But had no control over being fog bound en route to Switzerland spending 6 additional hours in an airport lounge. Stoke and Newcastle both had issues with fighting on two fronts and I'm afraid we are also suffering.
If you put Dai Morris on a rugby pitch now he would be obliterated. Physical fitness regimes, diet, training and tactics have taken a quantam leap since the 1970's so to compare two different eras in any sport is not realistic. Fatigue. If you do a 72 hour week in work, would you be operating at the same level as you would if you worked a 40 hour week? Of course you wouldn't. You may still be doing the same job - but not at the same efficiency. It's exactly the same with any sportsmen, not just footballers. Those playing at the correct training/competition ratios will always have an advantage over those who aren't.
Therefore they should be able to handle two games a week. As for fitness though, I can't imagine any fitness regime for a footballer that would be nowhere near as brutal as the physical demands of working underground, and then playing an international game in the afternoon.
Spot on pgf, the premier league is one of the most competitive leagues in the world and to compare rugby which in terms of athleticism is miles behind, is ridiculous Christ a 34 year old player struggles with the demands of the premier league fifa it's not just time playing its traveling staying in strange hotels less time on the training pitch etc....... it's becoming pointless because I think you don't have a clue honestly!!!
So football is a more physically demanding game than rugby Rugby players play more or less 12 months of the year, you don't hear them using fatigue as an excuse and they travel all over Europe, different continents and different hemispheres week in, week out.
That's right yankee.. And this is the point im trying to make, ...Take tomorrows game for example, over the previous couple of seasons we fans would be full of confidence that we could put in a performance that would see us get a win at home, We were and the players sky high and brimming with confidence and even if we lose we were happy with the performance and display the whole team put in that kept the confidence high. This season however there is not an ounce of confidence anywhere from anybody. We expect to lose the players expect to just do their best and the liberty is so flat with lack of atmosphere because of the loss of confidence in the team whoever ML decides to play. you if you attend matches cant fail to notice the difference this season to the previous seasons....We started our first blunder before the season started in thinking we had a big enough squad to tackle the league, Europe and two major cups and some of us did say we needed a few more players to be safe, I believe we have a top notch squad of players that are being used wrong, some have played out of position like ki was but he had the courage to do something about it and now we see him excelling with another club, To me this season has demoralized the team that they just go out there and go through the motions without that little bit extra effort that saw us not only compete but win and grind out results against some of the bigger sides..What i am personally saying is we are in danger of relegation if we don't get back our confidence and fighting spirit and ML has to be the first person to improve starting with better motivation and teaching finishing skills that he had in abundance to his players, I'm Happy with retaining the ball but not the final third and if ML can sort that out then we will stop dropping points here there and everywhere and confidence will filter down to the players and on to the fans and we will see the liberty's Atmosphere go through the roof again... There is is fine line between success and failure and we are sitting right bang on in the middle of the fence where it could see us falling off the wrong side if we don't improve for the second half of the season..
Someone with the body fat ratio of Adam Jones wouldn't last five minutes playing football. In terms of cardiovascular demand and actual "fitness" football far exceeds rugby.
Bloody Hell dai that's the most balanced post I've ever seen you write!! Top notch!! But I would say we have put some good performances in its not all been bad
They CAN handle two games a week but if the other team is only playing one game a week, they are bound to be fresher. If, on a Sunday, we take the field having played 180 minutes with a load of travel thrown in, how on earth can you expect us to be as fresh as a team that has only played 90 minutes with no travel? Don't take my word for it. Ring any club you choose, ask any player you want to and you'll get the same reply. As for Dai Morris (great player by the way!!) the argument doesn't stand. That was in an amateur era where fitness levels of all the players were totally hit and miss. The likes of Gareth Edwards and Barry John are on record as saying that if they took their then fitness levels into today's pro game, they would be obliterated. Going back to football, some managers rotate their teams just for the league alone (no Europa football involved). Why do they do it? To keep their players fresh, of course, trying to avoid fatigue.
Come off it, the collisions that forwards endure during a rugby game is far more physically demanding. As for fitness, could a footballer cope with the demands of rugby? Could, however a Halfpenny, Carter, Cooper etc cope running around playing football? I'd bet yes, as these players can get hammered and still carry on playing.
I ain't comparing fitness levels of today's players to yesterday's players, I've said in the past that they would be destroyed in today's era, what I am saying, fatigue and tiredness doesn't hold wait with me as an excuse given the advancements in sports science and recovery etc, when amateurs of the past would work down mines and then play high quality international rugby matches. Laudrup also plays certain players either in the league or the EL, i.e. You don't see Leon and Canas for example playing in both competitions regular.
You are missing the point football is faster, sharper and you need to be 100% in every aspect to be in top form!!
But we have stronger squads than those who don't play in Europe ( for the majority on paper), so we should be beating the likes of Hull, Villa and Cardiff regardless.
Yes, football may be faster, but rugby has a bigger effect on the body given the brutality of the game. Look at the super 15 game in the Southern Hemisphere. These clubs play rugby in New Zealand, South Africa and Austrailia week in week out, before playing touring NH countries, before playing the tri nations (rugby championship now), before flying to tour the northern hemisphere. So if rugby players can cope with the physical demands of that, surely we can cope with flying to Switzerland first class.
Yes but so does every other player so that cancels that idea imo. We can & do dominant possession but the margins have been fine between us and the opposition with the exception I believe being the Villa game where we totally dominated them .
Fatigue and tiredness don't hold weight with you?Go outside your front door and run as hard as you can for 10 miles. Then do the same on Wednesday this time racing against someone of the same ability. I can already tell you what will happen at mile 9 on Wednesday.
They can cope with collisions as they generally carry a higher muscle load than footballers. They train for impact, not endurance. They couldn't live with running around solidly for 90 minutes. Rugby matches are shorter, are far more stop/start in nature and players are substituted more often. Very few Rugby players are anything like aerobically fit enough to play top level football.
