SC interview on player

[gavlin]

SC comments were "We used a lot of energy on Saturday and I don't feel I've got that strength to make a lot of changes". Going on to say "I've haven't got that luxury and i feel I need to put out my strongest side all the time we need that, but we've got quite a few young players on our bench and the only one with experience and is playing regular is Derek Williams, Kieran Agard has a stop start season"

.Analysing this it shows that the 11 that started at both WBA and Home to Preston will be the starting line up ever match and that substitutions will be limited to 76 minute or later unless a serious injury occurs. 

What is worrying is the board stipulation of trying to sign under 24 year old players with the comments above because I think he is trying to say at the moment we need senior pros of the mould of Wayne Elliott with experience of the championship to see City through to the end of the season. The likes of 20 year old Zach Clough is not for now and Burns and Reid are bit players at present. If he gets his way look to see these more seasoned pros arriving soon and they may have been playing in sides he managed before as Elliott was. 

 

 

[CotswoldRed]

We need to rest as many players as possible next Tuesday. So what if we get a hammering on the telly?

If Cotts does anything else then he's beyond help. 

[iamalagerdrinker]

Wish I got paid half of what they did to play two games a week..

[Phileas Fogg]

2 minutes ago, iamalagerdrinker said:

Wish I got paid half of what they did to play two games a week..

I always think it's very simplistic when people put it like that; it's totally different. This is professional sport, even if a player is 2 or 3% more fatigued as a result of playing twice in a week it's a big disadvantage. Fine margins are basically defining factors in professional sport and playing a glut of matches in quick succession takes its toll.

[CotswoldRed]

1 minute ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I always think it's very simplistic when people put it like that; it's totally different. This is professional sport, even if a player is 2 or 3% more fatigued as a result of playing twice in a week it's a big disadvantage. Fine margins are basically defining factors in professional sport and playing a glut of matches in quick succession takes its toll.

Exactly this. Margins are everything.

Just as an example - Sky Pro Cycling run-in all their chains in advance of fitting to their bikes. The chain with the least resistance goes onto Chris Froome's bike. A tiny fraction of a fraction but it all adds up. 

[Phileas Fogg]

6 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said:

Exactly this. Margins are everything.

Just as an example - Sky Pro Cycling run-in all their chains in advance of fitting to their bikes. The chain with the least resistance goes onto Chris Froome's bike. A tiny fraction of a fraction but it all adds up. 

Think I've read about that before - wasn't it something like it was proven to make 0.00005 of a second of difference to average km time - so was deemed worth it.

[CotswoldRed]

Just now, Phileas Fogg said:

Think I've read about that before - wasn't it something like it was proven to make 0.00005 of a second of difference to average km time - so was deemed worth it.

Can't remember the exact figure. 

The chains that reach Sky are already the best of the bunch too. 

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, iamalagerdrinker said:

Wish I got paid half of what they did to play two games a week..

A lot of us think the same, but £ doesn't mean you become fatigued / stale.

I remember in my early 20s (when I was at my fittest) playing Sat / Wed / Sat for several weeks at the end of the season, because we'd had so many postponements through the winter.  We even played Sat / Tues / Thurs / Sat one of those weeks.

After a while you end up going through the motions, lack that sharpness etc.  I think last night caught up with us, and Preston weren't much sharper either.

I don't buy the argument that with all the technology re fitness etc that players ought to be able to play twice every week repetitively, (Harry Kane was the player in the argument).  I think the technology, monitoring etc us there to tell us that the body cannot cope and a rest is needed.  They don't just play matches, they train too.  It is a fine balance.

Weve been fortunate to have not any serious injuries, and more than one at a time.

[Smokey]

37 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I always think it's very simplistic when people put it like that; it's totally different. This is professional sport, even if a player is 2 or 3% more fatigued as a result of playing twice in a week it's a big disadvantage. Fine margins are basically defining factors in professional sport and playing a glut of matches in quick succession takes its toll.

And its even worse when it seems to be every player we start the game with

[samo II]

In relation to this; it was interesting to see how both Burns and Agard were involved in our second against WBA - both might be struggling for full match fitness, or not be up for extended run out, but they demonstrated exactly the type of impact fresh players (whether they are better quality than those they replace or not) provide.

That said; I actually agree with SC when he says we at times lack physical players to assist in defence when Wilbraham is not playing/is taken off (though think it then also begs the question why of that role is so important have we not aggressively sort out an alternative; but that's another matter...), but I wonder how much of a difference even just one change 15-20 mins before time would have possibly made to our season if made consistently, especially when we concede so many goals in the last 10-15.

It did look as if the WBA scenario led to a bit more sub time (though maybe have been due to injury in Reid's case) on Tuesday, and I hope we get a chance to see more use of them over the next week or so, what with the number of games. 

