I am not cleary sure about how Lippi is conducting the team rotation. If anyone could explain to me how this rotation system works. I understand the basics, now i need some logistics and solid info.
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Team Rotation (1 Viewer)
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all we know is that it is working currently.
my only concern is that we still rely heavily on nedved, and he doesnt seem to get much rest does he.
Olivera, Zalayeta both yet to be used this season?? has conte been used yet?? pessotto??
yeah, and when del piero returns, i believe that he should be rested and rotated many times as well. we have trez, di vaio and miccoli all playing well and scoring now. so IMO del piero should be rested also.
my only concern is that we still rely heavily on nedved, and he doesnt seem to get much rest does he.
Olivera, Zalayeta both yet to be used this season?? has conte been used yet?? pessotto??
yeah, and when del piero returns, i believe that he should be rested and rotated many times as well. we have trez, di vaio and miccoli all playing well and scoring now. so IMO del piero should be rested also.
Rotation system is as the word says you rotate players if you have a big enough squad to do it, as in on sunday when we are playing say udinese you could play buffon, thuram, zambrotta, appiah, tacchinardi, camo, nedved, trez, dv montero and leggro
On wednesday in europe you could then play buffon, thuram, zambrotta, appiah , davids, maresca, nedved, miccolli, dp , Iuliano and Leggro
It means you have decided to rotate and rest camo, tacchi, trez , and montero
It just means rotating players so everyone contributes to whats a very long season
On wednesday in europe you could then play buffon, thuram, zambrotta, appiah , davids, maresca, nedved, miccolli, dp , Iuliano and Leggro
It means you have decided to rotate and rest camo, tacchi, trez , and montero
It just means rotating players so everyone contributes to whats a very long season
++ [ originally posted by USA Juventini ] ++
I'm not sure if Lippi himself knows.
Here's what I envision.
Lippi is sitting at his office at team headquarters, and across his desk on the far wall is a dartboard....................................
We can figure out the rest
I'm not sure if Lippi himself knows.
Here's what I envision.
Lippi is sitting at his office at team headquarters, and across his desk on the far wall is a dartboard....................................
We can figure out the rest
or 20-sided dice
++ [ originally posted by sallyinzaghi ] ++
:LOL: i know what rotation system means, i just want the system itself u know?
i want someone to explain to me how lippi plays it- does he use trez-dv first, then dv-miccoli or something..
but thanks denco
:LOL: i know what rotation system means, i just want the system itself u know?
i want someone to explain to me how lippi plays it- does he use trez-dv first, then dv-miccoli or something..
but thanks denco
Go ahead ask lippi he would tell you
Here you go
Marcello Lippi claims the squad rotation system is key to Juve’s success in Serie A and the Champions’ League this season.
“It was a battle of a match, especially in the first half,” he noted of their 0-0 draw at Real Sociedad, “but we found our balance after the break.”
“The lads fought hard in the way that I really appreciate. Now that we are mathematically qualified for the next stage we must make the most of the remaining two games to rotate the squad and preserve energy.”
Three more points are needed to be certain of winning Group D and therefore earning a softer draw for the knockout stage.
“It is no doubt important to top the Group,” added Lippi, “but to be mathematically qualified with two games left is an important achievement.”
Only Real Madrid and Juventus are already assured of their place in the next round, but unlike the Spaniards this side is proud of its strength in depth.
“Our objective is to include all the players in every competition,” revealed the tactician, “so everybody gets to play at least once a week. This keeps everyone hungry, confident and fresh.”
The 0-0 draw in San Sebastian was earned with what could easily be described as a second-string side, including Antonio Conte and Gianluca Pessotto returning from long-term injuries.
“I really liked the sacrifices that Fabrizio Miccoli made tonight to work hard all over the field, while Marco Di Vaio and Marcelo Zalayeta also performed the dual role of midfielder and forward.”
The Point that i like about formation is that we te benches will be more or less ready to face the opponents. As a proove, is divaio..... He lost form considerably when trez returned from the injury last season... and he regained it just in the last 2 matches of the season.
I would love to see olivera and maresca in the next CL game, because definitely conte is not worth enough.
IM just curious about what will happen in the attacking line.
I would love to see olivera and maresca in the next CL game, because definitely conte is not worth enough.
IM just curious about what will happen in the attacking line.
++ [ originally posted by Meow ] ++
And no Buffon-Chimenti rotation pls thankyou......
And no Buffon-Chimenti rotation pls thankyou......
meow, girl you are too cute
but i think this will happen now that we're confirmed for the next round. Gigi has to play in Serie A and if Lipi doesn't rest him in the Cl then he will never get any rest.
:thumb: Forza Lippi :thumb: ..... i like this very much
Can some kind sould tell me how Micoli played against Sociadad? Seams like he played well! :extatic:
My take is he flipped a coin on a sheet of MCQs
Hrm, depends. Basically, a function of objectives and available resources.
The big picture and long-term plan has probably been mapped out already, tying in with the season's transfer policy, team/personal training schedules and charting your resources.
