Fitness & conditioning

This came up as a big issue with PH in the early season when he wanted a specialist coach and I wonder if MB and his team are now addressing this as some players now look a lot fitter than 3 months ago whilst others, allegedly, are not happy with the amount of work they're having to do.

I've just been watching Maidstone v Dover (bored- pre-darts) and watching Aswad reminded me how he always used to look knackered after 60/70 minutes and it led me to think that, whilst we were in the Conference, I can't remember a team coming to BP and looking fitter than us. On the other hand, there have been teams this year that have bullied us with high tempo pressing (Carlisle & Portsmouth particularly) that have looked fitter than us.

In general terms, what that means is that we are (or have been) at a competitive disadvantage against clubs who have specialists in this sphere. Hopefully, MB is now levelling that up so that, from a fitness perspective, we are competing at an equal level at least.

It might also just be that teams such as Carlisle and Pompey can afford to sign players who naturally have more athletic ability. No matter how hard or effectively you train, genetics play the major part in how quick you are and how much stamina you have.

For example, Craig Clay never looked to have a spare ounce of fat on him and I never doubted his work ethic, but he always looked completely buggered after about 70 minutes of a game whereas older players such as Disley could keep on going to the death.

Being professional would mean having your own s&c regime. What I don't buy into is these players not having the appetite or 'want' to play for town. If 'IF' this if the case then they were very poor signings

Fitness & conditioning coach is as good as adding an extra player to the squad IMO and should be done ASAP whether it takes some of the playing budget or not. Every little bit helps at this level, the football league has changed a lot in the six years we have been gone and we have plenty of catching up to do as a football club

One aspect that some fans don't seem to grasp is that better sides are not necessarily fitter, they just use less energy and let the ball do the work. Portsmouth were a classic example of a team that wore us down making us chase the ball for most of the game. Mental energy is as important as physical energy and when you spend most of the game frustratingly trying to get the ball back, it leads to mistakes and even more chasing.

I remember going to watch my brother play in Sunday League Div 1 once and they were up against Seawave. He was a very decent player and was in the same youth systems as John Cockerill and Bryan Klug. My brother was as fit as they come but he came off that pitch absolutely knackered and dripping in sweat. He had hardly got a kick for 90 mins and said he couldn't get near them, despite their players being much older and mostly ex professionals.

Quoted from ginnywings

One aspect that some fans don't seem to grasp is that better sides are not necessarily fitter, they just use less energy and let the ball do the work. Portsmouth were a classic example of a team that wore us down making us chase the ball for most of the game. Mental energy is as important as physical energy and when you spend most of the game frustratingly trying to get the ball back, it leads to mistakes and even more chasing.

I remember going to watch my brother play in Sunday League Div 1 once and they were up against Seawave. He was a very decent player and was in the same youth systems as John Cockerill and Bryan Klug. My brother was as fit as they come but he came off that pitch absolutely knackered and dripping in sweat. He had hardly got a kick for 90 mins and said he couldn't get near them, despite their players being much older and mostly ex professionals.

I played against Seawave a few times and felt pretty much the same although I do remember beating them once!

Quoted from ginnywings

One aspect that some fans don't seem to grasp is that better sides are not necessarily fitter, they just use less energy and let the ball do the work. Portsmouth were a classic example of a team that wore us down making us chase the ball for most of the game. Mental energy is as important as physical energy and when you spend most of the game frustratingly trying to get the ball back, it leads to mistakes and even more chasing.

I remember going to watch my brother play in Sunday League Div 1 once and they were up against Seawave. He was a very decent player and was in the same youth systems as John Cockerill and Bryan Klug. My brother was as fit as they come but he came off that pitch absolutely knackered and dripping in sweat. He had hardly got a kick for 90 mins and said he couldn't get near them, despite their players being much older and mostly ex professionals.

Pompey closed us down every opportunity their fitness was better than ours they didn't give us a second on the ball

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

Pompey closed us down every opportunity their fitness was better than ours they didn't give us a second on the ball

I don't agree with that. It's an easy call to make when a team are better than you. They look fitter because they think quicker and are usually first to most situations.

Quoted from ginnywings

I don't agree with that. It's an easy call to make when a team are better than you. They look fitter because they think quicker and are usually first to most situations.

When we had possession most cases they got 2'players to the man ball they did it for 90 min as well , admittedly they were better than us technically in their movement was better than ours but fitness plays it's part in this

Quoted from ginnywings

One aspect that some fans don't seem to grasp is that better sides are not necessarily fitter, they just use less energy and let the ball do the work. Portsmouth were a classic example of a team that wore us down making us chase the ball for most of the game. Mental energy is as important as physical energy and when you spend most of the game frustratingly trying to get the ball back, it leads to mistakes and even more chasing.

I remember going to watch my brother play in Sunday League Div 1 once and they were up against Seawave. He was a very decent player and was in the same youth systems as John Cockerill and Bryan Klug. My brother was as fit as they come but he came off that pitch absolutely knackered and dripping in sweat. He had hardly got a kick for 90 mins and said he couldn't get near them, despite their players being much older and mostly ex professionals.

I think we would last better in games if we could keep the ball for longer periods than we currently do. I think PH used this topic as a bit of a smoke screen for walking away to be honest but I am sure that if we had someone part time it would help. Like a kit man though I am not convinced you cannot have success without one.

What I would say is that my lad came to the Blackpool game which was the first time since we played Bolton and he noticed that a few players had lost some weight and looked leaner so something must be happening at Cheapside without a S&C coach, possibly the double sessions. Also surely if the manager and coaches have the UEFA qualifications and experience as players they should know enough to get by?