[BarnzFM]

I understand that in an ideal world we'd only bring in players that would improve the first team, but when your players are showing signs of fatigue surely it's time to bulk up the squad with players of potential or similar ability to what we already have so we can at least swap players in and out. Injuries usually occur most when players are tired and we just won't be able to cope with that in our present state

[LondonBristolian]

11 minutes ago, samo II said:

 I wonder how much of a difference even just one change 15-20 mins before time would have possibly made to our season if made consistently, especially when we concede so many goals in the last 10-15.

It did look as if the WBA scenario led to a bit more sub time (though maybe have been due to injury in Reid's case) on Tuesday, and I hope we get a chance to see more use of them over the next week or so, what with the number of games. 

 

4 minutes ago, BarnzFM said:

I understand that in an ideal world we'd only bring in players that would improve the first team, but when your players are showing signs of fatigue surely it's time to bulk up the squad with players of potential or similar ability to what we already have so we can at least swap players in and out. Injuries usually occur most when players are tired and we just won't be able to cope with that in our present state

A major issue to me is that, in games where we're winning late on - and perhaps generally - we've absolutely zero options to shore up the midfield.  For all the money we're attempting to spend on strikers, I really think a quality defensive midfielder would be so much more valuable to the team (perhaps alongside a  target man who can come on for Wilbs).  Both would be anything but glamour signings but, if a Cisse-type player and a Stead-type player came in, that could be the difference between relegation and staying-up. 

[samo II]

15 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

 

A major issue to me is that, in games where we're winning late on - and perhaps generally - we've absolutely zero options to shore up the midfield.  For all the money we're attempting to spend on strikers, I really think a quality defensive midfielder would be so much more valuable to the team (perhaps alongside a  target man who can come on for Wilbs).  Both would be anything but glamour signings but, if a Cisse-type player and a Stead-type player came in, that could be the difference between relegation and staying-up. 

I agree wholeheartedly; Smith, Pack and Freeman essentially been unstoppable because we do not have the options to do otherwise.

In a system like the one we play, that really hurts us.

[formerly known as ivan]

Full strength team Saturday, youngsters vs WBA on Tuesday. If he doesn't do this then I have no sympathy with him moaning about players being tired and don't want to hear it as an excuse.

Also, it's his choice to have the squad so small. Letting players leave in the summer with no replacements. I get the big transfers aren't coming but surely we could had easily added depth to the squad.

[CotswoldRed]

18 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Full strength team Saturday, youngsters vs WBA on Tuesday. If he doesn't do this then I have no sympathy with him moaning about players being tired and don't want to hear it as an excuse.

Also, it's his choice to have the squad so small. Letting players leave in the summer with no replacements. I get the big transfers aren't coming but surely we could had easily added depth to the squad.

Yep. Raw, but promising, League 1 players are better than our tired lot if they come on 20 minutes from the end. 

[Robson]

10 hours ago, gavlin said:

SC comments were "We used a lot of energy on Saturday and I don't feel I've got that strength to make a lot of changes". Going on to say "I've haven't got that luxury and i feel I need to put out my strongest side all the time we need that, but we've got quite a few young players on our bench and the only one with experience and is playing regular is Derek Williams, Kieran Agard has a stop start season"

.Analysing this it shows that the 11 that started at both WBA and Home to Preston will be the starting line up ever match and that substitutions will be limited to 76 minute or later unless a serious injury occurs. 

What is worrying is the board stipulation of trying to sign under 24 year old players with the comments above because I think he is trying to say at the moment we need senior pros of the mould of Wayne Elliott with experience of the championship to see City through to the end of the season. The likes of 20 year old Zach Clough is not for now and Burns and Reid are bit players at present. If he gets his way look to see these more seasoned pros arriving soon and they may have been playing in sides he managed before as Elliott was. 

 

 

Who's Wayne Elliot?? 

[BRISTOL86]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Full strength team Saturday, youngsters vs WBA on Tuesday. If he doesn't do this then I have no sympathy with him moaning about players being tired and don't want to hear it as an excuse.

Also, it's his choice to have the squad so small. Letting players leave in the summer with no replacements. I get the big transfers aren't coming but surely we could had easily added depth to the squad.

Not forgetting the handful of loanees that he refused to utilise in addition to Burns, Reid and co other than for 2 minutes here and there. And I can only presume Scott Wagstaff has fallen off the face of the earth. 

But nah, refuse to use any of them and moan that everyone's tired instead  

[MarcusX]

9 hours ago, iamalagerdrinker said:

Wish I got paid half of what they did to play two games a week..

An annoying and clueless point of view. I'd assume you've never played at a pro or even semi pro level? As someone else went on to say, 5% difference  is enough to have an effect on performance.

On top of that, consider that most players are regularly carrying knocks and strains and other on going issues.

its the same mindset as those who moan when a team gets a flight instead of a 4 hour coach journey. If anyone thinks it's easy to travel 4 hours even on a "luxury" coach then get off and play at full potential then I would be inclined to think they've never actually done it.