As I have said before I think too little attention is paid to the effects of flying, never mind the football. Dehydration from flying is a fact. Here are the effects of dehydration at a mild to moderate level: Fatigue Muscle weakness Poor concentration Headaches Dizziness or lightheadedness Decreased metabolism NASA estimates you need one day for every time zone crossed to regain normal rhythm and energy levels. A two-hour time difference means you will require two days to get back to normal. Not too good if you have to play football at the highest level and it would explain the difference between the two sides when at home and away, both losing badly away and winning well at home.
If this was on the Arsenal board, you would get crucified for trying to make excuses for a poor performance. Personally, I think these midweek European games do have an effect on the players, but sympthay and understanding seems to be in short supply amongst most fans these days.
I still think despite everything we should have beaten Fulham. We've been riding on luck recently and it's been noticed. Former manager,former player,Spurs tired,yes a defeat was on the cards but I didn't expect it. I said we'd be knackered but still thought we'd have enough. Why do our rivals have to keep winning when we lose? I remain convinced that this is a blip and a win will turn it around but where and when I haven't a clue. Until last week we were unbeaten in the Europa and that defeat coincides with two defeats in the PL. A break will do us good.
Benny, Bale, Dawson, Lloris and Naughton all started having not played in the Inter game midweek, whilst Caulker only came on in extra time. The main issue with the Europa League for me is the preperation time we had in comparison to Fulham and similarly with Liverpool, they had 6 days to prepare whilst we had 1 or 2. I don't think it necessarily makes a huge difference but I want us to sack off the Europa League simply because I want our key players all focusing on our up coming league match rather than the distraction of a game on a Thursday night. Again as I've said, if the benefits of winning the Europa League were there I'd be happy for us to take it more seriously but when our top 4 hopes are so closely balanced and the result could be the difference between going forward or backwards next season I don't see how we can risk it despite being so advanced in the competition, the benfit of winning it is about a tenth of what CL football brings.
Yeah I think Europa played it's part but I think Fulham was just an off day for us. I said in the matchday thread that the performance reminded me of our Wigan game earlier in the season... No commitment, no desire to really breakthrough the Fulham backline and I think the manager got the subs and selection wrong (bar Naughton for Walker, who I think had a decent game), so add that to some fatigued players from Thursday and it was just a bad day at the office, the international break has for once come in handy for us - I hope.
Think this is akin to the 2011 season. IMHO the squad collectively does not have it in them to conduct both a serious PL and UEFA campaign in one season. Given continual CL is an aim, this would on paper be a serious issue. But given Spurs collected 40m odd Euros just for a mediocre QF appearance, this would not be a problem as being mediocre in the CL year in year out while collecting the money is exactly what the G00ns have being doing for ages.
The second to last time I flew was two years ago. It was only a short flight to Germany - one and a bit hours - but the waiting times tripled the journey time. Germany then had their hottest two days on record, then I flew home. The dehydration made my saliva thick and blocked one of my saliva glands. 9 months later and I needed an operation to remove said gland. I now have a nice 5cm scar on my neck. I know anecdotal evidence is bollocks, but flying and dehydration did me in on only a short flight.
Flying in a private plane with the right hydration should make all these effects minimal. The time zone thing only matters if you alter your sleep patterns which wouldn't be the case for a trip to Milan. I do think losing in the Europa knocked our confidence though. Being used to winning gives you a winning mentality - and we are still not used to winning as much as Chelsea and Arsenal are. I actually think if we win the Europa we will also get top three - if we get knocked out we might still come fifth.
I would hope that with all the medical staff employed by Spurs attention would be paid to the effects of flying but is it? My 'anecdotal' experience tells me that people do not take the problems seriously. When I fly I always take water with me but most most passengers drink alcohol which of course makes the effects worse. Add to that the recent smoking ban which enables airlines to save money by not circulating fresh air instead just recirculating 'used' air making the cabin enviroment even less healthy. The whole airline industry has a vested interest in playing down these effects and in most cases they are minimal, but Inda's story is not a one off and two people I know have 'possibly' picked up serious medical conditions from flying (difficult to prove) how many others are being damaged by flying? In this case we are talking about highly paid sportsman who spend a good part of their lives in fitness regimes it seems crazy to me that the problems of flying would not be taken into account and yet we hear nothing of such concerns.
I think that we blame poor team selections, a poor transfer window, an unbalanced squad and an unwillingness to leave out knackered players. The formation was so bad that we're still not sure what it was, we don't have direct replacements for a number of players and some of our players are never going to get a game. Flying may be a part of why the team struggled to inject any urgency or pace into the performance, but it doesn't seem to have been a factor after other trips. The extra-time and mental fatigue of the ridiculous tie in Milan would've been draining for those involved, but then if they're that tired then don't pick them. We've got a number of other players available and a reserve side that's performing very well. Who's supposed to be back-up for Lennon, anyway?
It's very difficult to see whether fyling has made any difference to our performance in games because the 'away' factor comes into play even if it's only across London and we will never know what 'might have been' in any game. On the other hand if no attention is given to the flying factor then I would argue that we are not preparing properly. If the players are given water in flight and banned from alcohol then it should solve it but the question remains, are they?
