I don't know the answer, and I'm not going to try to pretend I do, but it seems obvious to me that other sides are physically stronger and have greater stamina. This isn't down to Grant, because we looked just as knackered under Zola, so what is going on?
Why does Noble look like his boots are made of lead in the final third of the game? Why can't Cole manage two games in a week? Why do wide open spaces appear from back to front game, after game, after game, no matter who are the opponents?
Is it attitude? I don't think so, given Noble is part of the problem. Some question his ability, but I don't think even his greatest critic would question the guy's heart. Personally, I think he has too much upper body strength, he has spent too much time building upper body muscle toning and, as a result, his legs and lungs struggle to get him through 90 minutes.
Look at the rugby boys yesterday. Sixty minutes into the game, these man mountains looked physically drained. They need the muscle of course, but I wonder if it is perhaps counter productive for footballers. Why do they need all this upper body bulk exactly?
But then I said I wouldn't try to explain it, and here I am trying to do so! So, I don't know. I'm not a fitness coach and, although I'm 100% heterosexual, you're more likely to find me in a Jim than a Gym, so I'm utterly unqualified to comment.
I do, however, have eyes and I can see that other teams are fitter, stronger, quicker and have more stamina. Anybody got any ideas why?
16 comments:
Optimising physical ability is about pacing yourself so that you optimise your physical capacity over the duration of the race or game or whatever. When you are under achieving there is a tendency to try too hard in the early part of your exercise and leave yourself depleted for the last part of your exertion.
We had theoretically addressed this problem by bringing in Antonio Pintus. I don't know whether he was found wanting but I believe his regime headed south as part of the cost cutting measures!
kevin in manchester writes
I think it is simply down to poor conditioning and not training for football. although there has been a lot of hoo-haa in the last ten years about how footballers pay attention to diet and we have all these conditioing coaches now at clubs etc .. in fact football in this country is still quite old fashioned and out of touch. You are quite right the key is to be football fit and not just generally fit. I have mentioned before on this site that I have had quite a lot of contact with GB cycling and they have told me although plenty of football managers come and have a look see what they do - they just don't get it or follow it up , only two Fergie and Alladyce.. apparently have fully taken on board the lessons about being sport specific fit - so they say, and I can believe it. The only way we the fans can judge if they are getting it right is by what we see on the pitch and you are quite right its niggles and gasps all the way. Just one more example of how west ham united as a club have consistently been behind the times when it comes to addressing those small margins of improvement that are the difference between winning and losing. incedentally if any of you out there coach junior football there's a classic book - written in the 90's but almost a bible in Europe but largely ignored here called Football Fitness by a danish prof called jens bangsbo from university of Copenhagen.It's brilliant. One of the players he observed and tested in coming up with his thoughts was ex hammer Mark Rieper- what we would give to have the likes of him back in our defence now!
Jens Bangs Bo? Copenhagen productions? I had a peep at that Kev but in my opinion it's not a patch on Jens bangs the seven dwarfs!
Let's leave davefking out of this mate or he will be sending a letter to Blogspot!
LOL. I see quite a few of the old faces have been making the odd appearance though. Nice to see OSP and the Rev making an occasional contribution, I wonder what happened to old Salty, I miss him!
True, true. But the old vibrancy still isn't there is it?
I wasn't talking about there, I was talking about here! Last time I looked in there, there was a resigntion speech from a dodo! No I don't bother anymore, I miss the format but not the content.
Oh right! Yeah, shame I can't embed the same format in here. Perhaps my mate Stani can get working on that one! Hint. Hint!
I think its a combination of poor conditioning and just general lax match preparation. I guarantee our boys dont have a plan for all 90 mins so they exude extra energy in panic.
Can't be cause of Nobles upper body.There are planty of bigger,more muscular players than him who don't seem to struggle.What can he be,9 or 10 stone?You absolutely cannot compare rugby with football with the physical contact in rugby.Anyone who has played both sports at any level will tell you that,let alone international level.Those lads are SUPREMELY fit,I can assure you of that.I would like to think the problem with us is purely psycological.When you're off form and playing badly you lack the spring in the step of a team who are playing well.Hopefully there is nothing more to it than that and the last couple of games have been much more promising.The test will be tomorrow against Birmingham.Each time we have played them this season our second half display has been unexplainably bad compared to the first.I think the new faces will make a big difference and I'm confident we'll beat them.
The way Birmingham came at us in the second half of second leg of the cup semi final was amazing, they made it look as though we were standing still. I can remember commenting 'Christ are they on something'Unfortunately its not only them, a lot of teams are obviously far stronger than us in the second half, and its easy to see that their continuing pressure will result in us giving a goal away and we do.Most of our players don't even look as fit, strong and up for it as the opposition. I am sure it is down to the club's training methods, because a lot of new signings over the years have appeared very fit on arrival but deteriorate very soon after being at the club for a few months
Lol Marty and Fanno won't be joining the Org away day then?
I dont think it's our general fitness regime HF or we would see the likes of Cole, Parker, Behrami and Boa feeling it too but they keep going.
I would put some of it down to fear of failure. It's been signature West Ham since I can remember. We take the lead and then we drop back and defend. No one wants to play the 1-2 and make the run 'in case'. No one trusts his team mate 'in case'. They freeze and stop playing.
Other than that, I haven't really noticed us dropping our intensity markedly due to fitness concerns.
In the case of Noble...it's just the way he physically is. Some people are just built like that. Look at Gary Neville. We have Giggs and Scholes still going but his fitness went on the downward drastically and he had to retire.
Too much muscle (especially upper body) is counter productive though. Bruce Lee didnt over-do his biceps because he believed it slowed down his punching speed. For a guy renown for the one inch punch, he must know what he was talking about. He concentrated more...quite a lot actually, on his forearm.
I hear Iain's changing his name to Jim. Don't know why.
LOL If I was that way inclined, I would prefer a Gym to THAT Jim!
Yeh, rugby players like the Australian fatso Matt Dunning are the epitome of physical, athletic perfection.
You're slightly incorrect about upper body strength, HF. I'm a marathon runner, and I find that I need upper body strength, especially core, back, and arms to get through the gruelling 42 KM in good nick. But you're right that not TOO much upper body is needed by the midfielders and wingers. El Martilo is right that optimisation is the key. Difficult when you are bottom of the league, for all the reasons mentioned. One other point: optimism, winning, belief in your self, confidence -- all these things seem miraculously to banish fatigue and even to work against lactic acid, dehydration and cramp. One marathon when I lost confidence, I could barely even jog over the line -- even though I was in the fittest condition of my life. Another when I felt great and happy but wasn't nearly as fit, -- well, that was my best performance ever.
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