Barring any contingencies, 1st question is likely be which competition and desired result - win, draw or in exceptional cases, lose?
Studies/data on the opposition should already be ready and done weeks before leading up to the encounter.
1. Formation - maximize strengths, exploit weaknesses, minimize exposure of your own and drafting plan Bs/Cs during the course of the match.
2. Players - primary characteristics/attributes (CM4 stats), player vs player matchups (Ferrara v Shevchenko = courting death)
3. Tangibles - physical condition, performance in training etc
4. Intangibles - form, experience, hunger, motivation etc
2, 3 and 4 are invariably linked so much so that you can't have something without the other. The worst thing is such aspects fluctuate all the time. The endless and often logic defying combinations makes life very difficult for the coach, which probably accounts for some of their bizarre tendencies. Tudor, for example, is exempt from all sensible considerations.
In modern football, the variables keep increasing and are virtually endless. Nothing (especially Italian football and particularly Juventus, the epitome of professionalism) is left to chance and nothing should ever be taken for granted. Everything which can be squeezed will be to gain that little advantage which could make all the difference. The jobscope has to be split. Specialization has to come in. There is simply too much for the central figure aka the coach (which again differs in England where they're known as managers) to handle nowadays though ultimately, he makes the final decisions.
Football may still be considered an art but its becoming more of a science by the day. Some rather long examples from Arsenal and Milan; the advances are quite astonishing (for me at least) If anybody remembered our face-off with the "Star Team" Dynamo Kyiv in CL 97/98, the late Lobanovsky took it to another level ...
Exclusive: Milan - Lab (plagiarised from San_Siro, xtratime)
Guys, this a post made by a fellow Milanista, Chilo, on DM which is worth sharing with the rest of you Milanisti and non Milanisti. It's talks about what really is Milan Lab and how it helps Milan. This article really emphasis how much of an avant-guardiste is Milan as a clubas being once again, the first to launch such a thing as Milan Lab. Enjoy and comment. Again a huge thanks to you amigo Chilo for sharing this with us!
Yesterday a magazine in Belgium came out ... and every week there is one football thingy in it ... As next week it's Milan-Bruges, the magazine HUMO had an interview with Doctor Meersseman, Belgian doctor that is already in Milanello for a long time.
He came to Milanello some decades ago, becuz he was the chiropracticor of some famous people ... Also Berlusconi went to him and he was so impressed, that he offered him a job at AC Milan.!!
Well, to be honest, this interview AMAZED me that i would like to share it with you guys!
It's majorly about Milan Lab. A few years ago he insisted for this idea, but the board found 3 million of $ too much for a 'toy' for the doctor! It all started with the signing of Redondo for 25 million of bucks ... Also his wage was around that kind of money. So in the end he went to the board and said: Redondo costed Milan 50 million bucks while we could have prevented his injury for the amount of 3 million dollars! All of a sudden the board was interested
---> Redondo in his first runs at Milanello had a soar muscle in his leg (same leg as his later injury) ... 3 days after he was alright. But a few days later he twisted his knee. Meersseman was convinced that this injury was the cause of his injury a week before.
---> So, therefore Milan Lab was born
---> How does milan Lab work?
Hmmm interesting question, but a very complex answer!
They keep information about players, hundreds of information and put them in a neutral network that finds links. If nesta peaks every time when he ate 2 times a week fish, the computer finds that link automatically. Every player has to undergo tests every two weeks, between 60 and 120 mins. Every home game is registered with 8 cameras. Every player will be scouted and analyzed. They know exactly how many sprints, km's etc every player did on the field! Also the daily input of information on the training, will be done by the medical and the technical staff! what's the temperature of the field, what kind of studs have the players, etc ...
There are 3 kind of tests:
- structural-functional
- biochemic - biofysic
- emotional - psychologic
--> the emotional psychologic is the most easy actually to understand! Do they suffer from stress, do they have enough self confidence
--> Biochemic and biofysic tests are related to . Who must go on a diet, which extravitamins or minerals must be added and so on! They also test certain things in the players's blood.
--> Structural - functional is the test of the human body! How good is their condition, how do they perform on the field. They analyze the back, their attitude, the way they walk, and so on! Also they analyze how they chew! Persons that have a good chewing have better muscles in the neck, but also a neurologic ballance in their body! If meersseman has to appoint one doctor, it would be a dentist! An example: Seedorf had a muscular problem in his leg, dunno how it's called ... the place next to your testicels ... Meersseman went with seedorf to the dentist, he pulled a tooth, and all of a sudden the pain disappeared ...
He also says that in the beginning the milan players were very sceptical of Milan Lab ... but after a while players went to milan lab every week to test becuz they wanted to know what their problem was, or why it was they were in such a great condition!
Also the players can look into their performance archieves! Every month a result will be hang in the dressing room ... So the concurrence will be motivated to do better tests a month later!
---> In vertical jump serginoh was the best last year!
