Fitness

[clivey05]

I actually can’t believe so many players who were going to play on Friday were allowed to play on Tuesday.

[Mars]

We made 6 changes.

[stokefanone]

Lack of effort, seems to be the main reason.
It’s been the same since relegation. The club is an easy ride, it doesn’t demand any commitment from is players or staff.

I don’t get it, can only think that there is no ambition in the club.

If it’s a manager thing, we are picking the wrong people,.
But it seems to be deeper than that, I think it’s endemic, and the club has to change.

If we had Messi, van dyke and salah in the team, we would still be shit.

Really pissed off now.

[Roy Cropper]

Sept 20, 2024 20:50:41 GMT bayernoatcake said:

How do we keep producing about the most unfit team in the league?

They ran for about 10 minutes and then looked absolutely fucked.

How do we get it so spectacularly wrong? So consistently.

Biggest concern for me last night. Shattered from 30 minutes in which completely fucked the game plan.

[SamB_SCFC]

I feel like we've been saying this for years.

[Stoke70]

Everybody in this club seems in holidays. No will to win, no will to be competitive. Players not interested by the club and the results, There is no pressure from the bobard/staff. There is no ethic.

[Stoke70]

Sept 21, 2024 12:25:03 GMT stokefanone said:

Lack of effort, seems to be the main reason.
It’s been the same since relegation. The club is an easy ride, it doesn’t demand any commitment from is players or staff.

I don’t get it, can only think that there is no ambition in the club.

If it’s a manager thing, we are picking the wrong people,.
But it seems to be deeper than that, I think it’s endemic, and the club has to change.

If we had Messi, van dyke and salah in the team, we would still be shit.

Really pissed off now.

Totally agree. It’s endemic. Bring in Guardiola and Man City effectif to this club, they will be in relegation scrap by christmas.

[pavel]

If you can’t pass and move, misplace passes all the time and the team is not set up right tactically you will be doing far more running than the opposing team and in comparison to the other team you will look unfit/lazy, whatever.

Add to that having significantly less possession you will be chasing around using up even more energy. Again not being sure of the game plan and the players having seemingly a fragile mentality that the club seems to be a world leader in, drains energy. Confident teams always look fitter, winning teams always look fitter.

So are we less fitter than other teams, I doubt it but we just don’t even get the basics right which means we tire quicker in comparison.

[stokefanone]

Sept 21, 2024 12:45:21 GMT pavel said:

If you can’t pass and move, misplace passes all the time and the team is not set up right tactically you will be doing far more running than the opposing team and in comparison to the other team you will look unfit/lazy, whatever.

Add to that having significantly less possession you will be chasing around using up even more energy. Again not being sure of the game plan and the players having seemingly a fragile mentality that the club seems to be a world leader in, drains energy. Confident teams always look fitter, winning teams always look fitter.

So are we less fitter than other teams, I doubt it but we just don’t even get the basics right which means we tire quicker in comparison.

Not enough application from the players, no respect for the club.
Basically can’t be arsed, that’s what I see.

[professorplump]

I'm hoping that our fitness issue was a result of having an extra game in midweek compared to Hull who had a free week but I am probably clutching at straws.

[questionable]

I don’t think that the fitness levels are an issue, we’re just a poorly assembled squad yet again with kids expecting to be seasoned professionals.

Managed recently by two very young very inexperienced managers

[Gabrielzakuaniandjuliet]

They should be fit enough. The sports science guy from Plymouth we brought in is supposedly very well regarded

[thornestein]

Sept 22, 2024 7:13:00 GMT Gabrielzakuaniandjuliet said:

They should be fit enough. The sports science guy from Plymouth we brought in is supposedly very well regarded

was he sacked with all the others ?

[Gabrielzakuaniandjuliet]

Sept 22, 2024 7:17:31 GMT thornestein said:

Sept 22, 2024 7:13:00 GMT Gabrielzakuaniandjuliet said:

They should be fit enough. The sports science guy from Plymouth we brought in is supposedly very well regarded

was he sacked with all the others ?

Thought I saw him on Friday night but also read somewhere he's expected to leave. Not sure though- someone else might know better!

[boskampsflaps]

Sept 21, 2024 11:33:09 GMT mickeythemaestro said:

Sept 21, 2024 11:30:12 GMT roylandstoke said:

That side that kept finishing top half of the world’s most demanding league would have been champions if they’d only been fit.

I don't follow what you're saying.

Hughes teams were plenty fit enough...

[laneendstokie]

Since relegation we’ve had several several seasons of watching players like Campbell, Laurent etc. strolling and hiding in games with apparent impunity , if they are allowed to get away with it then it rubs off on the rest of the squad. At last they have been cleared off and we’ve got some good youngsters coming through. We also rely on too many loan signings whose dedication to the cause can be questionable. We have seemingly decent wealthy owners who promote a cozy family atmosphere and as a result I think it may allow a lazy culture to permeate through the squad

[Mars]

Sept 22, 2024 7:17:31 GMT thornestein said:

Sept 22, 2024 7:13:00 GMT Gabrielzakuaniandjuliet said:

They should be fit enough. The sports science guy from Plymouth we brought in is supposedly very well regarded

was he sacked with all the others ?

