Whilst some players are clearly not looking right, I actually think that “unfit” is an extremely harsh accusation to put to this team/ squad.
Theres definitely one or two exceptions who’ve perhaps bulked more than they should, but difficult to know without looking at their data to whether this is detrimental to them.
Something that I found really bizarre in the fall out from Wilders dismissal is that the club relieved almost the entire back room of their duties.
One of the great successes of the Wilder era was the fitness of the side. We were never at our peak in august, when some teams came back, but we peaked during the key part of the season either when there was a large number of games (Xmas for example) and the latter part of the season
Matt Prestridge was absolutely vital to this.
Contrary to what some fans like to think, you can be physically at your peak for the 9 months of the season. It can however be managed
The amount of data that the club has collected and collated on each player over the last two seasons will show when they’ve peaked and when they’ve fallen off a cliff.
Two/ three major factors at play for me:
A) we tried to carry on at full tilt during lockdown with wilder wanting the side fully at it for that first game back
B) a small squad got smaller during this season with injuries, players that you’d like to give rest to weren’t able to get it (bash, Egan, fleck, Norwood, Lundstram, Baldock, Steven’s). Plus the new signings weren’t ready for our game (Brewster, Berge, bogle)
C) no proper off season. As much as preseason brings you back towards peaking its just as vital to allow the body to recover for a period of several weeks.
the lockdown, restart, short offseason and then a bizarre season have all contributed to what we see now. The players aren’t so much unfit, but have been pushed to their limits and beyond in some cases.
The drop off from fleck, Norwood, Lundstram and Egan has been so clear. Yes they’re out of form, but they have looked so flat out.
Osbornes energy now looks to be much higher than those around him and it’s certainly been clear from his heat maps that he’s got around the pitch, but we haven’t had enough replacements like him.
If we had another storming season like last year perhaps we’d have seen the players able to raise themselves more.