---> the five first meter sprint, dida was the best!
---> overall MALDINI was the best!
That last thing is really remarkable he says, becuz this doctor is convinced that with Milan Lab, careers could be extended! Maldini, in condition of his life! Billy, again with milan and pretty secure despite his age! Cafu and pancaro ... also performing well!
He says, now we can sign players that are practically over their top, but when they come at milan, we can reach their top again ... this way those players dont cost a lot of money! Also for young players it's interesting ... becuz this way they can see if a young player is a great tallent or not ... So milan could not pay much money, for youngsters and older players ...
At this moment, he is willing to convince lieven maesschalck, a famous belgian doctor that worked with many athletes, which careers were almost over! He's really an amzing doctor: His methods are really special! when somebody comes to him, that person will cry untill his revalidation is over ... he hurts his athletes so much that they will cry ... but this way he can cure them earlier than expected ... so in stead of 5 months of revalidation, only 3 ... but the effort of the athlete will be harder, much harder
Okay, back to milan lab
The interviewer asked meersseman ... so noone can cheat the fysical tests ... but they can cheat about the mental tests...
The doctor says ... absolutely not
---> why's that ... every player will have to answer a list of questions, attached with a lying detector ... they do not ask things about their sex life etc or private things ... but if a player has problems with his wife, they will know ... (not the reason but just the fact)
---> these tests are so important, that when meersseman and bruno de michelis wont give any player free for a game, when a player is not mentally all right! Last season ancelotti was not that happy with this idea ... he was angry and wanted to put players on the field that were mentally not all right ... He said, i can see in training that this player is in top condition, but during the game, all failed!!!!! once very 10 games he tried to put a player on the field that wasnt supposed to be released by the doctors, and every time it was actually a disaster
From this season on he listens and the results are good! During inter-milan rui costa didnt play becuz Milan lab predicted that rui costa was over his peak ... and that kaka was peaking in that moment! result: kaka played a superb game!
Also players that have slept bad twice a week, wont be released either becuz ... in 100% of the cases, players that dont sleep well two times a week, will fail on the field ... that is proven now by milan lab!
Milan lab is also the reason why players practise as much as possible alone ... every player has other fysical capacities, and everyone reacts otherwise than other players! so enough with those players running in group around the field ... milan only does group trainings for automatisms ... for group spirit but not for individual condition!
He also has an answer what makes fantastic football players so important! From great football players we know that they feel the ball coming ... well that's not true! great football players have better eyes, that reach more degrees, so that's why the start earlier than other players on important passes!
Also the ballance by good players between the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain is important! for rivaldo that's a very high score, but by dida it's almost perfect!
He also says that good football players have less condition becuz they have more tallent! he wants to define the word 'tallent' and wants to try to know how great football players are, fysically and mentally! and milan lab is very important in that!
AC Milan wants to have a big advantage in milan lab, but after a few years they want to commercialize it ... in 10 years a belgian team can test a player in milan lab for a certain amount of money ...
Last but not least he denies everything he has said in the past that juve were on doping! he said that vs real madrid they were in top condition, and there was no way that theywould have that same condition in the final!
---> so that's why so many people were pissed off becuz of the first game vs inter?
---> that's why appiah probably never came to milan ... becuz his tests werent good enough?
---> and last but not least, the signing of redondo wasnt for nothing!"
Arsenal
When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 it was out with egg and chips and in with raw vegetables and pasta. But that was only the start of his revolution. In the final extract from a gripping new biography, Jasper Rees reveals some of the Frenchman's secret weapons - including an adjustable swimming pool and soothing pastel shades in the canteen.
Tuesday August 19, 2003
The Guardian
Arsenal was the job Arsene Wenger had been waiting for all his footballing life. It was a culmination of everything, a validation of the choice he had made all those years ago to amass an encyclopaedic knowledge of every conceivable aspect of the game. He felt he had come to the home of football, where the connection between the fans and the team trounced anything he had thus far experienced. In Monaco there were no supporters to speak of, and in Japan fanaticism was only skin-deep. His first games at Highbury, with the small see-through dug-out so close to the fans, assaulted his senses, and those of all the French players he brought in.
If Wenger had waited for this job, he had also prepared for it. Many of the changes he effected at Arsenal were previously road-tested at Monaco and Nancy. This being an old club, however, with entrenched traditions, he understood that he couldn't change everything at once. When he arrived, Wenger chose to drive the club forward with a mixed economy of revolution and evolution. He reassured players that some things were going to stay the same, even as others changed out of all recognition. The first decision he took was to persevere with most of the existing squad, and specifically the existing defence. The famous back five of David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn had already clocked up hundreds of hours together, and racked up countless clean sheets, but they were nearly all the far side of 30. Despite the fact that at Monaco he had signed the 32-year-old Patrick Battiston, Wenger believed that that was precisely the age a footballer could no longer hack it at the top.
