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Is the squad over-training?

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,147
Probably. It's all well and good when it's working well, but once the motivation goes it must be a real chore, especially when you just know some players will be thinking they can be earning the same or more elsewhere for half the effort.
 

TasSpur

Active Member
Aug 31, 2012
61
217
I have a theory and its a very optimistic theory. We haven't been pressing. Surely that instruction has come from Poch. We only really did it against City and we were excellent that game. My theory is that Poch is doing this to avoid an end of season burn out and as a result of so many involved in the Euros last summer. He is trying to keep us competitive until January (we are only 3 points off the top). He will then ramp up the training, turn on the full gegenpress and we will come home at a gallop, winning the league and the FA Cup. I know. It is optimistic. I am going for a lie down...
 

Tottenham_God

Well-Known Member
Nov 6, 2011
2,935
5,617
I have a theory and its a very optimistic theory. We haven't been pressing. Surely that instruction has come from Poch. We only really did it against City and we were excellent that game. My theory is that Poch is doing this to avoid an end of season burn out and as a result of so many involved in the Euros last summer. He is trying to keep us competitive until January (we are only 3 points off the top). He will then ramp up the training, turn on the full gegenpress and we will come home at a gallop, winning the league and the FA Cup. I know. It is optimistic. I am going for a lie down...
Go on son, have a lie down. An erection that big would give anyone a headache.
 

beats1

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2010
30,006
29,551
Probably. It's all well and good when it's working well, but once the motivation goes it must be a real chore, especially when you just know some players will be thinking they can be earning the same or more elsewhere for half the effort.
This is the reason why Pep Guardiola wont stay at a club more than 3 seasons as he saw at barca, the motivation went and the players stop responding to his instructions
 

glospur

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2015
2,608
9,806
No one here works within the club so no one can answer that question with any certainty or conviction.
 

Gaz_Gammon

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2005
16,047
18,013
No we are not over-training. We just have a squad that is simply too young and inexperienced, with no leader on the pitch.

Thats a combination set up to fail. That should have been seen by Poch up at Newcastle and a World class player or two brought in the summer.

Instead we spunked nearly fifty million on a Championship player and striker from one of the weakest leagues in Europe. We also took an eternity to apparantly sign good bench warmer who hasn't been given any game time.

Something isn't right, and some of the signings defy logic.
 

idontgetit

Well-Known Member
Aug 21, 2011
14,404
30,804
No we are not over-training. We just have a squad that is simply too young and inexperienced, with no leader on the pitch.

Thats a combination set up to fail. That should have been seen by Poch up at Newcastle and a World class player or two brought in the summer.

Instead we spunked nearly fifty million on a Championship player and striker from one of the weakest leagues in Europe. We also took an eternity to apparantly sign good bench warmer who hasn't been given any game time.

Something isn't right, and some of the signings defy logic.

There are leaders on the pitch, albeit very inexperienced ones. I just don't buy that line of thinking as being the core problem. The signings yes we were hurt by some poor decisions there but the whole squad is there from last season and still slightly improved upon.

The problem is that we're not dominating the fuck out of teams anymore. We're not playing with fire and intent, pressing the shit out of sides and surging forward. No one has that extra yard of pace or bit of strength that wins the strikers that inch to get a shot off. It looks likes to me they've given so much physically and especially mentally for so long that the team is finding it hard to up it's game
 

Geyzer Soze

Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd
Aug 16, 2010
26,056
63,361
Watching them try to play at the moment it really looks like they're gettin no training - much less being overtrained
 

mattie g

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2007
935
2,168
I have a theory and its a very optimistic theory. We haven't been pressing. Surely that instruction has come from Poch. We only really did it against City and we were excellent that game. My theory is that Poch is doing this to avoid an end of season burn out and as a result of so many involved in the Euros last summer. He is trying to keep us competitive until January (we are only 3 points off the top). He will then ramp up the training, turn on the full gegenpress and we will come home at a gallop, winning the league and the FA Cup. I know. It is optimistic. I am going for a lie down...

I've actually had the same thought. I really do wonder if we're deliberately laying off the press for the time being (unless the situation demands it, e.g. Man City), only to start ramping it up later in the season as other teams tire a bit.

