Thomas Tuchel delivered detailed insight into the recovery process for his players at England camp.
The Three Lions have been preparing for a trip to the Fortuna Arena to play Czechia on Tuesday evening, barely three days after a 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley Stadium during the weekend.
‘A lot of training is done in a meeting room’
It is the second of four fixtures in this international break as the reverse fixture with Czechia and Croatia will both be played by next Tuesday.
The schedule is relentless for those at the elite level of the game, and the manager has made steps to try to safeguard the health of his squad in this period.
“I find this format now even more challenging than any other format. I have to say a lot of traveling and playing twice within only two days of rest in between and then flying and change of pitches.
“[Also], I think the change of training in itself, the change of training style the change of style of play sometimes the change of position for a player between national team and club brings its own risks for injury with this format. [This] is my feeling at the moment [that] it increases is more than decreases.
England’s recovery schedule
“We had a home match. We were driving home then late at night at home tried to give them some sleep had then we trained in Wembley with the with the players after the match who didn't play because we had everyone on the pitch Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Saturday.
“Four days in a row we met Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, no Saturday, five days in a row.
“Even the guys trained on Saturday if they didn't start. It was necessary in our point of view to give them a total recovery day without boots and nobody on the pitch. So, we did this on Sunday morning, gave them Saturday, Sunday afternoon, free time, spare time with the families, friends, whatever.
“Then they came back to camp at 10. And in the morning, it was a training session, a light training session for the for the for the players who started the match and a bit of a longer session in the end for the guys who didn't play and then back into the bus, back into the plane and back into the bus to the hotel or press conference and then [for Tuesday] we need to be ready again.
“So, a lot of training is done in a meeting room. A lot of training is done in individual clips and talks. That's basically what it is. One day longer would really make a difference. But it is what it is. And I feel that the players today who are on the pitch are all ready to play.
Player welfare the priority
“Mentally they want to play. And we go like I said, we will always take player welfare and player health as highest priority. But we will not think further ahead than [Tuesday evening.]”