Adams, who was pushing 30, recalls: "He would say things like, 'Physically a professional footballer is finished when they are over 30. It is not possible to play at that age.' He believed that players over 30 were dead. Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn proved him wrong. They proved that with desire, commitment, and by looking after themselves, they could play well into their 30s at the top level. He acknowledged that and let them do it instead of getting rid of them. If you are in a beautiful house you don't go moving to a terrace. That's what he realised."
Wenger encouraged all his foreign players to learn English, the language in which he gave team talks. But the training ground was further gallicised by the hiring of Boro Primorac and a coterie of drop-in French health and fitness gurus - Yann Rougier, a specialist in dietary supplements, his assistant Hervé Castel, and osteopath Philippe Boixel.
They were a colourful bunch. One of Dr Rougier's other business ventures was the marketing of a herbal remedy to enhance sexual performance. Boixel specialised in a very French and not always scientific brand of lateral-thinking cures when faced with a complex injury problem. In an effort to cure troublesome Achilles tendon injuries, players might have the alignment of their wisdom teeth checked by x-ray or tomatoes removed from their diets.
Nutrition was another area where change was necessary. Wenger arrived from Japan, where he'd spotted that there was almost no obesity. The staple diet of boiled vegetables, fish and rice was perfect for a footballer. In an ideal world the entire squad would have turned Japanese on the spot. The central tenet of Wenger's nutritional philosophy was pretty simple: if you eat a sticky toffee pudding, you'll play like one. He frowned on red meat, eggs, chips, baked beans - a caricature of the English footballer's staple fuel. His dietician came in and explained the benefits of pasta, boiled chicken, steamed fish, raw vegetables and water.
Pasta, which boosted energy levels, was the pre-match dish Wenger preferred the players to eat. But again, he stopped short of insisting. "Nigel Winterburn wasn't used to having that kind of pre-match meal and Nigel went back to poached eggs on toast. Arsene was fine with that. He wasn't dictatorial in any way. It was suggested," says David Platt. Once more, none of this was entirely new to all the Arsenal players. Adams had been introduced to a book by Robert Haas called Eat to Win as far back as 1987. "We were always concerned about our diet," he says. "It just so happened that I would be going out on a Saturday night and putting 30 pints of lager down my neck over the weekend."
For training sessions, Wenger was the first to arrive and the last to leave. And it was here that he was at his most dictatorial. He ran things by the stopwatch. "It was just very, very organised and very detailed," says Platt.
To the annoyance of the players, games were timed to the second - no more than 10 minutes each way - and if they ended in a draw there was no golden goal, but penalties. When the goalkeeping coach Bob Wilson prepared Seaman and the reserve keepers, he would know his time was up when Wenger called over and said, "Bob, you've got two minutes." Which meant 120 seconds. According to Martin Keown, "We don't overtrain by a minute. It's all timed scientifically." A typical session would last no more than 45 minutes.
One area where timing was applied even more strenuously was in a form of muscle-strengthening exercises known as plyometrics. Isometric exercises are a form of muscle-strengthening exercises that don't put any strain on the joints. Plyometrics involve much more strain but produce vastly more dramatic results. Long used by sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers to build up power levels, the exercises were new enough to English football that Wenger had to demonstrate them himself. They involved sudden ballistic movements in the form of bounding exercises - hopping, skipping and jumping. Wenger used them to top up the conditioning of super-fit players in the midst of an endless blur of matches.
It didn't take long for Arsenal's players to become the fittest and leanest in the Premiership. More specifically, Wenger's training produced players who were able to peak at the appropriate moments in the season - what sports scientists call periodising. The famous run-in in the spring of 1998 was a triumph of periodisation. Arsenal were literally stronger at the death.
This was the truly revolutionary part of Wenger's regime. The odd thing is that the revolution was bloodless. "I've never seen a player lose it with Arsene," says an insider, "where I've seen players lose it with every other manager I've ever seen." There are two reasons for that, one of them obvious: results. These scientific preparations translated, less than two years after his arrival, into the Premiership title and FA Cup double. The second reason was Wenger's reward for the first. Arsenal moved to a new training ground.
The new palace was built at a cost of £12m, paid for out of the protracted sale of Anelka to Real Madrid in August 1999 for almost twice that sum. It was the kind of facility Wenger had originally tried to secure for his players at Monaco, but which failed to materialise in seven years. Now at London Colney in Hertfordshire, backed by a board that was prepared to believe in him, he started all over again. The building was designed more or less to his specifications, and inhabited according to his rules. These largely revolved around hygiene. When people enter the main ground floor they are required to take off their shoes and put on flip-flops provided. At the other end of the building there is a separate exit and entrance to the pitches beyond. When players come in, they remove muddy boots and kit and put on white towelling dressing-gowns and flip-flops. No mud is allowed through the "dirty room" and into the building.
