David Moyes feels that the Premier League
should look at closing down during the Africa Cup of
Nations.
The Everton boss has lost key trio Steven
Pienaar, Joseph Yobo and Yakubu Aiyegbeni to the competition at a
critical stage of the season when strength in depth is vital to
cope with mounting injury lists and suspensions.
Fifa are believed to be considering the possibility of
rescheduling the tournament in the future to fit around European
fixture lists but Moyes has offered an alternative solution.
With the increasing number of African players now playing in the
top-flight, and the continued calls from managers to introduce a
mid-season break, Moyes feels that a complete shut down of domestic
games when the tournament is on would help to keep everyone
happy.
"We were embroiled in trying to get Steven Pienaar out and
everyone knows what happened there," Moyes said.
"You cannot win. But maybe now we have to consider if we close
the Premier League season down during the African Nations Cup.
"That would be the correct respect for Africa and the players in
it.
"If we want to bring players in from that part of the world we
should be rightly allowed to do so, which we are, but it is not a
fair playing field if you cannot field your best team."
Moyes is facing more international disruption after receiving
the news that Tim Cahill has been included in Australia's squad for
their friendly against Qatar in Melbourne next week, forcing him to
miss important league games with Blackburn and Reading.
"I think it's ridiculous that someone has to fly halfway around
the world in between two league matches at this stage of the
season," said Moyes.
"But Tim has to make the decision on whether he goes to play for
Australia or not.
"He has got a hamstring injury just now so we will have to see
if that hinders him in any way."
Everton are preparing to face Tottenham at Goodison Park at
Wednesday and, having been knocked out of both domestic cup
competitions in recent weeks, Moyes feels that his players will
have benefited from having last weekend off.
"We would have preferred to play in the FA Cup at the weekend
but don't worry, there are plenty of games around the corner for us
and we have given the players a couple of days to recover this
week, get over the disappointment of the cup and get ready for an
important league game," Moyes said.
"Tottenham came to Goodison and were exceptional last season so
we know we will be in for a hard time.
"I hoped it would be a warm-up for the (Carling) cup final but
unfortunately that wasn't to be."