http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/league-one/10392371/Former-England-manager-Peter-Taylor-brings-calming-influence-to-Gillingham.html Quite a general piece but interesting enough. the lacking fitness comment caught my eye any opinions on this from the regulars?
BelfastBlue, your link did not work for me so have reposted here...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...r-brings-calming-influence-to-Gillingham.html Looking at the comment from article and that it is not within speech marks, I can only guess this is just the reporters view: To this eye, several players looked unfit, overweight even. For all my views, I would not add fitness as an issue...mental concentration at times and awareness but not fitness. Maybe it just appears fitness due to the age of the squad MA built (sorry couldn't resist that).
Interesting read - I agree we were "lumbering" for much of the first half! I really dont get the fitness thing (though perhaps the reporter had never seen Bayo before??) I actually remarked after the match that I remember Danny Kedwell (and others) being so tired they could hardly run under Hessy, that doesnt happen any more Roy
I think the fitness part relates to Kedwell, Bayo and Charlie Lee. All three of which look a bit big around the middle for footballers, but yeah you're right, the reporter has probably never watched football lower than the Premier League.
From what I heard McDonald looked slow and overweight, although I am aware that the messiah can't be openly criticised. It was an interesting and suggests that the starting XI was selected by Schofield, which explains the similarities to Allen's preferred XI.
James Russell and done wonders and keeping the players fit since his arrival. Obviously everyone from outside looking in will see Bayo and Kedwell and think that they are both big guys but i wouldn't say they were unfit. I do think Cody has lost a yard of pace since we saw him last time but then on sat he was asked to play in midfield most the time on Sat and perhaps had to work harder than he has done in the past under Allen to get back. Whelps always looks like he is struggling to get back but thats just his running style. Remember Browning?? He looked like he was treading water in the first min to the last!
We have conceded 8 goals (42%) in the last 30 minutes of games, whilst there can be other reasons apart from fitness, you can't blame a reporter for thinking there is a link.
I can tend to see it from the reporters perspective as an outsider looking in to a certain degree. However, my own personal perspective is concentration levels, am I just as wide of the mark as that journo? Wondering if MadDog instilled such an influence on the team that he prevented them thinking outside the box (no pun intended). You only had to watch MA's antics from the sidelines. Then when things go wrong, hesitancy and confusion becomes only to evident regardless to level of fitness. I watched it with Keds & Burton, I've seen it in Weston just holding a space. Charlie Allen at RB, that's enough to throw any player. Barrett appeared to go through a spell of it. Then the Bayo/Cody scenario. Psychology forms an important part of the game, if you want to see another well planned form of psychology and how humans react to the ever predictable, just watch this video clip if you want to know what I mean...http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/8983581/spfl-corner-controversy Now unsporting it may be (imo) but genius in its thought out application. Probably an odd way of explaining it in that above link, but I've seen it evident enough in MA's style of play. Another lesser example would be Weston allowing the ball to run the line against PNE and waiting for the inevitable to happen from the referee's whistle. The extreme opposite to this is Charlie Lee, partly why I like him, he goes for every ball come what may. It's just somewhere we need to find the right balance. which I don't believe were in Martin Allen's methods, behind the MA psychology of the MadDog persona appeared a more stern tactical side, covered by a mask of jokiness and for me that don't work.