There is no way through to the inner sanctum for anyone who has not been given security clearance. But this is what it looks like: the building is shaped rather like a boat, and is on two floors. The feel of the place is futuristic, like something by Norman Foster. There is glass and natural wood everywhere, plus the inevitable framed photographs of great Gunners moments, all of them in the Wenger era. The ground floor is divided into two sides. One of them is entirely given over to the Academy, with school rooms, a computer area and extra changing rooms for visiting teams and referees. The other side has the senior administrative area, including Wenger's office and the coaches' changing room. Further down is a huge and impressive American-style locker room for the first team, which has capacity for up to 30 players. There is an extension where the visiting nutritionist Yann Rougier has his office, next to the physios' area. There is a large gym.
The middle of the building contains the medical area, the beds, the jacuzzi and a swimming pool with a moveable floor. The depth can be adjusted from 6in to 5ft5in, giving an injured player scope to run in shallow water or, if he mustn't load an injured foot, knee or ankle, there is the option of strapping a float to his back and running without touching the bottom. All along one side of the pool is a window. According to Wenger, leg injuries can be better observed and diagnosed when a player is walking through water. The pool has floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on to pitches.
The pitches themselves seem to go on forever. They are all in pristine condition, like golf greens, meticulously flat and, in the case of two of them, undersoil-heated. Such was Wenger's attention to detail that he instructed the club groundsman to prepare pitches of exactly the same dimensions and texture as the playing surface at Highbury.
After training, the players repair upstairs, which is one vast room containing a restaurant, and sofas for catatonic slumping. The first team eat at one end, the academy members at the other. Wenger personally selected soothing pastel shades, rather than the fierce club colour of red, for the walls.
It is the personal fiefdom of one man, a testament to the faith that the board of the directors have in Wenger and the magic he can conjure every time 11 men run onto a football pitch with the image of a cannon on their shirt. No one in the history of English football has ever done more, by way of preparation, to ensure that his team are not firing blanks.
And when the players go home, Wenger remains. He stays till past six every night, which is not late for a banker but is for someone who watches more football at home and then works all weekend. He finds the time to tend to his own fitness. On the morning of a game he swims at the team hotel. He never, under any circumstances, joins the players, either in a round of golf, which he doesn't play, or in the practice games. But every so often, he likes to kick a ball. Sometimes he will wander over to where the goalkeepers are coaching and decide to join in. He pings shots into the corner, bending, driving, lifting the ball beyond the reach of his keepers. "Technically he may not be the world's greatest player," says one of his coaches, "but his knowledge of what part of the body to control the ball, how to play the ball, how to run with it - you would have thought he was Johann Cruyff."
Hrm, depends. Basically, a function of objectives and available resources.
The big picture and long-term plan has probably been mapped out already, tying in with the season's transfer policy, team/personal training schedules and charting your resources.
Barring any contingencies, 1st question is likely be which competition and desired result - win, draw or in exceptional cases, lose?
Studies/data on the opposition should already be ready and done weeks before leading up to the encounter.
1. Formation - maximize strengths, exploit weaknesses, minimize exposure of your own and drafting plan Bs/Cs during the course of the match.
2. Players - primary characteristics/attributes (CM4 stats), player vs player matchups (Ferrara v Shevchenko = courting death)
3. Tangibles - physical condition, performance in training etc
4. Intangibles - form, experience, hunger, motivation etc
2, 3 and 4 are invariably linked so much so that you can't have something without the other. The worst thing is such aspects fluctuate all the time. The endless and often logic defying combinations makes life very difficult for the coach, which probably accounts for some of their bizarre tendencies. Tudor, for example, is exempt from all sensible considerations.
In modern football, the variables keep increasing and are virtually endless. Nothing (especially Italian football and particularly Juventus, the epitome of professionalism) is left to chance and nothing should ever be taken for granted. Everything which can be squeezed will be to gain that little advantage which could make all the difference. The jobscope has to be split. Specialization has to come in. There is simply too much for the central figure aka the coach (which again differs in England where they're known as managers) to handle nowadays though ultimately, he makes the final decisions.
Football may still be considered an art but its becoming more of a science by the day. Some rather long examples from Arsenal and Milan; the advances are quite astonishing (for me at least) If anybody remembered our face-off with the "Star Team" Dynamo Kyiv in CL 97/98, the late Lobanovsky took it to another level ...
Exclusive: Milan - Lab (plagiarised from San_Siro, xtratime)
Guys, this a post made by a fellow Milanista, Chilo, on DM which is worth sharing with the rest of you Milanisti and non Milanisti. It's talks about what really is Milan Lab and how it helps Milan. This article really emphasis how much of an avant-guardiste is Milan as a clubas being once again, the first to launch such a thing as Milan Lab. Enjoy and comment. Again a huge thanks to you amigo Chilo for sharing this with us!
Yesterday a magazine in Belgium came out ... and every week there is one football thingy in it ... As next week it's Milan-Bruges, the magazine HUMO had an interview with Doctor Meersseman, Belgian doctor that is already in Milanello for a long time.
He came to Milanello some decades ago, becuz he was the chiropracticor of some famous people ... Also Berlusconi went to him and he was so impressed, that he offered him a job at AC Milan.!!
