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A little mini thread on a mitigating factor behind last nights defeat that I haven’t seen written about.
Don’t get me wrong, Liverpool were very good & Wayne Hennessey isn’t but the impact of playing 2 away games with CV-19 restrictions is a challenge.
Don’t get me wrong, Liverpool were very good & Wayne Hennessey isn’t but the impact of playing 2 away games with CV-19 restrictions is a challenge.
Premier League football clubs are elite units, they are teams, they have embedded ways of working and rituals that allow them to be set-up to be the best they can be.
Even when there is a maverick player it is in the confines of a team.
Even when there is a maverick player it is in the confines of a team.
Roy Hodgson & Ray Lewington pride themselves on the structure they provide, the briefings, the combined team work of units in the squad & ensuring the team is fully briefed.
The challenge is, how do you now do that with the CV-19 restrictions that are required?
The challenge is, how do you now do that with the CV-19 restrictions that are required?
Typically Palace will keep the match squad together very close with constant briefings starting the day before a game. They will train in the morning the day before a game, travel, team dinner, stay overnight. They will train again locally, rest-up then off to the game.
The food scientists & fitness teams will be fuelling the players with carbs, liquids, ensuring rest is taken as well as having the players together to continually feed tactics etc. It sets the players up to be their best. In rugby, Eddy Jones puts this as pivotal.
What I saw yesterday with Palace was a total disruption to every step of how the team operates. Due to CV-19, the team flew the day of the game, hiring out hotels for even sitting down & meals or resting isn’t an option. The distancing means the players become individuals.
Even in the changing rooms the players can’t all be together, the one team talk is doable but the get 2-3 players close together to remind them or add more detail isn’t possible. The disruption to the team unit & individuals couldn’t be more marked from the norm.
The little things can distract a player. Not all, but it doesn’t have to be all to weaken the team. All the players travelling back individually is unsettling. In elite sport, the million little differences add up to big impacts in performance.
I didn’t recognise Palace last night. We are a club & the 1st team is a unit with structure.
I am in no doubt that all the enforced changes to how we approach a game & how we ensure our players are at their best impacted the result.
I am in no doubt that all the enforced changes to how we approach a game & how we ensure our players are at their best impacted the result.
