Fitness

[Flin5tone]

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?

[wittonwarrior]

It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing

[Des Little]

I'd say physical and mental strength need looking at.  We were massively lacking in both yesterday, and to some degree against West Ham.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

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.

[Drummond]

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.

[Bad English]

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.

[Scovilla]

Mc Ginn is the perfect example. He almost disappeared in west Ham second half.

[aj2k77]

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.

[Mister E]

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?

[Drummond]

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.

[oldham_villa]

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.

[eamonn]

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.

[Pete3206]

It’s the one aspect of our play apart from that useless lump up front that I would agree needs reviewing

Harsh

[paul_e]

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.

[Hookeysmith]

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