Criticism of ‘inhuman’ schedule after England captain Leah Williamson was sent off with hamstring injury

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Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall criticized his team’s “almost inhuman” schedule, while England head coach Sarina Wiegman added his “concern” after the announcement of ‘significant’ hamstring injury for Leah Williamson.

The England captain is expected to be out until at least Christmas, which means she would miss a series of major games, including England’s upcoming Women’s World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Latvia, the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley and Barcelona’s Champions League visit to the Emirates Stadium. .

The 24-year-old had captained the Lionesses in their last four games, in the absence of injured center skipper and teammate Steph Houghton. Reacting to the news, Wiegman said it was currently too early to say who would now captain the national team for their matches at the Stadium of Light against Austria on November 27 and at Keepmoat Stadium on November 30.

Eidevall was unhappy that his side played on the evening of Sunday 7 November and at lunchtime on Saturday 13 November, on either side of a Champions League away game midweek in Denmark. While stopping to blame Williamson’s injury specifically on this schedule, he expressed his frustration at a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s European home game against Danish team Koge (8pm GMT).

“It’s a muscle injury, so of course it’s an overload issue. It’s a big injury that could leave her out all year and not be able to come back until Christmas, ”said Eidevall.

“We had a very difficult week [last week]. No other team in the league has been invited to play in such a difficult schedule as we have. It was almost inhuman. I would have been very happy to play like Chelsea have been doing all season [in terms of schedule]. We played in the same competitions and they consistently played with a better schedule and pace than us. I’m not saying it’s deliberate. I say these are the facts.

“It would be nice to see if that can balance out over the season so that we don’t constantly have the worst kick-off times or the worst turnarounds. We played late on Sunday night, we had to travel to Europe midweek, then we played on Saturday lunchtime. In less than six days, we played three games.

“Try to find another English women’s team that plays with this schedule, including travel. I don’t think it’s fair. I think this was a mistake. If the English teams are to be successful in Europe, you have to watch this and try to improve it and not just seek to fulfill the wishes of the television in the kick-off times.

“You’ll never hear me say ‘it’s Leah’s injury’ to blame because we don’t know. We just know it’s one of the factors that affects the risk of injury. Could we have done it differently? It could be the programming, it could be the cooperation with the national team and it could be the way we load the players internally at the club.

Williamson’s injury is a huge blow to Arsenal, who lead the Women’s Super League and face Chelsea in the cup final at Wembley next month. It’s also a defeat for England, whose undefeated head coach Wiegman said, when asked about the players’ schedules: “Yes, I am concerned about the total program of the players.

“When you’re an international player you have tournament after tournament after tournament every summer, then you have the Champions League, then you have your domestic competitions, so the players have so many games and we have to consider when they are going to rest. , physical and mental, because they are only human beings.

“We’ve been having this discussion for a long time, Fifa, UEFA, FA, clubs too, we really have to think about our players and the well-being of our players.”

Williamson’s absence is one of only two changes to the England squad from October’s victories over Northern Ireland and Latvia, with squad size dropping from 24 to 23; the other change sees Arsenal playmaker Jordan Nobbs replacing Manchester United’s Lucy Staniforth in midfield.

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