Big Sam's Pre-Season Mentality

[greydos]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6919549.stm

 

This has been on the BBC Website for a short while now, but i have not seen it posted on here. One of the coaches giving opinions on what the pre-season is for, and how teams should approach it, is Damien Roden, Bolton's first team fitness coach. He makes many interesting comments, especially concerning heart rate monitors, and not taking pre-season friendly results seriously. Does anybody think that his views are Big Sam influenced? And what insight does this give to the work that we have done this season?

 

All thoughts are welcome

[Guest jimmy1982]

Definitely has echoes of Big Sam, but Sam has probably also been influenced by the people, such as this guy, that he has surrounded himself with over the years, and all the more credit to him. I'm really encouraged by his appoach, as it seems almost everyone on here has been - must admit I never had much time for him at Bolton but it looks like he's got alot in common with Wenger in the way he deals with conditioning and fitness (as much as we can tell as outsiders), as this guy talks about in the article. Can't imagine Roeder and Souness being anywhere near as good at this side of things. The way he just seems to leave nothing to chance is so reassuring isn't it? I read about the 'war room' that him and his back room staff had at Bolton and are re-creating here, where they basically all get together and use every bit of information available to them to absolutely nail everything down to the smallest eventuality that could happen against any given opposition. Whether we like it or not, unless you have the players Man U have got, premier league football these days is more of a science than an art, and Sam seems to be as good as there is around at preparing a team for this kind of football. What a refreshing change after the cluelessness of Souness and Roeder.

[ohmelads]

Definitely has echoes of Big Sam, but Sam has probably also been influenced by the people, such as this guy, that he has surrounded himself with over the years, and all the more credit to him. I'm really encouraged by his appoach, as it seems almost everyone on here has been - must admit I never had much time for him at Bolton but it looks like he's got alot in common with Wenger in the way he deals with conditioning and fitness (as much as we can tell as outsiders), as this guy talks about in the article. Can't imagine Roeder and Souness being anywhere near as good at this side of things. The way he just seems to leave nothing to chance is so reassuring isn't it? I read about the 'war room' that him and his back room staff had at Bolton and are re-creating here, where they basically all get together and use every bit of information available to them to absolutely nail everything down to the smallest eventuality that could happen against any given opposition. Whether we like it or not, unless you have the players Man U have got, premier league football these days is more of a science than an art, and Sam seems to be as good as there is around at preparing a team for this kind of football. What a refreshing change after the cluelessness of Souness and Roeder.

 

Good post. I think a lot of it may have been, as you say, Sam being influenced by those around him. He built a team of specialists, nutritionists and so on and listened to their advice, and Sammy Lee will be listening to their advice too. So how much of it was down to Big Sam we don't know, but the team that created their training programmes would have been largely assembled by him, which is the important thing. In time he'll build the same here, either by pinching his favoured staff from them or by recruiting others.

 

It is reassuring because rather than managers who talk a good game, the proof was in the pudding at Bolton, where the fitness and injury records were excellent. He certainly gives the impression that he leaves nothing to chance, and that's not an impression I ever got with the previous two managers. How long it'll take before we see the effects of the injury-prevention remains to be seen, it still seems to be a problem at the moment.

[Guest Triglett]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=473892&in_page_id=1779&ito=newsnow

 

Great article which provides an even deeper insight into what goes on behind the scenes in terms of conditioning etc.

