Professional athletes

[MadDad38]

Amongst all the reasons for our crapness, I just can’t believe that our two goalscoring threats ie Hamer & Campbell do not put in the conditioning work required to last a 90 minute game of football.

In worldwide terms, the championship is in the elite level of football. United pays commensurate salaries. Yet in working week terms these two effectively clock off midway through Wednesday afternoon. Every single game. Imagine doing that in your job….

Why can’t our two best players be professional enough to be at 100% - or close to it - for the full match?

 

[Northernsoulblade]

Unfortunately neither can do 90 minutes and they are our main men doesn’t bode well not sure they are unfit though more can’t be arsed

 

[BerksBlade]

Fairly sure Gus did 90 minutes on Saturday

 

[bibbity bobbity boo]

Gus has played 90 minutes every match he's started this season bar 1.

 

[raimond]

Aye I'd agree but the fact most here are writing on a football forum whilst at work doesn't suggest we're best placed to answer this one.

 

[Northernsoulblade]

Gus has played 90 minutes every match he's started this season bar 1.

View attachment 223244

I stand corrected

 

[Northernsoulblade]

I stand corrected

He’s been on the pitch but a shadow of last years player so far I hope he gets back to it

 

[jaybee]

I'm not sure what people expect from Gus in the formation we're playing with the mentality we have

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Aye I'd agree but the fact most here are writing on a football forum whilst at work doesn't suggest we're best placed to answer this one.

I dont work Mondays so ill comment.

Fitness has been an issue at the club for some time.

From innocuous Injuries that take months or Injuries that mean season/career ending that we are silent about, we then don't help ourselves by signing players who are perma injured Hi Tom, Shacks and Ings, seemingly we dont do proper medicals

To the two mentioned above amongst others Gus may have played 90 but hes fucked like Campbell generally after an hour.

It is totally unacceptable.

 

[FriethBlade]

I think Gus is mostly ol. Looks a bit like Gazza build wise but is quicker and fitter than his physique would have people believe.

Campbell on the other hand looks like hes terrified his hamstrings will tear at any minute. The only time he puts a big effort in is when hes chasing a through ball. If u watch him the rest of the time he runs very straight legged to avoid stretching his hammys. Hes one reason our press is ineffective as he cant move fast to close defenders down

 

[bakeblade]

I dont work Mondays so ill comment.

Fitness has been an issue at the club for some time.

From innocuous Injuries that take months or Injuries that mean season/career ending that we are silent about, we then don't help ourselves by signing players who are perma injured Hi Tom, Shacks and Ings, seemingly we dont do proper medicals

To the two mentioned above amongst others Gus may have played 90 but hes fucked like Campbell generally after an hour.

It is totally unacceptable.

As well as a lack of fitness, the lack of desire is also concerning.
A good example was Ogbene's pathetic amble back to mark their goalscorer on Saturday, he then compounded this by turning his back on the ball.
Hopefully CW will roast him for this in the match review

 

[TJ blade]

I dont work Mondays so ill comment.

Fitness has been an issue at the club for some time.

From innocuous Injuries that take months or Injuries that mean season/career ending that we are silent about, we then don't help ourselves by signing players who are perma injured Hi Tom, Shacks and Ings, seemingly we dont do proper medicals

To the two mentioned above amongst others Gus may have played 90 but hes fucked like Campbell generally after an hour.

It is totally unacceptable.

Like you said, fitness ( or lack of it!) as been an issue for years at the lane, window after window bringing players in knowing theve got a record of injuries as long as your arm, basically because theve gambled on them & are relatively cheap! Same owd! Nowt changes, Wilder will probably do the same in the January window as well, hoping again that it will bring better results! It's the definition of insanity!!

 

[Houston_Blade]

In fairness to Hamer, he plays 90 mins most games. He just tails off after 60/70 mins frequently, but then we do as a team on the whole.

On the broader issue, I think there are 2 in play here:

1) General lack of strength and conditioning across the squad - This has been evident for years, I’d say the last time we were ‘fit’ as a team was 2016-2019 under CW MK1.

2) Injuries and availability - We seem to have a fetish for ‘rough diamonds’ when it comes to buying players. This means that they join us way below the peak fitness levels that are required for a full season (or a full game for some!). Our top individual performers over the last season or 2 have included Campbell, Souttar, Cooper etc. all were brought in with a sketchy availability stats in previous seasons but we took a punt. This season we have Mee & Ings as well as Davies. Last season we had Holding. All are good footballers with a lack of match fitness and seeming lack of ability to stay fit.

If they’re coming to us as maximum 60 minute footballers then we don’t have the ability to improve them. Some players are just made like this unfortunately and we seem to be drawn to them.

Even the likes of Mousset, McBurnie and Brewster, who we spent a chunk of cash on had poor records in this respect and we didn’t seem to be able to change them.

Either we have a systemic problem or we are fishing in the wrong pond.

