Course not, but it's a good way of weeding out the wrong'uns. Players hated Poch for the extra work but loved him for the results it made. If you're not up for it, you get shipped out.
They didn't take it well back then either - I remember Lambert & Hooiveld, I think, going into his office to discuss their concerns about too much training. They left the office feeling pleased with themselves, to be welcomed by even more training the next day.
And Lambert benefited by getting in the England team and going to a World Cup, which wouldn’t otherwise have happened.
Strachan’s training regime upset a few players too. Though he did promise Anders Svensson that if he scored against England, he’d be excused pre-season
It would be remiss of me to say. They are an occasional source (a person within the club) but 100%. Vin
Either that or they'll agitate for a move. Either way, I don't care. It does shock me still just how inept football teams are, for all their money. If I ran a club, I'd have the sports science people in my office and I'd tell them their job was to get the players as fit as it was possible. I wouldn't care who the manager was or what his style was, I'd demand full fitness from the people who know how to get there. The idea that there's any slack to be taken up by the Hütt is daft. The fact that Maya employed his own sprint coach is ridiculous. He ended up in some table or other as the 8th fastest runner in the league. Why on Earth isn't the club doing this as a matter of course for every single player? Speed makes such a difference and can be coached. Looking at some stats about long throw-ins a couple of years ago, I managed to find a coach who says he can teach anyone to do long throws; it's not talent or build-dependent, just a method. Why can I find this but not the club? Idiots. Vin
You are so right. As someone who coaches elite young runners, I have always wanted to get my hands on some of these guys! You could make so many of these athletes so much better so easily
Good. I'd rather that they moan now so that we can line up new homes for them in a month, and we can finally start separating out the wastes of space from the ones who have some interest in winning football matches.
We did that at one point. Under Cortese, we had all manner of metrics and benchmarks -- we were among/possibly the first in England to require the players to wear the tracking vests during training -- for exactly that purpose, and I believe that it began before Poch walked through the door. The purpose was to ensure that players were neither under nor overtraining, and it was such a simple and straightforward concept that we apparently just abandoned it.
Players are people and people moan when they are asked to do more or life changes, but doesn't mean they won't do it. At the moment they haven't seen any advantage to it...when they do, they will have the occasional gripe but appreciate what is happening. There will be a minority who find it harder than others, but they too will be silenced if the majority don't provide a willing audience. Ralph may drop these players, but actually getting rid will be the harder bit.