Well, to be honest, this interview AMAZED me that i would like to share it with you guys!
It's majorly about Milan Lab. A few years ago he insisted for this idea, but the board found 3 million of $ too much for a 'toy' for the doctor! It all started with the signing of Redondo for 25 million of bucks ... Also his wage was around that kind of money. So in the end he went to the board and said: Redondo costed Milan 50 million bucks while we could have prevented his injury for the amount of 3 million dollars! All of a sudden the board was interested
---> Redondo in his first runs at Milanello had a soar muscle in his leg (same leg as his later injury) ... 3 days after he was alright. But a few days later he twisted his knee. Meersseman was convinced that this injury was the cause of his injury a week before.
---> So, therefore Milan Lab was born
---> How does milan Lab work?
Hmmm interesting question, but a very complex answer!
They keep information about players, hundreds of information and put them in a neutral network that finds links. If nesta peaks every time when he ate 2 times a week fish, the computer finds that link automatically. Every player has to undergo tests every two weeks, between 60 and 120 mins. Every home game is registered with 8 cameras. Every player will be scouted and analyzed. They know exactly how many sprints, km's etc every player did on the field! Also the daily input of information on the training, will be done by the medical and the technical staff! what's the temperature of the field, what kind of studs have the players, etc ...
There are 3 kind of tests:
- structural-functional
- biochemic - biofysic
- emotional - psychologic
--> the emotional psychologic is the most easy actually to understand! Do they suffer from stress, do they have enough self confidence
--> Biochemic and biofysic tests are related to . Who must go on a diet, which extravitamins or minerals must be added and so on! They also test certain things in the players's blood.
--> Structural - functional is the test of the human body! How good is their condition, how do they perform on the field. They analyze the back, their attitude, the way they walk, and so on! Also they analyze how they chew! Persons that have a good chewing have better muscles in the neck, but also a neurologic ballance in their body! If meersseman has to appoint one doctor, it would be a dentist! An example: Seedorf had a muscular problem in his leg, dunno how it's called ... the place next to your testicels ... Meersseman went with seedorf to the dentist, he pulled a tooth, and all of a sudden the pain disappeared ...
He also says that in the beginning the milan players were very sceptical of Milan Lab ... but after a while players went to milan lab every week to test becuz they wanted to know what their problem was, or why it was they were in such a great condition!
Also the players can look into their performance archieves! Every month a result will be hang in the dressing room ... So the concurrence will be motivated to do better tests a month later!
---> In vertical jump serginoh was the best last year!
---> the five first meter sprint, dida was the best!
---> overall MALDINI was the best!
That last thing is really remarkable he says, becuz this doctor is convinced that with Milan Lab, careers could be extended! Maldini, in condition of his life! Billy, again with milan and pretty secure despite his age! Cafu and pancaro ... also performing well!
He says, now we can sign players that are practically over their top, but when they come at milan, we can reach their top again ... this way those players dont cost a lot of money! Also for young players it's interesting ... becuz this way they can see if a young player is a great tallent or not ... So milan could not pay much money, for youngsters and older players ...
At this moment, he is willing to convince lieven maesschalck, a famous belgian doctor that worked with many athletes, which careers were almost over! He's really an amzing doctor: His methods are really special! when somebody comes to him, that person will cry untill his revalidation is over ... he hurts his athletes so much that they will cry ... but this way he can cure them earlier than expected ... so in stead of 5 months of revalidation, only 3 ... but the effort of the athlete will be harder, much harder
Okay, back to milan lab
The interviewer asked meersseman ... so noone can cheat the fysical tests ... but they can cheat about the mental tests...
The doctor says ... absolutely not
---> why's that ... every player will have to answer a list of questions, attached with a lying detector ... they do not ask things about their sex life etc or private things ... but if a player has problems with his wife, they will know ... (not the reason but just the fact)
---> these tests are so important, that when meersseman and bruno de michelis wont give any player free for a game, when a player is not mentally all right! Last season ancelotti was not that happy with this idea ... he was angry and wanted to put players on the field that were mentally not all right ... He said, i can see in training that this player is in top condition, but during the game, all failed!!!!! once very 10 games he tried to put a player on the field that wasnt supposed to be released by the doctors, and every time it was actually a disaster
From this season on he listens and the results are good! During inter-milan rui costa didnt play becuz Milan lab predicted that rui costa was over his peak ... and that kaka was peaking in that moment! result: kaka played a superb game!
Also players that have slept bad twice a week, wont be released either becuz ... in 100% of the cases, players that dont sleep well two times a week, will fail on the field ... that is proven now by milan lab!
Milan lab is also the reason why players practise as much as possible alone ... every player has other fysical capacities, and everyone reacts otherwise than other players! so enough with those players running in group around the field ... milan only does group trainings for automatisms ... for group spirit but not for individual condition!