[Guest jimmy1982]

Definitely has echoes of Big Sam, but Sam has probably also been influenced by the people, such as this guy, that he has surrounded himself with over the years, and all the more credit to him. I'm really encouraged by his appoach, as it seems almost everyone on here has been - must admit I never had much time for him at Bolton but it looks like he's got alot in common with Wenger in the way he deals with conditioning and fitness (as much as we can tell as outsiders), as this guy talks about in the article. Can't imagine Roeder and Souness being anywhere near as good at this side of things. The way he just seems to leave nothing to chance is so reassuring isn't it? I read about the 'war room' that him and his back room staff had at Bolton and are re-creating here, where they basically all get together and use every bit of information available to them to absolutely nail everything down to the smallest eventuality that could happen against any given opposition. Whether we like it or not, unless you have the players Man U have got, premier league football these days is more of a science than an art, and Sam seems to be as good as there is around at preparing a team for this kind of football. What a refreshing change after the cluelessness of Souness and Roeder.[

 

Good post. I think a lot of it may have been, as you say, Sam being influenced by those around him. He built a team of specialists, nutritionists and so on and listened to their advice, and Sammy Lee will be listening to their advice too. So how much of it was down to Big Sam we don't know, but the team that created their training programmes would have been largely assembled by him, which is the important thing. In time he'll build the same here, either by pinching his favoured staff from them or by recruiting others.

 

It is reassuring because rather than managers who talk a good game, the proof was in the pudding at Bolton, where the fitness and injury records were excellent. He certainly gives the impression that he leaves nothing to chance, and that's not an impression I ever got with the previous two managers. How long it'll take before we see the effects of the injury-prevention remains to be seen, it still seems to be a problem at the moment.

 

Ta mate. Yep that's a good shout about it taking time to get rid of our players susceptibility to niggly injuries - reckon we could see a few more Owen-type hammies etc before we see a noticeable improvement, which could frustrate a few supporters. I've got faith in Sam to sort it all out given time though (wasn't it the very first thing he talked about when he took over? - he just doesn't seem the kind of guy to make statements like that without being sure he can back them up). He's still young enough to be here long enough to build a culture of dedication and professionalism in the Fergie vein if he wants to (and if people stick with him if we don't live up to peoples' expectations this season).

[TRon]

Really good article that. This sort of attention to detail is exactly why I have wanted Allardyce here so long, and Mark Hughes is another manager who seems to have his eye on the ball in preparation of players. There's only so much you can do without the right players, but you only have to look at managers like Souness to see where negligence and lack of insight can lead. Allardyce believes in appointing experts, Souness believes in appointing his mates. Their respective records probably reflect this.

[greydos]

Part of my worries and reservations about Big Sam coming to Newcastle was the suspicion that he may be a Clive Woodward type of manager, in that, he may be clever at organising and arranging specialists to come in and prepare a team to play, but when the play is actually happening, does he have the in depth tactical knowledge to be able to change a game? For example, Benitez and SBR are two of the most tactically astute managers for me, would Big Sam be able to hold his own, or could any manager decide to employ specialists, and therefore, Big Sam's advantage is pretty much wiped out.

 

I guess in short what i'm worried about is, does Big Sam offer anything aside of a willingness to engage in science, and if so, are the extra qualities offered a match for other top managers? If they are not, i'd rather we had a Scolari, Hiddink etc who is great tactically, and can be encouraged to hire nutritionists and all the other science people

[TRon]

Part of my worries and reservations about Big Sam coming to Newcastle was the suspicion that he may be a Clive Woodward type of manager, in that, he may be clever at organising and arranging specialists to come in and prepare a team to play, but when the play is actually happening, does he have the in depth tactical knowledge to be able to change a game? For example, Benitez and SBR are two of the most tactically astute managers for me, would Big Sam be able to hold his own, or could any manager decide to employ specialists, and therefore, Big Sam's advantage is pretty much wiped out.

 

I guess in short what i'm worried about is, does Big Sam offer anything aside of a willingness to engage in science, and if so, are the extra qualities offered a match for other top managers? If they are not, i'd rather we had a Scolari, Hiddink etc who is great tactically, and can be encouraged to hire nutritionists and all the other science people

 

I can see where you're coming from, but Allardyce's work in the transfer market suggests he's a pretty shrewd operator, and to be fair, he's tactically kicked our arse a few times, not to mention several teams with much better resources than Bolton.