BBM’s plan for strong finish
BRIAN Barry-Murphy’s pre-season planning is designed with the end of the 2019/20 campaign in mind.
The Dale chief insists the whole ethos behind his preparations is to ensure his squad are able to race across the finish line – and the way to do that is by putting ‘gradual building blocks’ in place.
Dale followed up their competitive run out against Championship outfit Huddersfield with a 3-2 victory against Oldham at Boundary Park on Saturday.
“At the moment, the level of conditioning doesn’t allow us to be at full tilt for the full duration of a game, but the plan is that we can play at that
●●DON’T miss your 2019/20 Rochdale fixture card - FREE in Saturday’s Rochdale Observer speed and intensity for longer and longer as we progress through pre-season,” said BBM.
“I don’t believe it’s how fast you start the season, it’s how strong you can finish the season.
“Our lads have put an awful lot of work into the next few weeks and we’ve got a very specific training regime that we’re working towards. There’s a huge element of building towards the fitness and conditioning that Kevin Gibbins wants our team to play at.
“But we’re a long way from where we want to be, and we can only get there through gradual building blocks and really applying ourselves in a focussed and committed manner in training every day. The Huddersfield match was a continuation of that and the lads showed real elements of starting to bring speed into their game. It was good to see those elements of speed in the performance as they build up towards an exciting part of the pre-season plan.”