[Albion] The Hardest Working Midfield in the League

[jeremy fisher]

Interesting stats here from a BBC article.

Suggests our midfield work harder than any other team (in distance covered at least!) with Gross, Stephens and Propper all in the top 10.



Lots of other interesting stats in the article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41791338

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Means they'll be knackered come seasons end.

 

[golddene]

Means they'll be knackered come seasons end.

Hope you are right and not Garth C. Who said they'll be knackered by January!!!

 

[Mellotron]

Means they'll be knackered come seasons end.

This is a concern.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I seem to remember CH saying that the fitness coaches try to get our squad to their peak fitness for the last third of the season. If that's so, those stats are even more amazing.

(Be happier when Kayal, Sidwell and Baldock are back to full fitness though)

 

[Jim D]

I seem to remember CH saying that the fitness coaches try to get our squad to their peak fitness for the last third of the season. If that's so, those stats are even more amazing.

(Be happier when Kayal, Sidwell and Baldock are back to full fitness though)

I think that the fitness levels are easier to maintain while we're only playing one game per week. Later next month, though, we start to play two per week and that goes on until Feb.

 

[Gazwag]

Means they'll be knackered come seasons end.

That's fine they will have the summer to recover

Only playing one a week and having international breaks every other week has enabled the team to stay fit at the moment

 

[Papa Lazarou]

That's fine they will have the summer to recover

Only playing one a week and having international breaks every other week has enabled the team to stay fit at the moment

I know Pro football is tough, but surely even 2 games a week is achievable with modern recovery methods, improved nutrition and sympathetic training regimes. It's not like they have a day job to hold down as well.

 

[Common as Mook]

That's fine they will have the summer to recover

Only playing one a week and having international breaks every other week has enabled the team to stay fit at the moment

Less games than the Championship as well. More games played on Sundays / Mondays so longer recovery periods in between games

 

[larus]

I know Pro football is tough, but surely even 2 games a week is achievable with modern recovery methods, improved nutrition and sympathetic training regimes. It's not like they have a day job to hold down as well.

Fully agree.

I find that the more regularly I train, the better my fitness levels are and the easier I find training and I'm in my 50's. These are guys who should be much fitter than me (after all, this is their job and I do a full-time job and fit training around that), are much younger and should therefore be recovering within 48 hours.

What may impact them more than fitness is minor injuries which they don't get the time to let the body fully repair.

Lets put 120 km in perspective. That's 120km over 10 games. 12km per game. 8km per hour. When I go to the gym, I run on the treadmill between 13k-15k/hour. Usually do about 6-7km followed by weights/stretching. I'll do this 3-5 time per week, so my total distance is say 25k per week.

This is not going to 'wear them out'. If it does, then they're in the wrong profession.

I get it playing 2 games over 3 days will impact you - but one game per week. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Fully agree.

I find that the more regularly I train, the better my fitness levels are and the easier I find training and I'm in my 50's. These are guys who should be much fitter than me (after all, this is their job and I do a full-time job and fit training around that), are much younger and should therefore be recovering within 48 hours.

What may impact them more than fitness is minor injuries which they don't get the time to let the body fully repair.

Lets put 120 km in perspective. That's 120km over 10 games. 12km per game. 8km per hour. When I go to the gym, I run on the treadmill between 13k-15k/hour. Usually do about 6-7km followed by weights/stretching. I'll do this 3-5 time per week, so my total distance is say 25k per week.

This is not going to 'wear them out'. If it does, then they're in the wrong profession.

I get it playing 2 games over 3 days will impact you - but one game per week. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

And we have a squad of 25 plus 3 U23 players. We should have cover in every position (and when Sidwell, Kayal & Baldock are back we will have in most).

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Think it goes some way to explaining why they sometimes look knackered by the 80th minute or so. Having Kayal back as an option to boost the legs in midfield will be handy from that perspective.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

I often wonder if we'd be better suited to playing Stephens a bit deeper and then having Gross and Propper playing closer together in a 3. I think a classic 4-3-3 would suit us really well and it would leave more room for Knockaert and Izquierdo/March to cut in and do their damage. At the moment the magnificent Gross isn't getting on the ball as much as we'd like him to and the wingers are often finding him in their space. If he were to drop a bit deeper his running might add more value and give us more spaces to work with.

