Thoughts on Charlie Francis and soccer

[mighty]

@svincenz

Good points!

1. I think it is quite difficult. First, for different players the same element can be high or low intensity, and it may depend on a range of factors, first all the effort put into the practice. Soccer is first a game of skills. By the way, a soccer match is high or low CNS-wise? I wouldn’t say it’s high intensity, but we need to take into account the emotional part (CNS stress here also).
2. Apart from traumatic injuries, pretty unavoidable, you can see that the athlete injured now has a higher probability of having being injured in the last years. In Italy, say at serie A level, we have examples of players having 2/3 muscle injuries a year for ten years, despite changing teams, physical preparation, access to top-notch recovery means etc. Most injuries are athlete-related and not preparation-related, broadly speaking.

1. It ultimately has to be classed as high intensity as it contains high intensity elements, as well as the additional emotional stressors you mentioned.

2. I see what you mean now. I agree, but I wouldn’t say it’s their fault so much (not sure if you meant this), as in they don’t take repsonsibility to look after themselves, rather the physiological reason why some people continue to pick up injuries no matter the situation. I would be interested to read detailed case studies into the injury history of Owen Hargreaves (Man Utd), Louis Saha (Everton), Ledley King (Tottenham) and Micheal Owen (Newcastle Untied), including all attempts at rehabilitation, physcial preparation and the Physios’ opinion on the matter.