05 Apr 2026 14:32:47
Lack of fitness really rears its head when you’re behind or towards the end of a half.
Fatigue affects concentration and you make silly mistakes, either conceding or missing easy chances.
It’s obvious that’s been a huge problem for us. At the beginning of the season we were nicking results late in games. Now other team's fitness has clearly overtaken ours. We’re on the wrong end of those outcomes.
Secondly, recently, when we’ve been behind, there seems to be no energy to turn it around.
I’m sure the players care. They’re just under-conditioned for the Premier League.
No doubt they’d be flying in the Eredivise.
Fitness and Leadership are the biggest issues the players face.
A new manager and fitness coaches can turn fitness around in the summer.
Leadership is a bigger issue.
I think we need a “midfield enforcer” to come in and be the dressing room leader we need.
The central spine of the team is weak. Isak will make a difference when fit. Becker will too, but we need to work out his long-term replacement soon.
Central defence and midfield are something which a new manager needs to work out immediately.
05 Apr 2026 15:09:08
I think you give them too much credit, Ron. Yes, we're being managed by an absolute joker, so things have to be contextualized from that point, but if the players actually cared like they should, they'd take it upon themselves to improve their fitness, be competitive in games, fight until the last, and even ignore the "coach" that they clearly do not want to play for.
Everything below the part about Eredivisie, I agree with.
05 Apr 2026 15:10:20
100%. Ruben Peeters, Lead Physical Performance Coach, brought in from Feyenoord along with Slot, is not catching anywhere near enough flack. Apparently his whole angle at Feyenoord was increasing "player availability". I can only imagine they did this by reducing the intensity/frequency of training sessions, which of course aligns with the rumours we've been hearing.
That might have worked in the Red Light League, but they're dealing with elite athletes now. Sometimes less is more, but this is not one of those times.
05 Apr 2026 16:50:47
And when exactly will they work on their fitness in the summer?
Will they be given a fitness program to do in-between the games at the World Cup?
It's going to be a long summer and longer campaign next season.
Maybe we can buy 7/8 very fit players to make up for the lack of fitness now and lack of time that we'll have getting everyone to the required fitness levels for next season.
05 Apr 2026 17:02:29
Buy 7fit players in the summer, Slot will train that out of them by xmas.
05 Apr 2026 17:35:55
FYI, JLC - Not all our players will play in the final of the World Cup. ?
05 Apr 2026 19:35:24
Not the final, Ron, but nearly all will be impacted. The fact that it is a WC year and the reduced training time haven't made the board assess the situation earlier than the end of the season is concerning.
Combined with Slot being out of ideas, losing the team, and producing terrible football for over 9 months, with no intervention, paints a really damning picture.
Obviously, changes can be made in the summer, but we're starting out so far behind, it will now be a monumental challenge for the club to get back on track at some point next season, let alone the start of the season.
Even if we get recruitment exactly right and the next manager is perfect at addressing all the problems that have developed over the last year, I'm worried we struggle for part of next season as well.
05 Apr 2026 21:03:59
The fact that our players haven’t really put much of a shift in all season (except Dom, who isn’t going to the World Cup) will probably make them perform better in USA, and they’ll probably be less gassed than players from other teams.
The World Cup will impact every Premier League squad, but our players may have a bit of a head start because they’ve been strolling for 10 months instead of battling.