How much fitter is one Premier League player than one League One one?

[alan partridge]

well? Seeing as we'll be up against some this saturday.

It's often mentioned, even by his Lordship Poyet once this season I think.

I can see that Premier teams have better facilities and can probably pick and chose the very best 'experts', but they are all still professional footballers, and our league has 4 extra teams in it.

Anyone knowledgeable about this kind of thing? Is the difference negligible or pretty wide?

 

[Mellotron]

I like how many times you managed to get the word "one" into the title.

 

[Simster]

well? Seeing as we'll be up against some this saturday.

It's often mentioned, even by his Lordship Poyet once this season I think.

I can see that Premier teams have better facilities and can probably pick and chose the very best 'experts', but they are all still professional footballers, and our league has 4 extra teams in it.

Anyone knowledgeable about this kind of thing? Is the difference negligible or pretty wide?

I'd imagine fitness levels vary wildly in the third division, but a top third division team with decent facilities will not be too far behind a Premiership outfit in this particular discipline. We'll see, as Albion are clearly a club that looks after its players properly - we haven't had many injury problems, and that speaks volumes.

 

[nwgull]

I imagine they would be little difference, they're all full time professional sportsmen so a league 1 player can spend as much time on fitness training as a premier league player. It's possible that a more talented premier league player may have more natural stamina, in the same way that some athletes are just better runners than other equally trained athletes, but I'd be surprised if there's much in it when it comes to a more technical sport like football.

 

[the right footed denilson]

The more skillfull you are the less effort it takes to do something. So if a Premiership player and League One player are compared over a match, it might appear that they have had very similar games, but it is likely the League One player will tire more quickly because they'd actually use more energy doing the same thing- taking a few more touches, making slightly different runs etc.
I think this is the real difference. It's not the fitness levels, it's the efficency.

 

[upthealbion1970]

About 3 more

 

[Pantani]

The more skillfull you are the less effort it takes to do something. So if a Premiership player and League One player are compared over a match, it might appear that they have had very similar games, but it is likely the League One player will tire more quickly because they'd actually use more energy doing the same thing- taking a few more touches, making slightly different runs etc.
I think this is the real difference. It's not the fitness levels, it's the efficency.

Precisely. Lower league players are invariably fired up and chasing every ball too, when against higher opposition. Adding in NWGull's point about Prem teams having more natural athletes in their teams and you get the difference between the two.

 

[Gritt23]

I would suggest there is a difference, as strength and natural levels of fitness are attributes that will contribute to how far you progress in the game. But, for a one-off Cup game, I would have thought that is going to be a small enough difference that the desire to win the game would have more of a difference. The team who "wants it more" will appear fitter on the day, than the team who treats this as an unnecessary distraction to their League programme.

 

[alan partridge]

I like how many times you managed to get the word "one" into the title.

good wasn't it?

 

[the right footed denilson]

We won't tire. We play far too efficently and are at a point in the season where fitness levels will be at their peak.
The result won't be decided on fitness levels, it'll be decided on how we deal with a more complete form of football- i'e skill and physicality.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

ask their partners ?

 

[beorhthelm]

i dont expect the difference is much these days and will be down to individual player attributes rather than all the team being off the pace.

having said that, it comes down to how training is worked, which differs club to club. My Leicester supporting college tells me how under Sousa he didn't bother with fitness training and even thought it was detremental, stopping players who formed an after school jogging club when the player noticed they were losing fitness.

 

[alan partridge]

stopping players who formed an after school jogging club when the player noticed they were losing fitness.

to be fair, grown men starting an after school jogging club does sound a bit dodgy

 

[Mellotron]

Two examples:

Villa game. I thought we looked pretty knackered for most of the second half (understandably) while there was no sign of any of their players running out of puff.

Portsmouth. I thought they lasted the distance very well (especially for 10 men) and were still really trying to get down our wings in the last 10-15 mins.

 

[Gordon Bennett]

I would suggest there is a difference, as strength and natural levels of fitness are attributes that will contribute to how far you progress in the game. But, for a one-off Cup game, I would have thought that is going to be a small enough difference that the desire to win the game would have more of a difference. The team who "wants it more" will appear fitter on the day, than the team who treats this as an unnecessary distraction to their League programme.

Agreed. I would have thought that generally fitness/strength/speed is part of what determines how far a player progreses these days. I remember looking at the Man City players when we played them at Withdean and they seemed fitter and quicker but clearly some of them weren't that interested in playing or assumed they just needed to be on the pitch to win and in the end that was probably the difference - our players wanted it more. I would guess the players these days under Poyet are fitter than they were under Adams, so a one-off cup game could be quite close if our players are up for it.

 

[Napper]

Can't see how it can be massively different. Human body and surely even at League 1 level the players are pushed hard.

The diets will be tighter in the premier though so that may make a slight difference