How the preseason marks the tone of the ambitions of the Premier League

He First day of the preseason is possibly the most positive moment of the whole year For professional players.

You enter the training field, you see your classmates again, you put up with the staff and feel a new wave of optimism. Everything that happened last season is in the past, replaced by a feeling of emotion and hope. You have returned in good shape, your equipment is new, the training fields have been renewed and the coaches are optimistic. It is the beginning of a new trip.

But The preseason also marks the return of stress and hard work. What was previously a moment of rest and careful preparation for the season that was coming, now is something to prepare in your own right. The deadlines and requirements are changing, and the players strive a lot during the low season.

In the past, most people perceived the preseason as a time for players to get fit for the campaign. Now, most players prepare to be fit for the preseason in order to pay to the highest level from the first moment: physically, tactically and technically. That has changed a lot since I debuted in 2004.

Nowadays, Everything is measuredand not only body weight: body composition is analyzed, scanners are carried out and strict objectives are established. When I was in Queens Park Rangers, there was a rule: since the end of the season until you returned to the preseason, you could not have gained more than 1.5 % body fat. It didn’t matter what your composition was. Did you have a 12 % body fat and returned with 13 %? You could play. But if you were 6 % and returned with 8 %, they punished you.

Things have evolved and are no longer so draconian, but The punishments continue to exist. Sometimes they are fines and other times extra training, but, being realistic, sometimes you simply do not want you to see you as the team player who is not compromised. I have seen some players away from the group and forced to complete extra work until reaching the objectives, but sometimes it is not even about the numbers, but about perception.

As happened to Manchester City Kalvin Phillips midfielder In the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when he returned after playing with England, his body fat percentage was higher than before leaving. His coach, Pep Guardiola, said he had won “overweight,” but, in relative terms, his figures were still among 1 % of the people of his age in his profession.

The coaches, of course, have their own standards. In Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, players were expected to have between 6 % and 8 % body fat, possibly tending around 6 %. That involves a huge amount of work during the “vacations” to be in full physical form the first day of the preseason.

Until now, I am thinking of the players who return and that can be familiar with the routines or with the coaching staff that makes them train; Now imagine being a new signing that enters that environment. Upon arrival, you are looking forward to causing a good impression, but it is almost as if you didn’t want to do too soon. You can’t enter and say: «Well, I want this closet. I will take this number. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that ».

It’s about trying to read the environment and capture vibrations. That is why the culture of the club is so important. If it is adequate, people welcomed you from the first moment. If you have it, they accept you immediately. Other times, people just observe you and to judge you for how you play in those first days. It is quite ruthless.

Sometimes, Players also test new. They pass the ball with more force or enter more hard in the Tackles: in part it is black humor, they only try to put it as difficult as possible to the new signing. But, in reality, what they try is to see what your character is like. How do you manage adversity? How do you manage the fact in the spotlight? It is a hard initiation, but once you overcome it, you become part of the collective.

Thierry Henry was famous for doing so in that incredible Arsenal teamaccording to Cesc Fàbregas to the BBC: “Every time a new player arrived, we used to do a five against two, which is called a” rondo. ” I always put them in the rounds because I wanted to see their level and spent a strong ball just to see if they could control it. I remember that It was just to see if they could support the pressure.

Then are the preseason tours. When I was younger, most clubs did not travel abroad and the trips they did not look like these great media events. Now, with the globalization of the Premier League in the last 10 or 15 years, players understand perfectly why they go to those places and strive to the fullest to take advantage of the experience. Being realistic, do you want to travel 12, 13 or 14 hours to play 40 degrees Celsius in a field that does not resemble those that you are going to find during the season? Probably not. But It is part of the work.

The players understand it. There is a lot of free time on these tours; They train hard and play some of these friendlies to thousands of people, but in reality They are working on things that are not necessarily seen in publiclike positional training. In that sense, it is usual: players try to accumulate minutes and get to the point where the season begins, when they can face face to face with the rivals of their league.

This intensity and concentration is what makes the lack of adequate break becomes a problem. Let’s take as an example the finalists of the FIFA Club World Cup, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. The minimum standard rest time between seasons is about three weeks. However, those three weeks usually lead to the beginning of the preseason, or perhaps a week of preseason if you have been with the selection. But the fact that this season ended when he did – the end of the Club World Cup was played on July 13 – means that the three -week break leaves the Chelsea and PSG players with a week, or perhaps less, before the season begins.

You also have to take into account Mental tiredness. These players will face players who have not played the Club World Cup in the Premier League or played with their selection and ended the season two months ago. But those who are playing these games, playing with international teams, playing for clubs that go far in competitions, those players are almost practicing a different sport.

So The preseason is a time of hope. But it is also the return to stress, tension and emotion that football entails. Now more than ever, clubs with a more solid culture and that best help players in that transition will be the ones that harvest the benefits later in the season.