Rylands Morgan got the boot/ left ?
- Thread starter Rosco
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Yes. I gather he's leaving on his own terms - I suspected he's had a call from Brendan to get ready for the next Rodgers Project, but I've no idea. As you say, he's hardly improved the general fitness of the squad in the time he's been here. In his first couple of seasons the players seemed to take about three months to get going, then in his third season they didn't get going at all, then this season they all broke down.
On a sidenote, Oliver Bartlett's name was brought up back in Jan this year.
[article]There is an argument put forward by regular followers of Borussia Dortmund that the club’s fortunes took a turn for the worse after the departure of one man, four years ago. It was not a player, nor a manager. It was their fitness coach, Oliver Bartlett.
Bartlett, a London-born Australian, joined Borussia Dortmund alongside Jurgen Klopp on 1 July 2008, having been head-hunted by director Michael Zorc while he was working for the German national team.
He was told to improve the Dortmund players’ athleticism and strength to the point where they could carry out Klopp’s relentless high-pressing game, gegenpressing.
Within the space of three years, Dortmund went on to win the Bundesliga title. They followed that with the League and Cup double in 2012. Significantly, they stayed largely injury-free, the players embracing Klopp’s methods and overpowering opponents with a thrilling, rampant brand of football.
Then, in 2012, Bartlett left to join Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Very much a disciple of Klopp, Bartlett was a key figure in implementing a similar pressing game, and Salzburg quickly went on to win the league.
Pep Guardiola, on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat with Bayern Munich in a friendly in 2013, said: “I have never played in my career against a team that has such high intensity.”
Dortmund, meanwhile, began to struggle with injuries, the list steadily mounting until it came to a head last season as they flirted with relegation, they were in the drop zone during the winter break, before eventually finishing seventh prior to Klopp’s departure.
To say Bartlett’s exit was the reason for Dortmund’s decline is a step too far, but it certainly had a big impact.
Something had changed. Injuries had been mounting for years until, in total, only three Dortmund players came through the last campaign at full fitness, and Klopp’s squad suffered 26 separate muscle injuries. High-profile stars Nuri Sahin, Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Ilkay Gundogan were all sidelined as Dortmund flirted with disaster.
The argument, essentially, is that Klopp’s style of high-energy football places too much demand on his players’ bodies until they inevitably break down with a series of niggling muscle injuries, and that without a world-class fitness coach – someone like Bartlett – it is a recipe for disaster.
All of which brings us to Liverpool, and an injury list that threatens to derail Klopp after a promising start at Anfield. After two more injuries in the Capital One Cup win over Stoke on Tuesday, Klopp goes into Friday night’s FA Cup tie at Exeter with no fewer than 10 key players sidelined – six of them with hamstring injuries, including the centre-backs Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren, playmaker Philippe Coutinho and - yet again - Daniel Sturridge.
Klopp is facing accusations – most notably from Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce and Reds legend Graeme Souness – that he is burning his players out, wearing them down.
“I don’t think Jurgen has realised how ferocious our league is,” Allardyce said. “These lads are fatiguing now with so many games in such a short period of time and are picking up muscle strains.”
Souness had previously said: "A new manager comes in and all the chat was about high press further up the field. It's hard work to do that for 90 minutes. You can do it in bursts.
"You can do it for an hour, you can do it for 70 minutes, but to do it for 90 minutes is a big demand on your legs. I just think they've fallen foul of that. It's not a coincidence, five hamstrings. To have them all at one time, I think they have to look at what they're doing in training."
It is a logical argument, although Allardyce may well be deflecting from his own team's struggles. There have been so many injuries, all of a similar nature in such a short space of time, that it is unlikely to be a case of bad luck. After Liverpool initially seemed to embrace the pressing game, dismantling Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton, they have visibly run out of steam in recent weeks.
But then again, Klopp is not the first manager to employ a pressing game – Brendan Rodgers did so to such enthralling effect in 2013-14 – and few have suffered such a spate of injuries. The answer instead may be found in the training methods.
