The alleged squad fitness issue

Think it’s clear the fitness isn’t what it should be for the players. Lennon constantly saying our players are not match fit and seemingly taking weeks upon weeks to get there.

Then you see Laxalt come in not having played consistently for near 7 months and he gets played instantly and looks like he could play for ever. Compare that against Kilmala or Ajeti at the beginning of the season supposedly not fit enough to play in our most important games.

Another thing I have noticed is that not only are other teams on the continent fitter they are also stronger and stronger without making them slower. They look like proper athletes and not stick figures like some of our players do. I think there are serious issues all round with fitness and conditioning at the club.

After Rodgers we may have seriously cut back in that department and slashed costs but I’d rather spend 2/3 million each year on an absolute world class fitness/conditioning/analytics team and specifically keep that money aside.

It’s value for money because above all else the way we can compete with the elite clubs is being elite athletes. I remember the French fitness coach that turned McGeadys game around, he got a yard quicker and had less injuries and just generally we looked much fitter.

 

Coincidentally the highlights of Ntcham’s late winner away to Lazio are circulating today because it’s been a year since that game.

If you watch the clip, it’s 94 mins and as soon as we intercept the ball you’ve got 4 players bursting a gut to get up the pitch. We don’t even get 4 players into the box during a full game these days.

I felt we were really fit at the beginning of last season and were regularly overrunning teams. This season we look so leggy especially through the spine of the team.

 

Look at the state of our manager... hardly a shining example.
There's no a pound hanging the right way....
Looks a mess tbh.

 

Ah know m8. I m just ranting today. Still * off from Thursday

 

Deila has them on a keto diet ffs.

And how was Collins a *?

 

I assumed most understood and knew he was the one drilling them like a military camp, he done it at hibs before him and got a bad rap for it at Celtic as well.

 

Ach aye why not. Have a go at his image now. We’ve already had he’s a jakey and stabbed his missus so why * not.

I actually want Lennon to leave so I don’t need to read so called Celtic fans abusing a bona fide legend.

 

It has been visible since start of the season we are way off pace . We used to hammer teams from start to finish we havnt done that once this season . It seems the fitness standards have dropped since the rat left

 

I think extra 2 weeks isolating put us quite far back when we were just nearing full fitness through the squad and then several players having to isolate individually also injuries.

It looks like we are still in pre-season. We have the same fitness and sport scientist head coaches since Rodgers so there’s nothing wrong with the coaching on that side.

Lack of squad rotation also having a big effect I think.

 

Absolutely there’s a lack of fitness playing a big part but it’s only one of a few issues needing addressed.

 

There's a lot of posters very active in this thread now that had no posts last November. There is pretty general consensus he needs to go but some seem to be revelling in the fact.

Edit: The first sentence refers to the Neil Lennon thread

 

Absolutely there’s a lack of fitness playing a big part but it’s only one of a few issues needing addressed.

Double post sorry.

 

Fitness was an issue under Lennon the first time round. We kinda get away with it because Scottish clubs aren’t the best at fitness either but against professional teams we fight an uphill battle.

Under Rodgers we could rely on teams tiring after 70 mins whereas we looked very fresh. We didn’t have to wait until 85 mins, teams started making errors much sooner than that. That’s how good he had it, and it’s a big reason why we’ve won 3 trebles.

With regard to Deila, it’s as simple as this: Deila focused on fitness and diet, but his science was appallingly wrong, that’s why it didn’t work. People think fitness is something you either prioritise or you don’t. The reality is it’s also something you can get wrong or get right and Deila’s fitness coaches were very wrong. It doesn’t mean fitness isn’t one of the most important things.

That all old hat though. The reality now is Lennon has allowed his squad to become unprofessionally unfit and we are a lesser team for it.

 

He did change alot, the players dropped their body fat percentage by about 5% with a low carb paleo diet, despite the fact they were training less.

The issue was they were playing a high intensity pressing game without any carbs for energy. I'm not expert on diet but it sounds like the players just couldn't adapt to the methods, and Diella wouldn't compromise.

I doubt Messi needs to eat a tunnocks tea cake for energy before a game is all I'm saying

 

Do we not have a technical team who can measure the individual players fitness during games by analysing their GPS vests?. Surely they could look at each individual player's stats and recognise if they are giving 100% or not?

 

While i wouldnt agree to someone having a go at lenny on a personal matter i think its a valid point.

Its the little things like that when they go unoticed everything else follows.Its about the level of professionalism through the club.
iv seen documentary's about celtic where the youths are reminded to tuck their shirts in going out to train and i think that great.But that has to start at the top and be all through the team.

Look well,eat well,train well, and have the rite approach to your job all of this contributes to a successful well run team. If lenny sets a standard the team have to match i cant see the harm,and part of that is presentation,wearing a suit to games,getting rid of headphones,manager wearing suit on match day, all of that type of thing contributes to a team being successful,admit-tingly not on a major scale but it does no harm.

I think we have all noticed how dishevelled lenny has looked sitting on the bench in the last few days and it doesnt look good,while i hate to say it the rat is a good example of what im talking about.

 

Well when we were back from COVID Lennon decided to give them extra days off heading into the killie game no reason for it either as squad was just back from a 4 month layoff and I heard he was giving them time off again this week says it all really if he doesn’t want to be their at training for what ever reason the at least leave the training sessions on and let the coaches take them Martin O’Neil handled it that way


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