David Moyes has admitted it is a struggle to get his fringe players to stay match fit against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic ahead of the busy festive period of games for West Ham.
The Hammers manager has a fairly settled side and has done so since the signing of Vladimir Coufal who made his debut away at Leicester City on October 4. The only real change to the side since then has been the injuries that have befallen Michail Antonio.
That has seen Sebastien Haller replace the striker to lead the line for the Hammers but many players have been lacking in game time. Craig Dawson for example, signed on the EFL transfer deadline day on loan from Watford, has yet to feature in a matchday squad.
The experienced defender did appear for the Hammers under-21s in their Papa John’s Trophy defeat to Peterborough United in midweek, as did Andriy Yarmolenko as he bids for fitness having been ruled out for almost a month having tested positive for coronavirus while on international duty.
With the way the football world now is, with its respective team “bubbles” Moyes has admitted his frustrations at keeping his players fit enough if they need to be called upon. They likely will be as well with the hectic festive schedule on the horizon and the Hammers having five more games still to come across the next 21 days.
“As you know the boys who've played week in week out don't need more games just now, so there is a group of players of maybe eight or nine who are all in need of match practice,” Moyes said.
“So it's really important.
“That's why we've been drip feeding one or two of them in, but the form of the boys in the first team at the moment has been so good.
“The form's been good, we've been scoring goals, we've been defending well, our midfield play has been excellent.
“So it's very hard to find too many faults now. But we do know if we pick up injuries, which we will do, and we are doing, pick up injuries, pick up suspensions going forward, are the other players ready?
“It's not just this club because I was speaking to someone last week about it, they're all finding it the same because they can't bring in the under 23s to make an 11v11 game.
"We sent Yarmolenko and Craig Dawson to play for the 23s, But we have to take them out of our bubble, then into their bubble, then get them retested before we can bring them back in our bubble.
“So we have to be able to work with the times if we think we can fit it in. And also, the risks we put on players going out of one bubble into another one is where they could pick up Covid.
“Even for this game against Leeds United, you know, it's probably gonna need the best part 14 players for it because of the energy that Leeds show.”