He also has an answer what makes fantastic football players so important! From great football players we know that they feel the ball coming ... well that's not true! great football players have better eyes, that reach more degrees, so that's why the start earlier than other players on important passes!
Also the ballance by good players between the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain is important! for rivaldo that's a very high score, but by dida it's almost perfect!
He also says that good football players have less condition becuz they have more tallent! he wants to define the word 'tallent' and wants to try to know how great football players are, fysically and mentally! and milan lab is very important in that!
AC Milan wants to have a big advantage in milan lab, but after a few years they want to commercialize it ... in 10 years a belgian team can test a player in milan lab for a certain amount of money ...
Last but not least he denies everything he has said in the past that juve were on doping! he said that vs real madrid they were in top condition, and there was no way that theywould have that same condition in the final!
---> so that's why so many people were pissed off becuz of the first game vs inter?
---> that's why appiah probably never came to milan ... becuz his tests werent good enough?
---> and last but not least, the signing of redondo wasnt for nothing!"
Arsenal
When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 it was out with egg and chips and in with raw vegetables and pasta. But that was only the start of his revolution. In the final extract from a gripping new biography, Jasper Rees reveals some of the Frenchman's secret weapons - including an adjustable swimming pool and soothing pastel shades in the canteen.
Tuesday August 19, 2003
The Guardian
Arsenal was the job Arsene Wenger had been waiting for all his footballing life. It was a culmination of everything, a validation of the choice he had made all those years ago to amass an encyclopaedic knowledge of every conceivable aspect of the game. He felt he had come to the home of football, where the connection between the fans and the team trounced anything he had thus far experienced. In Monaco there were no supporters to speak of, and in Japan fanaticism was only skin-deep. His first games at Highbury, with the small see-through dug-out so close to the fans, assaulted his senses, and those of all the French players he brought in.
If Wenger had waited for this job, he had also prepared for it. Many of the changes he effected at Arsenal were previously road-tested at Monaco and Nancy. This being an old club, however, with entrenched traditions, he understood that he couldn't change everything at once. When he arrived, Wenger chose to drive the club forward with a mixed economy of revolution and evolution. He reassured players that some things were going to stay the same, even as others changed out of all recognition. The first decision he took was to persevere with most of the existing squad, and specifically the existing defence. The famous back five of David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn had already clocked up hundreds of hours together, and racked up countless clean sheets, but they were nearly all the far side of 30. Despite the fact that at Monaco he had signed the 32-year-old Patrick Battiston, Wenger believed that that was precisely the age a footballer could no longer hack it at the top.
Adams, who was pushing 30, recalls: "He would say things like, 'Physically a professional footballer is finished when they are over 30. It is not possible to play at that age.' He believed that players over 30 were dead. Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn proved him wrong. They proved that with desire, commitment, and by looking after themselves, they could play well into their 30s at the top level. He acknowledged that and let them do it instead of getting rid of them. If you are in a beautiful house you don't go moving to a terrace. That's what he realised."
Wenger encouraged all his foreign players to learn English, the language in which he gave team talks. But the training ground was further gallicised by the hiring of Boro Primorac and a coterie of drop-in French health and fitness gurus - Yann Rougier, a specialist in dietary supplements, his assistant Hervé Castel, and osteopath Philippe Boixel.
They were a colourful bunch. One of Dr Rougier's other business ventures was the marketing of a herbal remedy to enhance sexual performance. Boixel specialised in a very French and not always scientific brand of lateral-thinking cures when faced with a complex injury problem. In an effort to cure troublesome Achilles tendon injuries, players might have the alignment of their wisdom teeth checked by x-ray or tomatoes removed from their diets.
Nutrition was another area where change was necessary. Wenger arrived from Japan, where he'd spotted that there was almost no obesity. The staple diet of boiled vegetables, fish and rice was perfect for a footballer. In an ideal world the entire squad would have turned Japanese on the spot. The central tenet of Wenger's nutritional philosophy was pretty simple: if you eat a sticky toffee pudding, you'll play like one. He frowned on red meat, eggs, chips, baked beans - a caricature of the English footballer's staple fuel. His dietician came in and explained the benefits of pasta, boiled chicken, steamed fish, raw vegetables and water.
Pasta, which boosted energy levels, was the pre-match dish Wenger preferred the players to eat. But again, he stopped short of insisting. "Nigel Winterburn wasn't used to having that kind of pre-match meal and Nigel went back to poached eggs on toast. Arsene was fine with that. He wasn't dictatorial in any way. It was suggested," says David Platt. Once more, none of this was entirely new to all the Arsenal players. Adams had been introduced to a book by Robert Haas called Eat to Win as far back as 1987. "We were always concerned about our diet," he says. "It just so happened that I would be going out on a Saturday night and putting 30 pints of lager down my neck over the weekend."
For training sessions, Wenger was the first to arrive and the last to leave. And it was here that he was at his most dictatorial. He ran things by the stopwatch. "It was just very, very organised and very detailed," says Platt.
