Pep Lijnders has slammed the Premier League’s festive scheduling as ‘absurd’.
Liverpool found themselves in a minority of top-flight clubs to vote on Monday in favour of deferring a round of games between Boxing Day and January 3.
The appetite for an enforced postponement of fixtures was strangely subdued given that 10 games have already been cancelled due to Covid-19 outbreaks.
And Jurgen Klopp’s assistant believes the desire to condense three matches in such a small window will limit the quality on display from all teams involved.
“We think it is absurd we have to play within 48 hours because it is a much higher risk of injury and the quality of the game will not be as good,” said Lijnders.
“Football is a team sport so the moment we lose players we have to push players through these situations and the risk becomes bigger.
“I think it is absurd. You have to ask the other teams why they want to play in these circumstances.
“But I think it would be a wise decision, also because of our individual situation here with the Covid cases being so fresh, if we had more time before the next game.”
The Reds will take on Leicester City in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter final with four first-team players likely to be absent after testing positive for Covid.
Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones missed the games against Newcastle and Tottenham while Thiago Alcantara was ruled out for the latter fixture.