Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine

Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Flin5tone on September 23, 2019, 09:00:54 AM

Title: Fitness
Post by: Flin5tone on September 23, 2019, 09:00:54 AM
Seeing people question the fitness of the team but this is not the first time, this has happened under different regimes it seems we can't last 90 minutes.

What are they feeding them down at Bodymoor?
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: wittonwarrior on September 23, 2019, 09:04:09 AM
It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Des Little on September 23, 2019, 11:30:51 AM
I'd say physical and mental strength need looking at.  We were massively lacking in both yesterday, and to some degree against West Ham.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Marlon From Bearwood on September 23, 2019, 11:31:22 AM
Some of our players did look knackered towards the end which is worrying. At 2-1 up, Jack  played in Trezeguet for a decent chance but his shot straight at the keeper was a classic tired shot, when your legs have gone.

McGinn also hinted at fitness issues post match.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Drummond on September 23, 2019, 11:44:25 AM
I wonder if it's mental fatigue affecting physical performance as they are still trying to gel as a team, though that should be getting easier with every game.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Bad English on September 23, 2019, 11:45:04 AM
You will remember that John Terry, when he played for Chelsea and they had just beaten us, said that they had noticed that Villa always tire on 70 minutes and had based their game plan on it or something.

1. It still seems to be happening
2. You'd think (hope) he'd have been onto this as a member of our staff.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Scovilla on September 23, 2019, 11:52:53 AM
Mc Ginn is the perfect example. He almost disappeared in west Ham second half.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: aj2k77 on September 23, 2019, 12:02:31 PM
We seemed to do alright last season scoring late goals and not being out on our arses.. Not holding on to the ball and dropping too deep is the problem.  By and large we didn't in the Championship because we were the better side, in this division we aren't. We need to keep hold of the ball better.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Mister E on September 23, 2019, 01:33:41 PM
It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing
the guy who scored, you mean?
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Drummond on September 23, 2019, 02:25:46 PM
It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing
the guy who scored, you mean?

1 in 3 ratio so far... goals against Everton and Arsenal.

Yeah, that useless lump.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: oldham_villa on September 23, 2019, 05:42:54 PM
We forget the old adage of making the ball do the work. Just watch us early in the games, we run our bollocks off, sprinting here and there. That is unsustainable, as is proven.

Perhaps if we used the ball better we'd have more legs, and also be able to work it around 10 men with more ease.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: eamonn on September 23, 2019, 08:56:48 PM
Yeah, that playing out from the back, taking free kicks as quickly as possible and pressing as soon as we give the ball away all takes its toll.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Pete3206 on September 23, 2019, 08:58:52 PM
It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing

Harsh
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: paul_e on September 23, 2019, 11:39:52 PM
Agree with a few above, it's not down to fitness, I suspect if you got this bunch of players doing fitness tests many of them would be off the charts. The problems are that we mentally 'wilt' and we spend so much of the game chasing after the ball that we've just done more running than the opposition, and it shows. There don't seem to be any distance covered stats for this season just yet but I fully expect Jack, McGinn and Freddie to all be through the roof.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Hookeysmith on September 24, 2019, 02:00:59 PM
I am fortunate to see the players close up during warm up and some parts of the match and when you see in close proximity how quickly footballers can move the ball instinctively and play themselves out of the tightest of spots no wonder players are shattered chasing them around all game.

This is even more noticeable in the premiership as well as the physical attributes of almost every player. Even our players have mentioned it as a factor several times.

Add into that the "game play" that teams adopt to win games or to see them out then it is clear we have much to learn and quickly
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Pat McMahon on September 24, 2019, 02:47:40 PM
You will remember that John Terry, when he played for Chelsea and they had just beaten us, said that they had noticed that Villa always tire on 70 minutes and had based their game plan on it or something.

1. It still seems to be happening
2. You'd think (hope) he'd have been onto this as a member of our staff.

I remember him saying that after the 7-1 in March 2010, during which the barman in the Blarney Stone in Shanghai asked why I didn't change teams.

I pointed out Terry had not used the same argument when we had beaten them 2-0 at Villa Park the previous October.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: Bobby Boy on September 24, 2019, 04:38:26 PM
I don't think that it is fitness so much as the formation that we've chosen to adopt. By playing with 2 wingers we are leaving big gaps in the centre of the park. The midfielders have so much to do to try to plug the gaps that it isn't surprising if they tire.

It is noticeable how easy we are to play through even with 11 v 10.

Maybe if we are more compact, plug the centre more, have our midfielders closer together we can start controlling games more and tiredness and fatigue should be less of an issue.

the formation rather than fitness levels is what i think has cost us so far.
Title: Re: Fitness
Post by: mallo on September 24, 2019, 06:08:57 PM
I don't think that it is fitness so much as the formation that we've chosen to adopt. By playing with 2 wingers we are leaving big gaps in the centre of the park. The midfielders have so much to do to try to plug the gaps that it isn't surprising if they tire.

It is noticeable how easy we are to play through even with 11 v 10.

Maybe if we are more compact, plug the centre more, have our midfielders closer together we can start controlling games more and tiredness and fatigue should be less of an issue.

the formation rather than fitness levels is what i think has cost us so far.

I thought that but this image of our player positions doesn't bear that out - I think we play too deep. Arsenal played very high, but they were at home.

(https://i.ibb.co/xqJjj7w/2019-09-24-18-06-31-Arsenal-3-2-Aston-Villa-Premier-League-2019-2020-Match-Report.png) (https://ibb.co/zVGRR4C)

edit: I've learned how to show the images as well.
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