 

[Bladesman]

Aye I'd agree but the fact most here are writing on a football forum whilst at work doesn't suggest we're best placed to answer this one.

A mid afternoon wank on a Monday is work.

 

[KMC-1889]

Agree with most of that, but I’d say we did look to be fit under Heckingbottom (N’Diaye couldn’t get through 60 mins when he first came in), but players would pick up endless muscle strains. Our low intensity training seems to be based on stopping that happening but we’ve now lost all our conditioning.

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

Amongst all the reasons for our crapness, I just can’t believe that our two goalscoring threats ie Hamer & Campbell do not put in the conditioning work required to last a 90 minute game of football.

In worldwide terms, the championship is in the elite level of football. United pays commensurate salaries. Yet in working week terms these two effectively clock off midway through Wednesday afternoon. Every single game. Imagine doing that in your job….

Why can’t our two best players be professional enough to be at 100% - or close to it - for the full match?

The part I struggle with is how do the players not get in the right condition?

What I mean by that is that the club must be monitoring their fitness levels and weight in minute detail.

How many days a week do they train (with the club), which I assume varies, and what conditioning work are they doing.

 

[54yrblade]

The problem that blighted us all last season. Not fit enough to go anywhere near 90+.

And here we are. Still.

Woeful.

 

[Carlton Blade]

"You, do all the attacking while we leave everyone else back. Be explosive, but also run constantly"

"Why are you so tired"

We expect our attacking players to work in isolation, often against multiple defenders. Neither of them is a world class athlete but we expect endless sprints from them both.

 

[Tom Bott]

I stand corrected

Social media is about opinions - not facts - FACT.

 

[Houston_Blade]

The part I struggle with is how do the players not get in the right condition?

What I mean by that is that the club must be monitoring their fitness levels and weight in minute detail.

How many days a week do they train (with the club), which I assume varies, and what conditioning work are they doing.

They’ll also be getting a calorie counted breakfast and dinner at the club a minimum of 3 days a week and more during weeks with 1 game only. Some of them must be going home and smashing Haribo, Dairy Milk, Beer and Fast Food every night.

 

[Tom Bott]

Back in the 1970's players used to play every game of the season and 90 minutes of every game.

Only two substitutes were allowed.

Now we have 5 substitutes allowed, as forward players are expected to exert more, therefore need substituting they tire.

All the players wear sports bra's which provide information in real time regarding heart rate, acceleration time and others allowing sideline staff to see who is tiring and may need substituting.

 

[Bladedog]

Makes me laugh wilder coming back saying players not fit..we were blowing out our arses under his regime last year ..

 

[bladesince64]

Honestly think Wilder will start cracking down on the shirkers and the wasters very soon.

He cant rip into anybody whilever we're struggling for confidence and fitness etc.

His patience though will only last a limited amount of time.

Some of the newer players are gonna get a very rude awakening.

 

[TJ blade]

Makes me laugh wilder coming back saying players not fit..we were blowing out our arses under his regime last year ..

Wembley springs to mind, 60mins all blowing out of there arses again!

 

[PrestwichBlade]

Honestly think Wilder will start cracking down on the shirkers and the wasters very soon.

He cant rip into anybody whilever we're struggling for confidence and fitness etc.

His patience though will only last a limited amount of time.

Some of the newer players are gonna get a very rude awakening.

From what I've seen, it ain't the newer ones struggling!

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

They’ll also be getting a calorie counted breakfast and dinner at the club a minimum of 3 days a week and more during weeks with 1 game only. Some of them must be going home and smashing Haribo, Dairy Milk, Beer and Fast Food every night.

Yes, but even eating a load of shit shouldn't undo all the fitness work.

The players must get weighed regularly, and athletes must "need" anywhere from 4000 calories a day+

 

[54yrblade]

The 2016 - 19 team didn't have any fitness problems. They ran their legs to water until they won a match while simultaneously dishing out a fair amount of physical battery to opposition players along the way.

They were recruited from the lower leagues, so it's a fair question to ask 'what the hell happened and how much of the 100's of millions quid we have seen go through the club from our short time in the PL has been wasted in terms of supposed 'sports & conditioning?'

One for the management and coaching team to answer? Could have been a valid point to raise in a structured interview.

Had an interesting chat with a PNE fan this afternoon. They think it's hilarious that Hecky and Macca are there and we're stuck with CW. Those two are held in high regard over there apparently.

 

[Nick Jansky]

All the players wear sports bra's which provide information in real time regarding heart rate, acceleration time and others allowing sideline staff to see who is tiring and may need substituting.

At least two of our players wear them primarily as bras. The sports science stuff is incidental.

 

[CornwallBlade]

I'm not sure what people expect from Gus in the formation we're playing with the mentality we have

This, he's the classic Wilder plan A - just as Ndiaye. Hope to christ he scores…..

 

[Nick Jansky]

This, he's the classic Wilder plan A - just as Ndiaye. Hope to christ he scores…..

Ndiaye wasn’t any sort of plan for Wilder. He hardly played under him.