One thing we are pleased with since Alan Shearer took over as the new manager at the club, is the management team at last is trying to reduce the enormous number of injuries we seem to get every season at Newcastle.
Iain Dowie – doing all he can to curb injuries
And that has hampered Newcastle during a number of seasons recently, so we’re pleased Alan has said he wants Paul Ferris to get to the bottom of it – and then fix it.
But it looks like Alan and Iain are already implementing some new procedures which should help the lads stay fit.
Iain Dowie told the Evening Chronicle this morning:
“I will take any extra percent I can get.” “We’ve implemented a lot of stuff.”
“They can now get on the bikes before they warm up.” “That then makes them half warmed up before they warm up.”
“If that prevents an injury, so much the better.” “Jonas looked very lively when he came on and if it’s something to do with the bike thing, it’s something that we’ll keep doing.”
“It’s very important to take any edge you can and that may have been the case at Stoke.”
And of course Alan Shearer now insists on players eating together and injured players will face late afternoons as Alan has asked all injured players to come in for additional treatment – smart move by Alan.
And former Newcastle player and local lad, Robbie Elliott, is playing a major role in in the sports science side of things at the club’s Benton Headquarters.
Iain Dowie continued:
“We make sure the lads are well hydrated, they get regular ice baths, plenty of stretching beforehand and plenty of rehab.”
“Alan has made his point –it’s all hands on deck now and we’ve implemented a few changes.” “I’d never be disrespectful and talk about anything that happened before.”
“Myself and Alan can’t change that.” “What we can affect is what happens in our time here.” “We’ve got a fantastic response from the lads on the training field.”
“We’ve had a really good work ethic – we’ve been delighted with the response.” “Rome wasn’t built in a day but we’ve embraced it all.” “There is a sharpness in it.”
It looks like some of the changes that have been made are straight forward but comment sense and it will help us in the future, that’s for sure.
Whether we can also get short term benefits, like in our next 6 games, we’ll have to wait and see, but we’re hoping for some good luck on the pitch in our last 6 games.
10 points should do it for us, and of course we have 3 home games against Portsmouth. Middlesbrough and Fulham, and if we can 3 wins there, surely we’ll be safe. And hopefully we’ll get a sold-out St. James’ Park of 52,000 fans at each of those home games, to cheer on the lads.
Tell me which other club would be sold out, when they are 3rd bottom of the league and fighting for their very lives? No wonder Simon Bird in the Daily Mirror yesterday hoped, quite sincerely, that Newcastle would survive in the Premier League this season.
Let’s hope so, but the more points we can pick up away from home, in our final 3 away games the better, and we should be able to pick up some points at Spurs and Aston Villa. We’re not too confident of getting anything at Liverpool, but who is these days?
Only Chelsea comes to mind. 😀
Comments very welcome.
12 comments so far
Ericles
Apr 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Comment #1I think this was also why Ferris was brought back to NUFC as well.
AndyNUFC
Apr 16, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Comment #23 things killed our season:
Keegan walking,
Terrible January window,
Ridiculous injury lists.
Now we have Shearer we should not have to worry about the first 2 anymore, but seriously, if we had all of our squad fit for the whole season, no way would we be where we are now.
We should look at clubs like Man Utd and Arsenal and see how they run training and deal with injury prevention.
Toon Graeme
Apr 16, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Comment #3Andynufc –
I would also say – poor pitch performances and crap tactics.
I agree with what you are saying.
The saying ‘strength in depth’ also comes to mind. A situation we have know about for ages.
I was watching the champions league match and remember when we last played in it. How we have fallen.
I am confident we can get something out of Sunday.
spiderpig
Apr 16, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Comment #4been saying that all along andy.when half of your players are injured its impossible.when the top teams lose their best players they have probably better backups than us but they still struggle.take lampard and terry away from chelskie.rooney,ronaldo and ferdinand from man u and they are very average teams.weve had 7 or 8 out all year.
AndyNUFC
Apr 16, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Comment #5Graeme of course crap players and tactics is an obvious one haha! But what I was saying was regardless of performances, tactics etc, if you have 9 players out, what sort of a chance do you have?
I honestly do not think they’ve all been genuine injuries this season, I think a lot of them have been due to a lack of passion for the club and the cause to stay up.
ronaldeano
Apr 16, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Comment #6Moobs
U going to come on here on Sunday night after your usual thrashing at WHL?
Or are you just going to cry yourself to sleep like you did last week after the piss ripping session that was aimed at YOU?
Whumpie
Apr 16, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Comment #7ronaldeano – please shut it; we don’t want wummers wummed on here.
One thing Allerdyce did right at NUFC (probably the only thing) was the conditioning regime. He got us from the top to the bottom of the Physioroom.com league in 3 months.
Also, Big Al should consult his mate Gary Speed – he played more games than anyone else at Bolton a couple of years ago, at 34. Most of that was down to Ashtanga Yoga, which I also use to keep myself from getting crocked.
4 hours of that a week and you could run a bus into our lads and they’d just bounce off with minor bruising..
chuck
Apr 16, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Comment #8Strange the number of injuries sustained over the last few years, something to do with the training surfaces or the pitch at St. james`s ?
As far as why we are in the relegation zone, it`s not difficult to figure, it`s all about bad upper management and money.
Sure we would all like to have a team that cost nothing to buy and a low weekly wage bill.
But thats completely unrealistic, compare the monies spent by other clubs and the enormous debt taken on in order to compete.
This club is rated as one of the worlds top twenty clubs as far as wealth is concerned. One would find that hard to believe by the amount of funds spent versus profits made, gives parsimony a whole new meaning.
There could be a drastic change if the club gets relegated, a loss of revenue from both attendance and league income.
Well thats the gamble Mr. ashley and his advisers made, a series of terrible decisions, what were they thinking ?
Tom_Toon
Apr 16, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Comment #9/
Tom_Toon
Apr 16, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Comment #10//
evildick
Apr 17, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Comment #11whumpie the last thing i want to see, is the lads doing group yoga!
evildick
Apr 17, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Comment #12can you picture viduka doing yoga ahaha!
but seriously, viduka may yet save our season. he always starts banging them away in time for contract renewal!