The flying would definitely have been an issue, just as it is for every other game we play abroad. Then there's also the fact that we're getting to the end of the season and more and more factors are coming into play. - But it's not an excuse. That's what an adequate squad is for, one which complements your aims for the season. - which we don't have. As PNP has said, we don't have those direct replacements. This is because we haven't signed them, we've loaned them, some aren't good enough, some have been a huge let down, and some were sold without being replaced. I don't want this to go down the ENIC route, as there's already a thread for that, so I'll stop there. Whatever the case, I don't blame Europa for anything. I want us to win it and see some glory at the Lane. The premiership title is out of our reach. CL glory is likely to never be in our reach, so this leaves 3 competitions. The "Micky mouse" capital one cup - which everyone takes the piss out of. The FA cup - which has lost its appeal in recent years and The Europa league - another competition mocked for being on "channel 5" (not anymore) and the fact it's the second rate European competition. Qualifying for the CL has been the holy grail for years, but for clubs like us, the dedication to qualify for it usually ends up in a season of nothingness. Unfortunately, we've not quite been good enough and we're not prepared to invest enough to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting there. The time has come for me, where I just want us to win a trophy each season. I think the EL is a massive achievement for a club like us that doesn't have the spending power. We have to be realistic whilst things are the way they are at the club.
I don't think a 'balanced' squad should have direct replacements for every player. Ideally you would have about 20 players of equal quality but with different skills so you could pick a different team each week taking account of the opponents strengths and weaknesses. You still need to play a very limited number of systems though as you need to learn the style of play to avoid mistakes. I actually think Man U are a bit like this - obviously in the real world there will be some stars but United have a very good mix.
A Yank friend of mine wondered the same thing I've been wondering: how do PL players not get injured more often? From the point of view of people familiar with injury problems in other sports, what players have to go through in football seems too much. Obviously playing twice as often makes things worse. I personally hate flying and always feel as if I've put myself through a wringer after a flight. And yet...how is it other teams don't seem to be bothered? Why does Chelsea not fall apart when they've got more games than we do? Their key players seem to play almost every game. Even though I have no doubt the marathon in Italy tired the squad out, I still think the greater problem is the whole team not responding well to adversity the last three games. I always wonder if managers in any sport do what I'd be tempted to do in the event of overscheduling: tell the whole squad to do nothing but rest, eat and relax for a couple of days on the theory that an extra game works out to extra practice, sort of. Of course, you'll be short on preparation for the next game, but I'd rather have an unprepared team ready to go than a prepared one with tired legs. An athlete is either overtrained or undertrained, and rest is the only therapy for overtraining.
I think that they train substantially less often RWAEB, as David Luiz has greeted Chelsea's fixture congestion with glee, as he'll have to do less 'boring' training sessions. Good thing that he doesn't have a real job then, really!
Chelsea have played more games and in general have an older squad. I reckon they're all the teh drugs
The club does consider very carefully all the travel arrangements including a thorough check on all accommodation (especially after the lasagna incident). In addition to flying to the europa league fixtures, we also prefer to fly to all games in the north of England. A lot of PL clubs do this, although I believe Manchester United often travel by rail to games based in the south. We charter our own private plane and generally fly from Stansted. I do not know enough about planes to know what model plane it is, but they are certainly a damn sight more comfortable than we fly in and with considerable more leg room. What the club has considered doing for European competition games, is to stay overnight after the game, have a light training session the next morning and then fly home. Professional advice was taken on this along with the considerations of the players. There are several clubs who have a policy of not flying home until the day after the game, based on the theory that the earlier the players get to bed, then the better and quicker their recovery should be. After serious consideration to this, our medical people consider that as the players can never get to sleep for hours after a game anyway, and more so in a bed which is not their own, then they might just as well be stretched out in a plane flying straight back. So,even though the players don't get to their own bed until much later and well into the early hours, they are at least sufficiently relaxed to fall asleep right away. The warm-down session and post match massages etc, are then conducted later that day with the players usually reporting to the training ground at around 2 in the afternoon. With regards to staying in the hotels, all the payers meals are prepared by own chef and dietary staff who take over the hotel kitchens and we hire for our own use the hotel dining room so they eat away from non-Spurs staff staying in the hotel. So you will see from this we do not stay in a Travel Lodge but normally 5 star places and where possible hotels with easy access to any training areas we may wish to make use of. All hotels abroad are pre-asessed by a member of our staff who also make arrnagements for any special needs of a player. For example, an extra long bed for Peter Crouch. For hotels in England, as much as is possible, we aim to stay in the same ones. For example, we use a hotel in the centre of Manchester not just for our matches with United and City, but for all our games in the north west. Hope this is of interest. .
It is to me anyway, thanks. It's good to know you're making a serious, thoughtful effort to help the team recover as quickly as possible, as games are played for very high stakes. Too bad I can't get one of those extra long Peter Crouch beds when I travel.
Oh!!! but we have been good enough Roo. We've been good enough (at least to qualify) for Champions League distinction for the passed four years, if you including this season. For a club thats:- a) Installed a newmanager. b) Been in transition during, this very year. c) Is still trying to Bed-in a series of new players (at least 7 first teamers), this very year. d) lost key players through long term injury, this very year. e) Had such a poor pre-season prep., with all its distractions...you've guess it... this very year I think, the trouble here is 'not' that we're 'not good enough'., Its that we've started to chase our tails around and around in a vain attempt to win something/anything and we might have lost our focus on the hare., This should've be a transitional year for the club. It was never going to be a glory one. We are not Manchester 'resourceful win everything' Utd., or Man 'buy off the shelf' City, so the mandate for us here should be at least consistant. The aim should remained at champions League qualification., for it is that., and that alone that with elevate us to where we need to be. Just my opinion.
