Allardyce regrets Palace missing out on Dubai trip

Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has said that a warm-weather training break in Dubai would have benefitted his players ahead of the closing stages of the season.

Earlier this week the trip was cancelled due to Palace’s 4-0 defeat to Sunderland last time out, while Allardyce came under criticism for the plan given the short turnaround between games.

However, the former England manager is still adamant the trip would have been beneficial for his squad by temporarily removing them from the hustle and bustle of the Premier League.

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Allardyce said: “We couldn’t get the right flights, we couldn’t get the right hotel, because we were late trying to get in there and it’s half-term.

“We said we’d leave it until probably March now before we look where to go. Maybe there’s an opportunity to have a winter break after the next round of the FA Cup.”

Allardyce believes that that the trip would have relaxed the players and help them return fresh as they ready themselves for a relegation battle.

He added: “It increases the capacity of the players to cope with the pressures of the Premier League.

“A new spirit in terms of how they feel when they come from a winter break, or warm-weather training as we call it.

“The research and the science behind it has always been documented by me, so whenever anybody says ‘that was a waste of time’ you can’t predict the results, but certainly in the physical aspect of the players it increases.”