Thread by @guillaumevdwege

There is a huge elephant in the room at Manchester United right now, and it is their physical prowess.

A thread 🧵

Let's go over the components of fitness first, before we delve into the issues at hand.

Along with the basics, there is also

🌬️Aerobic endurance (play 90' to a good level)
🏋️Muscular endurance (deal with repetitive contact)

Footballers train these elements to play better.

These components lay the groundwork for the physical output on Matchday.

Some examples of output:

🔋High-pressing for 50/90 mins (speed, aerobic endurance)
🦘Jumps for aerial duels (musc. endurance, power)

These outputs, in volume (amount) and quality (execution) must be trained in relation to the "Game Model".

If the training is not coherent with the demands of your playing style, your team will fall short somewhere.

Ten Hag's game model requires quality in:

💣Speed over 1-5 metres (counter-pressing)
📏Speed over 20-60 metres (counter-attacking)
🏋️Power, muscular endurance (aerial & ground duels)
🔋Aerobic endurance (proactivity)

The necessity is reflected in the tactical trends below.

Manchester United's physical output is falling short in those components.

They are on the back foot (static), non-explosive in short bursts (pressing, acceleration), and their forwards are being tasked with loads of "PEAK MATCH DEMANDS" while being overplayed.

If a team is not competent in these components, their technical and tactical levels over 90' will also stagnate.

Technical: Ability to execute technical tasks after physically draining actions

Tactical: Mental/cognitive ability to make decisions after & during physical tasks

Delving deeper, let's explore why #MUFC are falling short (1), and what can be done to improve on this (2).

A few theories for 1:
🪫Subpar conditioning of the players
🤝Unfamiliar coaching staff
🔁Lack of rotation
⚽️Unfavorable personnel

Conditioning and coaching staff:

As we explored, it is🔑to "train how you play". It is equally important to have fitness staff with EXPERIENCE working with your Game Model.

#MUFC employ Charlie Owen (since 2018), not Ten Hag's Schoenmaker of Ajax.

🔁Rotation

Notoriously, Ten Hag doesn't rotate his XI a lot - especially his forwards, despite them having the highest workload of all players.

It leads to overplaying, muscular injuries and performance waning after 60 minutes.

Lastly, United don't have physically excelling players:

-Casemiro & Eriksen largely unathletic
-Sancho, Antony, Martial, and Weghorst lack explosiveness

Wan-Bissaka, Fred, McTominay, Shaw, Bruno, and Rashford are standouts of the squad when not drained.

What can be done to improve this?

🗓️Better training periodization in relation to Game Model
🔁Rotate highly loaded players more
⏭️Buy athletic, dominant players

🗓️As we explored, either United bring in Ten Hag's experienced fitness coach (Schoenmaker) or design a more fitting program with the current staff.

This season, United created tactical solutions to compromise and compensate for their lack of physical capacity.

🔁Rotation

Through more quality (Elanga wasn't in the PL squad from GW27-38), Ten Hag should rotate more to manage the workload of his players.

Rashford is tasked with leading the press, 40m+ sprints, yet played 4.2k minutes.

⏭️New players

This is the last resort solution. If your conditioning and periodization are not getting the best out of your players, chances are new signings will physically drop off too after a few months of that training periodization.

End of thread

Ten Hag has a lot more on his plate for the management of next season. If players remain so undynamic, physically shattered and drained, United won't consistently dominate and impose opponents in the coming seasons.

Food for thought.

🔋Bonus:

New players don't have to be physical monsters, they also have to be brave, courageous and secure with the ball to keep it to

-Protect leads (Spurs away)
-Use possession to not run as much
-Avoid end-to-end games

This will reduce the physical workload of players.