To the annoyance of the players, games were timed to the second - no more than 10 minutes each way - and if they ended in a draw there was no golden goal, but penalties. When the goalkeeping coach Bob Wilson prepared Seaman and the reserve keepers, he would know his time was up when Wenger called over and said, "Bob, you've got two minutes." Which meant 120 seconds. According to Martin Keown, "We don't overtrain by a minute. It's all timed scientifically." A typical session would last no more than 45 minutes.
One area where timing was applied even more strenuously was in a form of muscle-strengthening exercises known as plyometrics. Isometric exercises are a form of muscle-strengthening exercises that don't put any strain on the joints. Plyometrics involve much more strain but produce vastly more dramatic results. Long used by sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers to build up power levels, the exercises were new enough to English football that Wenger had to demonstrate them himself. They involved sudden ballistic movements in the form of bounding exercises - hopping, skipping and jumping. Wenger used them to top up the conditioning of super-fit players in the midst of an endless blur of matches.
It didn't take long for Arsenal's players to become the fittest and leanest in the Premiership. More specifically, Wenger's training produced players who were able to peak at the appropriate moments in the season - what sports scientists call periodising. The famous run-in in the spring of 1998 was a triumph of periodisation. Arsenal were literally stronger at the death.
This was the truly revolutionary part of Wenger's regime. The odd thing is that the revolution was bloodless. "I've never seen a player lose it with Arsene," says an insider, "where I've seen players lose it with every other manager I've ever seen." There are two reasons for that, one of them obvious: results. These scientific preparations translated, less than two years after his arrival, into the Premiership title and FA Cup double. The second reason was Wenger's reward for the first. Arsenal moved to a new training ground.
The new palace was built at a cost of £12m, paid for out of the protracted sale of Anelka to Real Madrid in August 1999 for almost twice that sum. It was the kind of facility Wenger had originally tried to secure for his players at Monaco, but which failed to materialise in seven years. Now at London Colney in Hertfordshire, backed by a board that was prepared to believe in him, he started all over again. The building was designed more or less to his specifications, and inhabited according to his rules. These largely revolved around hygiene. When people enter the main ground floor they are required to take off their shoes and put on flip-flops provided. At the other end of the building there is a separate exit and entrance to the pitches beyond. When players come in, they remove muddy boots and kit and put on white towelling dressing-gowns and flip-flops. No mud is allowed through the "dirty room" and into the building.
There is no way through to the inner sanctum for anyone who has not been given security clearance. But this is what it looks like: the building is shaped rather like a boat, and is on two floors. The feel of the place is futuristic, like something by Norman Foster. There is glass and natural wood everywhere, plus the inevitable framed photographs of great Gunners moments, all of them in the Wenger era. The ground floor is divided into two sides. One of them is entirely given over to the Academy, with school rooms, a computer area and extra changing rooms for visiting teams and referees. The other side has the senior administrative area, including Wenger's office and the coaches' changing room. Further down is a huge and impressive American-style locker room for the first team, which has capacity for up to 30 players. There is an extension where the visiting nutritionist Yann Rougier has his office, next to the physios' area. There is a large gym.
The middle of the building contains the medical area, the beds, the jacuzzi and a swimming pool with a moveable floor. The depth can be adjusted from 6in to 5ft5in, giving an injured player scope to run in shallow water or, if he mustn't load an injured foot, knee or ankle, there is the option of strapping a float to his back and running without touching the bottom. All along one side of the pool is a window. According to Wenger, leg injuries can be better observed and diagnosed when a player is walking through water. The pool has floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on to pitches.
The pitches themselves seem to go on forever. They are all in pristine condition, like golf greens, meticulously flat and, in the case of two of them, undersoil-heated. Such was Wenger's attention to detail that he instructed the club groundsman to prepare pitches of exactly the same dimensions and texture as the playing surface at Highbury.
After training, the players repair upstairs, which is one vast room containing a restaurant, and sofas for catatonic slumping. The first team eat at one end, the academy members at the other. Wenger personally selected soothing pastel shades, rather than the fierce club colour of red, for the walls.
It is the personal fiefdom of one man, a testament to the faith that the board of the directors have in Wenger and the magic he can conjure every time 11 men run onto a football pitch with the image of a cannon on their shirt. No one in the history of English football has ever done more, by way of preparation, to ensure that his team are not firing blanks.
And when the players go home, Wenger remains. He stays till past six every night, which is not late for a banker but is for someone who watches more football at home and then works all weekend. He finds the time to tend to his own fitness. On the morning of a game he swims at the team hotel. He never, under any circumstances, joins the players, either in a round of golf, which he doesn't play, or in the practice games. But every so often, he likes to kick a ball. Sometimes he will wander over to where the goalkeepers are coaching and decide to join in. He pings shots into the corner, bending, driving, lifting the ball beyond the reach of his keepers. "Technically he may not be the world's greatest player," says one of his coaches, "but his knowledge of what part of the body to control the ball, how to play the ball, how to run with it - you would have thought he was Johann Cruyff."