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Its all season bsky.app/profile/dank...

For context, City outran Chelsea by 8km today. Almost a whole player

Yes, it is.
Were you the one debating or was it me? It was all in good faith from my perspective.
Not every debate has to be a referendum on the coach even tho you clearly want it to be

Thats a ridiculous summary of some good debate. The crux is that a lot of fans are skeptical about the importance of total distance

They showed a banner during the game and you could hear a "greedy bastards" chant - both in first 15 mins

The player churn is only 1 factor.
The bigger question is the approach from the backroom team. We're still getting really good player availability and very low incidence of muscle injury, but the concern is we have dialled down training too much to achieve that so fitness is too low

Exactly, we won the sprinting 4.5 to 4.0km 1st half.
2nd half Fulham won 5.9 to 5.2km
Both of these pass my eye test

We've talked about it a lot on the pod all season including last week.
Theres a spectrum of sports science approaches and whilst we are still doing really well at avoiding muscular injuries, it might have come at a cost in other areas

We did outrun PSG but the gap was 2.8km.
My point is where the gap between the 2 teams is half a player or more (5km+)

Having 4 season ending injuries is a huge factor

To be clear, we dont need to outrun teams. We just need to match them or get to a level where the gap isn't significant. Once it gets above 5km its significant. We probably want to keep it below 3km

I think thats exactly what happened with the PSG 1st leg

Thats why I posted the XT race chart in my initial post.
We got away with it today and didnt let a 2 goal lead slip (bournemouth, Newcastle, atleti, leeds) or concede a late goal

Thats a macro level stat. I'm talking about individual matches where we are being outrun by 6, 7, 8 even 9km.
If its just a few metres its of no consequence. The gap between the 2 teams on the day is what matters

Context is always important and today was the same situation as Brighton. Shit happens. But being outrun by half of player or more is a massive problem and a big explainer of our results, especially the late goals

Its definitely fitness/conditioning but we cant fix it until pre season

It isn't any specific player, the whole squad (bar 1 or 2 players) need to improve their conditioning

And most of that originates with them effectively having an extra outfield player

Its a trend of the season bsky.app/profile/dank...

bsky.app/profile/dank...
At least we got the result today despite the gap being 7.5km

Yes. And if this was a one off I wouldn't comment on it.

Better attacking from #LFC today (mainly Rio) but completely overrun again.
1st half 52.8 vs 55.7 km
2nd half 55.5 v 60.0km
60km in a half is BIG from Fulham.
4.5km in a half = 1 player short.
And we looked a player short with the eye test AND it shows in the expected threat race chart

The beauty of the Masters is that they play it every year and even as a TV fan, you know every feature and contour of the back 9.
To play that back 9 in 31 finishing 2-3-3 is just absurd. Legendary performance

Don't watch golf outside of the majors and ryder cup but that today from McIlroy is as good as I've ever seen. An all-time great, in the zone and locked-in.

Well ideally you want someone who can tick every box but thats very rare.
If you cant get that then having an issue with a desirable is better than an issue with an essential

No, someone sent me the viz from the nazi site

From @markstatsbot.bsky.social

Both good points. I think he has shown he can do the flatter, long distribution if he wants