Blind Hammer looks at the training challenges Moyes will face.
The publicity following David Moyes appointment has focussed on the revolution in intensity he and his team will bring to training. Sergeant Major Moyes alongside Drill Sergeants Pearce, Irvine and McKinley are presented as the “hard men” who will brook no slackers and wrought a transformation in fitness.
Nobody could, now, argue that fitness was not an issue under Bilic’s team. Too many players revealed that training was too relaxed after they departed. The evidence of running stats and the visible, proof of players jogging rather than sprinting to cover during recent games was a damning indictment.
However the capacity of Moyes’ to transform our squad through a fitness regime is vastly overblown. New standards of fitness will be a long rather than a short term fix. Moyes reflected that he has only been able to work with 8 first team players during this International break. More importantly when the squad finally re-assembles for the Watford game we will undertake a period of fixture congestions which will provide the biggest fitness challenge of the season. Little if any time will be available to rebuild fitness.
Starting with the game on the 19th November we will play 11 fixtures in 42 days, averaging a game every 3.9 days. The opener against Watford will be followed closely by games against Leicester and Everton. Then we will be hard into what some are describing as nil points December. We will play Arsenal in both cup and league, alongside games against Manchester city, Chelsea and Tottenham. Less daunting challenges will be provided by Stoke, Newcastle and Bournemouth.
Moyes has, then, the worst period of the season to work on fitness. Of the 42 days 33 will be unavailable for intense training. These are the 11 match days, the 11 post match recovery days, and the 11 pre match light training session. This leaves 9 days out of which we will have to remove days spent travelling to Watford, Liverpool (Everton), Manchester Stoke and Bournemouth. This leaves a maximum of 4 days, probably less, in these 42 days where anything like intense training could be considered. This also assumes that players get no leave apart from recovery days, an unlikely scenario over the Christmas period.
In reality there will be no opportunity for any boot camp style fitness program. So expecting Moyes to wave immediate fitness magic over the squad is unrealistic in the extreme.
Practically the weeks ahead will focus on injury recovery and injury management. Gary Lewin and his medical team will be busier in ensuring fitness than Moyes, Pearce et al.
What Moyes can and probably will do is identify a cohort of players who will not make the 11 on any match day and work with those more intensively. Those who are to be substitutes on the day can also have their preparation slightly stepped up, though there are risks associated with the need for an early substitution. In contrast those who are not to be involved at all can be subjected to greater intensity. In this way the hope could be that when they are eventually called upon they will demonstrate more fitness for purpose.
So, an immediate physical fitness transformation for key players is unlikely. Nevertheless opportunities for improvement persist. Moyes and his team can crucially improve mental capability. Increased tactical awareness and organisation are nowadays facilitated through video analysis. Players are taken through real life game examples of not only what they did badly but what they did well. Improved organisation, decision making, game management and tactical consciousness, are all aspects of the game which can be studied even if a player is injured. It is in this area of mental strength and confidence that Moyes and his team can drive improvement over the next season defining weeks.
We must hope that they are up for this challenge.
COYI
David Griffith