England manager Gareth Southgate believes his coaching and performance staff have overcome the tendency for players to appear tired when playing for the national team by creating an environment of optimal “psychological freshness”.
After a gruelling Premier League season complicated and squeezed by the pandemic there were concerns that England’s Euro 2020 plans could be derailed by injuries. Yet while there were undoubtedly problems in the build-up, Southgate and his staff have ensured that all 26 members of his squad have made it through the tournament and are available for Sunday’s final against Italy.
Physical fitness is, of course, essential to that and Southgate’s team have been especially careful not to overwork the players, but England’s manager considers the psychological side to be all-important in stopping players feeling jaded.
They have achieved this by creating a stress-free environment at their St George’s Park training centre, where the team has been based for the tournament, and as much as possible keeping them insulated from the hysteria of the outside world. This has included basketball hoops, table tennis, video games, hot yoga pods and inflatable unicorn-filled swimming pools.
“I think it’s the psychological freshness that’s the key,” Southgate explained. “We felt that the environment that we wanted to create needed to be one that refreshed the players, that allowed them to enjoy their downtime, that gave them some freedom even in these moments where freedom is difficult, but by being at St George’s we’ve actually been able to give them that freedom and that’s the key. You can talk about fatigue, you can talk about the season, but to get the physical training right and to get the psychological freshness right is key to creating the energy that is needed.”
Captain Harry Kane’s fitness was questioned in the group stages, when he failed to score, but his four goals in three knockout games have left him with a shot at winning the Golden Boot, with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way on five goals. Kane has played 64 matches for Tottenham and England this season and run 37 miles in six games at the Euros.
Southgate revealed that his staff do not to focus overly on fitness in training when the players meet up.
“The players are fit and we’re very professional,” he said. “We’re very good, [assistant manager] Steve [Holland] and our sports scientist team, in terms of planning the training. We don’t overload the players, we’ve been conscious of that going back years.
“When they’re with us, we can’t improve them physically so we don’t overtrain and we keep that freshness and we have minimal injuries in our camps, muscular injuries are very rare. When we do get one there’s an enormous drama, of course, but if you look across the years we haven’t lost many players in that manner and at this moment in time we still have 26 players available.”
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- Why there have been so many own goals – from tiredness to lazy defending
- We need to talk about Jordan Pickford – the unsung hero of this England team
- How to watch every Euro 2020 match on TV and online in the UK
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3qUYRvE
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