Yes and many on here go on about bringing back the lactate test to improve fitness, when in fact it is an excercise used to measure a players threshold.
It is just a measurement tool and there will be other excercises that will do the same.
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Yeah, Rory Smith made the same point on that podcast @Zoran posted a couple of days ago.
This was one of his other points. Few managers around that have a proven track record at clubs similar to ours, and few clubs we could reliably look at as being similar to ours because of how much bigger top Premier League clubs are now compared to other leagues.
Is Rory Smith good? I hope so.
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My description of us until we scored was ‘lump it long Liverpool’
Yet our coach keeps talking about control, how can you control possession when you keep hitting long hopeful balls.
Btw the only player trying to keep possession was Jones and thats why he was my motm, 94% passing and also a massive 28 defensive actions, the next was Ibou on 13 defensive actions.
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I like him a lot. He used to write for the Times (might still do) but often has pieces in NYT / Athletic. Always the first to credit other people for arguments he discusses too.
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I’m pretty sure Slot wasn’t hired based on his world-class knowledge of fitness and medical / sports science.
He might know a bit but I’m sure we are supposed to have other experts for that.
One of the stated reasons for appointing him was because of the relatively few injuries his teams had. Most of Jurgens coaching staff left when he did, so Arne also brought Ruben Peeters with him to cover the fitness and conditioning elements that Kornmeyer and Schlumberger handled for Jurgen.
Agreed, but it is obvious to everyone else and should be to him and Hughes that we lack match fitness and run out of steam in games and that should ring the bells regarding who is doing the fitness aspect of our preparation.
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The fitness side of things clearly needs an overhaul.
So does the footballing side, as they don’t appear to be trained adequately and aren’t quite moving as a unit to a clear system.
It all points to a bit of an overhaul this summer. I’ll be surprised if Slot stays on. I’ll be surprised if we continue with the current fitness preparation. Let’s see.
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They are similar tests in terms of what they evaluate, but the level of sophistication of the methods, what to do with the data and even the detail you get out of them is very different.
In this industry people tend to chase complexity. Its an industry where everyone is chasing a competitive edge and the incentives that creates leads to fitness people coming up with weirder and weirder stories about how to best prepare athletes for competition, and these people are hired by people not equipped to separate the bullshit from the legit. The result is an industry jam packed with people exposing their athletes to silly shit, and people who come up in the industry never having been exposed to anything else to know how stupid it all is. There is always something refreshing about practitioners who are confident enough eschew that theatre and instead do some as simple as a simple timed run. So I was intrigued by Slot and Peters’ approach when they came in, especially given the story about how well conditioned his team was. But the more time that goes on and the more questions we have about this part of the team’s preparation, questions about whether they have over simplified what they are doing are valid.
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Right on there. I then end up thinking what the fck has happened to Henry, this display is uncharacteristic of the man. Something is not right. The activity Im seeing, indeed this ‘plan’ is not inconsistent with an eye on a future sale. So I guess they’re looking to dispose of the club in 18-24months. Otherwise I cant take any other sense from it.
Power and Murtagh are supposed to oversee everything. Peeters was supposed to be more hands-on.
It would surprise me then if Peeters is making the calls.
But on the flip side you could say he’s not the one doing the rebuild. Nor would any new manager be in charge of that coming in.
Now, Robbo is going but Tsimikas is returning and has proven to be an able squad player. Endo and Chiesa might not be Slot’s cup of tea so they aren’t a huge loss given neither has played much in either season Slot has been in charge.
Gomez is hardly finished as a footballer and we’ve got probably the best backup keeper in the league behind Alisson. We’ve also got two of the most highly rated young centre backs coming into the squad next season already and Konate looking like signing a new deal.
So basically the “shit-show” is replacing Salah which we’ll have know we need to do for some time (but no small task), Gakpo and Mac Callister finding some form (or shifting on) and working out why Frimpong is all of a sudden picking up hamstring issues having been pretty much injury free his entire career.
Arguably our biggest issue isn’t the need for another summer rebuild, it’s getting the players that won the league back to playing at the level we know they can and then figuring out how we get the best out of last seasons signings, Wirtz and Isak in particular.
Now that might also not be a job for Slot but there’s about £300m worth of business we did last year we need to get playing right before we start to worry too much about a backup left back and or what becomes of Chiesa.
My post was in relation to posters saying that by not doing the lactate test affected a players fitness, when the fact is it is part of the measuring process to work out players fitness levels in regards to their lactate levels and their effective recovery from bouts of intense work.
Yeah if they’re really that stubborn/stupid, not sure I can be arsed
Sounds like we should give Magath a call. Training sessions will only be deemed successful when players are puking and he’ll buy a so many players, he won’t even bother to learn their names.
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That’s a depressing post that I’m inclined to agree with. So just testing a glass half full option for my own sanity:
- New manager
- Losing Salah and Robbo will be felt around the club but they haven’t offered that much on the pitch this year anyway.
- Endo and Chiesa no great loss.
- Jaquets and Leoni could be an outstanding partnership for the future. With the experience of Virg and Ibou we should be ok there.
- If Bradley and Frimpong can stay fit that’s two brilliant options.
- Rio and Nyoni continue their upward trajectory.
- Wirtz takes the league by storm in his second year.
- Isak goes back to being Isak.
- Buy a top quality DM, LB and winger/s.
- Champions 2026/27
Simples 
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Well said @WeeJoe I need positivity….with that in mind Hugo comes back strong and Dom signs a new contract and the heir apparent to Virg, Hendo and Stevie etc.
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McConnell is now back at the club as well.
I don’t hold out hope that Slot would have interest in using him but there is a proper prospect there, someone who was often more highly thought of than the older Morton who people are now pining for, who could definitely fill a hole and help us if he isnt sent out on another loan
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It’s a really interesting article around fitness, but it is very, very hard to draw any concrete conclusions with the kind of data and insight that is only going to be at your disposal if you work at LFC.
The eye test suggests that the players aren’t as fit as they should be, just in how we close games and the number of late goals we concede, but linking that to injuries can only really be done on a case by case, incident by incident, basis. Fitness cannot account for a lad getting snapped by an awful challenge (Isak). It can’t account for lads landing awkwardly and damaging themselves in the process (Leoni, Endo, Bradley, Marmadashvili). And I think it’s a stretch to suggest that it can account for lads who have a long track record of picking up knocks and niggles going back to the last manager getting injured (Gomez, Alisson, Jones, Bajcetic).
So what you are left with is a subset of injuries where I think you can possibly point to preparation being an issue, such as the Ekitike one, the repeating issues with Frimpong, Salah getting a very uncharacteristic pull, and possibly a few more.
I get why think is being discussed in the Slot thread, but I really don’t know if this is an issue that should be laid at his door. I’m almost reluctant to put this out there because I’ll no doubt get a fresh load of unfair shit thrown at me about defending the manager, but without knowing more about the internal structure at LFC and the extent the which Slot is involved in player fitness and conditioning, I find it very hard to make the leap from players not fit to sack the manager.
It’s another one of those situations where you have to remember he isn’t the manager. He is the head coach. He doesn’t have the wide ranging control of all football matters that Jurgen did, and I don’t know who ultimately the fitness people are directed by and report to.
I also don’t know where the dissatisfaction is being expressed. For all we know, Slot could be emailing the sports science department saying ‘why aren’t my fucking players fit?’. Or it could be that Slot is the blocker to techniques and methodologies that could help get more out of the players, and it’s the sports science people who are tearing their hair out.
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