Fitness tests... or lack of
Comments (9)
Over the last 12+ months we have had a catalogue of serious injuries to the majority of our best players. You read the gutter press and all you get is "Man Utd injury crisis" or "Liverpool down to the bare bones". Never a mention of all the players we have lost which in the case of the Yak, Jags and Arteta is the spine of the team.
Of these three, only the Yak has returned and 3 months in he looks woefully low on confidence and his touch is terrible BUT Of late we have added to ths list with IMO terrible fitness tests.
In Athens, Distin played on a very slick pitch. He looked unfit from the word go and lasted only a few minutes. He missed the Spurs game and I've no idea how long he will be out for.
On Sunday we all witnessed a limping Yobo coming out to Z-Cars and again he barely lasted 15 minutes. He is out till the new year then (if fit) he is with Nigeria.
My point is how on this earth did those two guys pass a pre-match fitness test?!? The injuries they sustained cant simply be run off and it's made a bad situation worse.
I understand we are down to bare bones but those two decisions were of EFC's on making and totally crazy.
John Audsley,
Leeds Posted 11/12/2009 at 11:42:02
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Michael Kenrick
I'm doing my best here to sit on my hands and say nothing...
They probably didn’t and as no one else was left, had an injection and told "stop being a pansy and get on with it"...........possibly
The two of them should never have started in the first place... if you've got a hamstring problem, the last thing you want is to play on a rain soaked pitch.
Without a squad, what else can you do but forfeit the game? Smallest squad in the EPL + biggest sick list = fucked.
And Coleman and Duffy came into the team and played well. Shite management of the highest order
John Barnes, how did Coleman do against Benfica? He has had a great game against Spurs but also a shite game against Benfica, not exactly enough time to say is it? If it wasn’t for injuries he wouldn’t get a game as DM would have him on the team sheet to start if he rated him. Shite management eh? Imagine choosing your preferred players then being forced through having no one else to play to bring kids on?
We’ve had the give kids a chance discussion, catch up.
John Barnes
The fact that Coleman and Duffy came in and played well is fine
BUT
The fact that Yobo and Distin played when clearly unfit and lasted 30 mins combined is very poor management of the highest order!
Yobo limped on for gods sake!!!!!!
Moyes took a gamble with Distin and it backfired. Unlucky. Doing the same 4 days later is foolish at best, or yes, shite in my eyes. The young lads came on and bailed him out. Results gained by selection forced upon Moyes, not of his choice. And yes, there’s every chance they’ll get ripped apart v Chelsea and others, but Moyes has lost two experienced defenders, his " preferred players" for a long time by his own poor management. Surely the "smallest squad in EPL + biggest sick list:" should = better management of them. The fact that he only plays these lads out of absolute necessity leaves them under-prepared when they are needed.
John Barnes I think the problem isn’t totally of DM’s making, he can only choose players he has, the lack of investment in squad players put him in that boat, but equally it was foolish to play an obviously crocked Yobo which has backfired with him now out until the AFCON, forcing his hand to play players he doesn’t have faith in much longer.
Don’t players have some say in the assessement of their fitness? Is it just a Moyes decision? A senior pro like Distin, or Yobo would have given Moyes a clear indication of their fitness to last a game, or most of it. It is not in the player’s or the manager’s interest to select someone who breaks down within a short time of kick-off. It was a gamble (encouraged by our threadbare squad) on the part of the manager and the players which did not come off.
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