Yes he's gone.
According to SOTlive, Joel Dawson the Academy Head of Sports Science is stepping up permanently to the first team.
He's been around since JW playing days I think.

[thornestein]

Sept 22, 2024 7:56:35 GMT Mars said:

Sept 22, 2024 7:17:31 GMT thornestein said:

was he sacked with all the others ?

Yes he's gone.
According to SOTlive, Joel Dawson the Academy Head of Sports Science is stepping up permanently to the first team.
He's been around since JW playing days I think.

he’s got a job on his hands then

[loosestools]

Is it lack of fitness or a misuse of energy? We come out all guns blazing whilst the opposition sit back and soak it up. Second half we look knackered whist the opposition step up a gear and we start chasing shadows. It happens every game- its partly down to tactics.

[CBUFAWKIPWH]

Sept 22, 2024 11:33:02 GMT loosestools said:

Is it lack of fitness or a misuse of energy? We come out all guns blazing whilst the opposition sit back and soak it up. Second half we look knackered whist the opposition step up a gear and we start chasing shadows. It happens every game- its partly down to tactics.

I agree and in part that is inexperience - players learn to preserve energy when necessary and as a result keep going longer. Also while youngsters tend to be quicker off the blocks they just don't have the stamina - that comes with age. If we are going to play youngsters we need to adjust the game plan to play to their strengths and not play a game suited to seasoned pros.

[underdog]

Sept 20, 2024 21:03:27 GMT pearo said:

The reason we lack fitness is that Super Jon employed the physio who was there when he was a player, unfortunately that physio is from the old school philosophy. When we get to 2 games a week over the winter months we will have numerous muscular injuries.

What makes you an expert on sports rehabilitation?

[Edward Tattsyrup]

Never mind a multi million new building for the first team, get the portacabins back and turn the heating off.

[estrangedsonoffaye]

I’m not so much convinced the issue is “fitness” so much as being tactically disjointed which means you end up chasing shadows and looking ineffective.

For all the talk of the Pulis fitness regime, and boy they did go at it in Pre-season Tone used to play 10 men behind the ball and launch it forward for percentages, it wasn’t exactly high intensity pressing from the front. Ric used to literally walk around out of possession! And in away games we often looked knackered after about 30 mins of not having the ball.

If you are gonna play a press it needs to be coordinated or you get picked off, I think that it was more of an issue than the actual aerobic fitness.

[nottsover60]

Sept 20, 2024 21:03:27 GMT pearo said:

The reason we lack fitness is that Super Jon employed the physio who was there when he was a player, unfortunately that physio is from the old school philosophy. When we get to 2 games a week over the winter months we will have numerous muscular injuries.

When was this?
I understood Schumacher brought his Plymouth fitness coach with him. If Walters appointed someone on Wednesday he hardly had time to get them fit in two days.

[hoppo96]

Problem with blaming the players is we must have got through 120 odd by now since relegation, we can't just be uniquely signing unfit players.

[Marc01]

Thought that we appointed Matt Bickley as the fitness coach just before Alex Neil departed, but according to this he’s Head of Sports Science:

trainingground.guru/articles/west-broms-bickley-appointed-head-of-sport-science-at-stoke

So who was the fitness coach prior to Elliot Turner’s arrival from Plymouth (a little while after SS)?

Turner has now gone:

trainingground.guru/articles/pelach-names-new-backroom-staff-at-stoke-city

Only one member of staff from SS team remains:

www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stoke-city-coach-darren-behcet-9571143.amp

So it seems that we’re a fitness coach down unless Bickley is doing the job?

[nottsover60]

Sept 22, 2024 7:03:56 GMT questionable said:

I don’t think that the fitness levels are an issue, we’re just a poorly assembled squad yet again with kids expecting to be seasoned professionals.

Managed recently by two very young very inexperienced managers

It most definitely was an issue on Friday. They were shattered after 30 minutes and five minutes into the second half Narcis was waving his arms to indicate they needed to raise their energy levels. 

We only played one kid from the start - Koumas

[thebasfordhedgehog]

The players are too busy playing darts and pool all the time.

Need to spend more time in the gym.

CW reminds me of Butlin’s Skegness Resort.

[femark]

They've not been used to that style of press. Neil and Schumacher only pressed at certain times whereas this guy clearly wants a hard press from the front and only drop into a block if the opposition have progressed into the final third. 

...unless that was just the plan for Hull and he adapts it for other teams. 

[monsoonmoon]

Twatting it long with an hopeful ball and then chasing lost causes was probably the underlying fitness issue on Friday. They did plenty of hard running but the majority of it was unintelligent and unsustainable.