The only downside is that it could leave Murray/Hemed more isolated through the middle.

 

[Nixonator]

I often wonder if we'd be better suited to playing Stephens a bit deeper and then having Gross and Propper playing closer together in a 3. I think a classic 4-3-3 would suit us really well and it would leave more room for Knockaert and Izquierdo/March to cut in and do their damage. At the moment the magnificent Gross isn't getting on the ball as much as we'd like him to and the wingers are often finding him in their space. If he were to drop a bit deeper his running might add more value and give us more spaces to work with.

The only downside is that it could leave Murray/Hemed more isolated through the middle.

His position (Gross) would then become more rigid and he wouldn't pop up on the wing as he frequently does now overloading a side, and as you said, would isolate our striker even moreso.

The way our 10, or false-10 whatever you want to call it, is able to freely move around the pitch is one of our greatest strengths at the moment with his ability to deliver.

 

[jeremyfisher]

I often wonder if we'd be better suited to playing Stephens a bit deeper and then having Gross and Propper playing closer together in a 3. I think a classic 4-3-3 would suit us really well and it would leave more room for Knockaert and Izquierdo/March to cut in and do their damage. At the moment the magnificent Gross isn't getting on the ball as much as we'd like him to and the wingers are often finding him in their space. If he were to drop a bit deeper his running might add more value and give us more spaces to work with.

The only downside is that it could leave Murray/Hemed more isolated through the middle.

I'm so happy with 11th in the table that I don't think I'd change anything at the moment!

 

[Ninja Elephant]

His position (Gross) would then become more rigid and he wouldn't pop up on the wing as he frequently does now overloading a side, and as you said, would isolate our striker even moreso.

The way our 10, or false-10 whatever you want to call it, is able to freely move around the pitch is one of our greatest strengths at the moment with his ability to deliver.

But if it created more space for the wingers, it could do more damage and then allow Propper to show more than he's currently showing us. He's not making any runs into the box at all, and certainly isn't threatening either to score or create a goal. Gross played a bit deeper for Ingolstadt and was dangerous in the extreme.

I'm so happy with 11th in the table that I don't think I'd change anything at the moment!

It's always easy to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"... but we weren't broken the season we came 3rd, and we strengthened. Didn't do us too badly then! But ultimately we'd all take 11th, however we were to get there.

 

[AZ Gull]

I think that the fitness levels are easier to maintain while we're only playing one game per week. Later next month, though, we start to play two per week and that goes on until Feb.

Not quite sure what fixture list you are looking at, but that isn't what the one I'm looking at says.

We have 4 league matches in November; 4 in January and 3 in February. The only month that is "heavy" is December, with 7 league matches.

I've ignored FA Cup fixtures as we are likely to see wholesale changes for those games anyway.

 

[NooBHA]

I think coming up from the Championship helps as the amount of games to play is less than last year although not sure how many League and Cup games Propper and Gross played last year in the Dutch and German Leagues

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Fully agree.

I find that the more regularly I train, the better my fitness levels are and the easier I find training and I'm in my 50's. These are guys who should be much fitter than me (after all, this is their job and I do a full-time job and fit training around that), are much younger and should therefore be recovering within 48 hours.

What may impact them more than fitness is minor injuries which they don't get the time to let the body fully repair.

Lets put 120 km in perspective. That's 120km over 10 games. 12km per game. 8km per hour. When I go to the gym, I run on the treadmill between 13k-15k/hour. Usually do about 6-7km followed by weights/stretching. I'll do this 3-5 time per week, so my total distance is say 25k per week.

This is not going to 'wear them out'. If it does, then they're in the wrong profession.

I get it playing 2 games over 3 days will impact you - but one game per week. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

There's been a bit of a debate on the 'Running' thread about how quick a footballer would be over 5k. The consensus is that they'd struggle to beat 18 minutes. I beg to differ and think they'd be able to do this sort of time but it's an interesting 'fitness' question.

 

[Dick Head]

Means they'll be knackered come seasons end.

Hope you are right and not Garth C. Who said they'll be knackered by January!!!

This is a concern.

They will be ready for a holiday come seasons end.