Fitness

[ThaiPie]

Just wondered what those present at Meadow Lane, thought about the fitness levels of the current Notts Squad. Three or four years ago, against Coventry, it felt like they had the edge in the playoffs. Against Harrogate, I seem to remember they were faster around the pitch. Is fitness an advantage or impediment for Notts as we approach the finale?

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Just wondered what those present at Meadow Lane, thought about the fitness levels of the current Notts Squad. Three or four years ago, against Coventry, it felt like they had the edge in the playoffs. Against Harrogate, I seem to remember they were faster around the pitch. Is fitness an advantage or impediment for Notts as we approach the finale?

Against Coventry we were playing against 12 men, let be honest

[Elite_Pie]

Against Coventry we were playing against 12 men, let be honest

If we're honest, we were playing against 14.

[drillerpie]

One thing I have noticed regarding fitness is that under a very cautious ex manager who shall remain nameless, we had to constantly make changes to the team if we had midweek and Saturday games, as the players were in the red zone and liable to pick up injuries.

Lately we seem to have been able to pick pretty much unchanged teams while playing Saturday/Tuesday, with no real repercussions.

Also Ruben can now play 90 mins regularly, whereas from September to March he could generally only manage 75.

[Elite_Pie]

Also Ruben can now play 90 mins regularly, whereas from September to March he could generally only manage 75.

Near the end on Saturday I was thinking that Ruben would struggle to last 120 minutes, but he would have been good to still have on the pitch if it came to penalties. Thankfully Mark Ellis made it all irrelevant.

[meoldlaner]

What i find reassuring is that we train with the same intensity as we do on match day, whiich makes so much sense.
I don't think we have always done that in the past of maybe we have at the more sedate tempo of earlier in the season.

[laddo]

Does the net result of goals scored / goals conceded 80 mins + give an indication to fitness levels or not?

[Notts78]

Does the net result of goals scored / goals conceded 80 mins + give an indication to fitness levels or not?

It would be a contributing factor alongside the fact we are able to make subs that don’t weaken us. Most teams in the NL don’t have that luxury

[BigFatPie]

Seeing us in the flesh on Saturday, I thought our fitness levels were very good, certainly enough to carry off the high tempo pace on a very hot day.

Of course, chasing the ball tires you out more quickly than keeping it.

[the_anticlough]

I don't think running power is a strength of our current team and there's no fix for that this season.
I'm very happy that the final's not at Wembley for this reason. Imagine someone like Rhys Oates of Hartlepool running at full pace past Doyle, O'Brien, Reeves, Rawlo, Ellis at Wembley - the stuff of nightmares.
Even our star players like Ruben and Enzio are no Colin Bells

But 'fitness' isn't going to prevent us winning the play-offs if we're the better side - not worried about it.