West Ham manager David Moyes has questioned what the Premier League winter is attempting to achieve suggesting that it should become compulsory like the rest of Europe.
West Ham last played on 1st February when they drew against Brighton at the London Stadium, they carried on training for the Manchester City game last Sunday which was called off. Moyes gave the players five days off to be with their families returning yesterday to commence training again for the re-scheduled game on Wednesday.
The Premier League new winter break guidelines split the Premier League into two groups and forbid competitive games but clubs can still force their players to continue to train. FA Cup replays have also impacted the winter break for some clubs leaving criticism on who the winter break is for and what it is trying to achieve.
Moyes told Sky Sports “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 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.”