatever comes our way we take it on and do the best we can with it.’
“There has to be a bit of balance to the bigger picture of comments about five subs, three subs, all the rest of it – and just be careful which road we’re going down.
“I judge myself on my profession, but I also judge myself on the people who watch our profession and watch our games.
“If I was a fan I’d be going: ‘Hang on a minute, footballers get well looked after’. We’ve just got to be a little bit careful to find that healthy balance.”
Burnley haven’t played since since they drew 0-0 with West Ham on December 12, with games against Watford, Aston Villa and Everton called off in recent weeks.
Related links:
- Jurgen Klopp speaks out against congested Christmas fixture schedule, again
- Premier League have made it ‘impossible’ to look after player welfare, claims Mikel Arteta
- Thomas Tuchel backs calls for Premier League to reintroduce five substitutions rule