I have no clue if this is true or not, just as no Joe Schmoe fan knows whether or not we're overtraining.
 

CarrickSpurgus

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
622
1,575
I've actually had the same thought. I really do wonder if we're deliberately laying off the press for the time being (unless the situation demands it, e.g. Man City), only to start ramping it up later in the season as other teams tire a bit.

I have no clue if this is true or not, just as no Joe Schmoe fan knows whether or not we're overtraining.
I guess this theory will be put to the test on Saturday, if we press like maniacs then maybe there's something in this.
 

jimmy-jojo

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2004
1,630
1,364
Watching them try to play at the moment it really looks like they're gettin no training - much less being overtrained

Exactly this. Poch even said it a few weeks ago...something along the lines of not being able to train/coach because of the frequency of games there was only time for recovery between each game.
 

shelfboy68

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2008
14,566
19,651
Exactly this. Poch even said it a few weeks ago...something along the lines of not being able to train/coach because of the frequency of games there was only time for recovery between each game.

Still not an excuse for what has been served up so far players don't need training to pass a fucking ball forwards surely, if thats the case then our players are truly fucked.
 

thekneaf

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2011
1,933
3,878
Pointless question, we don't know how much we train, day to day.

We got dumped out because we lost our nerve at the top table. We are a young team, and some of our more experienced players where injured at the wrong time. You need to be in the CL year in, year out to learn these lessons and it's a reason players are desperate to quality. It's only by learning to deal with the pressure that they can flourish.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
Apparently Conte beasted the Chelsea squad in the summer and they are top. Yes, I know no European games has helped them too.

The point is I doubt they've been over trained - but with the Euros and CL there's not been a lot of time to work on specific patterns of play - a lot of it has been rest and recovery once the season has started.
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
12,258
I'm not blaming Wanyama...what he does is great but he is not a better footballer than Dier.

Dier is imo the key to us playing a better football, he has to play DM, on the ball he offers much more than Wanyama and we play better from the back.

As for the training we're not training hard enough. The harder we train the better however it's not all about running our so called technicians haven't turned up this season.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
Apparently Conte beasted the Chelsea squad in the summer and they are top. Yes, I know no European games has helped them too.

The point is I doubt they've been over trained - but with the Euros and CL there's not been a lot of time to work on specific patterns of play - a lot of it has been rest and recovery once the season has started.

Could be something in this. We shouldn't have to work on our plan A - that's pretty set in stone by now. However, now teams seem to have worked us out a bit, maybe we need plan B, C and D, but haven't had the time to implement it sufficiently on the training ground.

Still no excuse for some of the piss poor stuff served up at times, but maybe a reason nonetheless. It's great to have clear philosophy as a team, but the one thing I've said from day one (and back when AVB was here) is that it's great when it's working, but the minute part of it unravels it can fall apart pretty quickly.

A big part of our game is based on intensity, rather than technical prowess and that is difficult to maintain, especially playing hard in multiple competitions. Poch needs to solve it though, because that's what top clubs challenging for trophies need to do on a regular basis. He hasn't been in this position and had his managerial philosophy tested in this way before so I hope he passes the test.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
Exactly this. Poch even said it a few weeks ago...something along the lines of not being able to train/coach because of the frequency of games there was only time for recovery between each game.

Which is utter bollocks because the frequency of games is no different to last season.
We've just gone from Sunday/Thursday to Saturday/Tues/Weds
The only difference is we got further in Europe last season than we will do this season, which would probably explain the burn out, but it doesn't explain or validate shit performances in the PL for the majority of games so far.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
Apparently Conte beasted the Chelsea squad in the summer and they are top. Yes, I know no European games has helped them too.

The point is I doubt they've been over trained - but with the Euros and CL there's not been a lot of time to work on specific patterns of play - a lot of it has been rest and recovery once the season has started.

Conte also realised where his team's issues were after a couple of games and adjusted their shape/formation.
Pochettino has tried a 3-5-2 once, and it worked brilliantly, then went back to what he was more familiar with.
 
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