Liverpool players and staff are finding their current situation ‘surreal’ as they stay at home in order to protect themselves and their families from the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen the club take the decision to close Melwood training ground.
Premier League football is on hold until at least early April and Liverpool saw fit last Friday when the league-wide pause was announced to also suspend all training for at least two weeks.
With ‘social distancing’ a key phrase in the fight against COVID-19, it will serve to limit the day-to-day contact between individuals and hopefully lower the likelihood of spreading.
However, it is a very abrupt major lifestyle change for players to now be stuck at home when it would normally be one of the busiest times of the football season. James Pearce of The Athletic has heard first hand from the Liverpool players and staff affected.
“I’ve spoken to players and staff over the past 24 hours and I’d say there’s a lot of uncertainty. They talked about how surreal it feels to be sat at home during what is usually such a busy period,” Pearce explained.
“Some are passing the time watching boxsets and playing FIFA. This is unprecedented and they are awaiting developments like the rest of us. They hope the situation will be clearer after Thursday’s Premier League meeting.
“The players have been told that Melwood will be remain closed for a fortnight but that time period could be extended. In the meantime, they have been given individual fitness programmes to keep to at home. They aren’t allowed to use public gyms.”
James Milner has turned to social media to allay some of the boredom, comically playing to the ‘Boring James Milner’ persona and posting clips of himself doing extraordinarily dull things.
Hey @Alex_OxChambo Barrels of laughs here in the Milner household as well - rationing the tea bags for the week👍👍#crazydays#somuchtogetonwith#notgotthemovestocompete pic.twitter.com/WLDAJjyHOc
— James Milner (@JamesMilner) March 15, 2020
It started with a video of the veteran midfielder sorting teabags at the beginning of the week and has since moved on to painstakingly cutting the grass, measuring each individual blade and snipping with scissors he’d pilfered from his daughter’s stationery box.
Now the tea bags are sorted I’ve got time to level out this lawn... wonder if I can borrow Anfield’s Keep off the Grass sign 🤔#onebladeatatime #productiveday#snipsnip ✂️ pic.twitter.com/ap510x6mIf
— James Milner (@JamesMilner) March 17, 2020
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Source : 90min