So where does Klopp go? He will not abandon the philosophy that brought him so much success in Germany. It is tried and tested. Instead, he may look to bring in a fitness coach, or team, this summer who he feels can condition his players to the strains of gegenpressing. Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz, Klopp’s trusted assistants from Dortmund, are already in place. Could he next make a call to Bartlett? It is surely an obvious choice.
If Klopp could bring his old colleague to Anfield, it could be his most important move at Liverpool so far.[/article]
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-solve-liverpools-injury-crisis-a6800786.html
An interview dated 2014
[article]"Our football is relentless," said Red Bull Salzburg's Oliver Bartlett.
The London-born Australian was one of the behind-the-scenes experts who helped mastermind Borussia Dortmund's recovery from near financial oblivion almost a decade ago. He was head-hunted by Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc after a recommendation from Sebastian Kehl whilst Bartlett was on national team duty at the DFB.
Bartlett hails from London with a German mother, but spent his childhood in the Australian city of Darwin where he developed an interest in track-and-field. His academic studies in biology eventually brought him to the Köln Sports University and he was appointed as Dortmund's fitness coach, combining his schedule with the German national team.
His role was to help give the players the athletic capacity to carry out the philosophy of the coaches. Klopp's back-to-back title-winning teams were largely constructed around a high-pressing model with lots of quick, dynamic sprints. The likes of Lucas Barrios, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze and Nuri Sahin thrived on this strategy which brought the Ruhrpott side plenty of success on the domestic front.
Now at Red Bull Salzburg, Bartlett is part of an ambitious project led by former Hoffenheim and Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick, the club's sporting director, and former Paderborn head coach Roger Schmidt whom Bartlett describes as "one of the best up-and-coming German coaches around."
The attention on an Austrian Bundesliga team may seem odd considering the respective size and financial power the league. But Red Bull Salzburg have captured the eye in the Europa League for their intense, high-pressing style of football and a tendency to be involved in high-scoring matches. They've scored an incredible 93 goals in 27 league games this season, more than three a game.
Bartlett emphasizes the importance of Salzburg's strategy lasting for 90 minutes rather just small parts of the game. With former Barcelona man Jonathan Soriano and Alan as the two most advanced forwards, Salzburg have such a diverse range of attacking options, boasting two very complete and polished footballers.
One of the interesting ideas noted from Salzburg's taxing match preparation in training was the use of a clock. If the ball is not reclaimed after five seconds, the clock will ring. It's a way of ingraining a key strategy into the players' minds - that recovering the ball with haste is a top priority.
"We lay emphasis on recovering the ball. Ajax was a great example. They play in possession, moving the ball from left to right until a game opening appears - and we gave them no time, Bartlett said. "Their goalkeeper had the most number of ball contacts. Working as a team, we didn't let them use the ball as they wanted."
Ajax are not the only team to suffer the raw intensity of Salzburg's football - the Austrians also trounced the domineering Bayern Munich 3-0 in a winter-break friendly. All the goals came in the first-half. In addition, Salzburg also racked up a 3-1 victory over Bundesliga side Schalke.
While it may be easy to dismiss the scores from supposedly uncompetitive challenge matches, Pep Guardiola's side were only a week away from returning to the league campaign and therefore, in a normal training routine as they would be currently.
"I've never played in my career against a team that has played with such a high intensity as Red Bull Salzburg," Guardiola said after his side went down 3-0 to the Austrians. A week later, back to winning ways in the Bundesliga, he thanked Salzburg for providing his side with a winter wake-up call.
Bartlett's old club Borussia Dortmund could only limp through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a depleted squad running on empty in three competitions. But there have been comparisons between Dortmund's pressing style under Jurgen Klopp and the intensity of Salzburg's team.
"Physically, we're on another level [to Dortmund]," Bartlett said. "Experience-wise not so much. Dortmund has been doing this for a couple of years. It's only the last couple of years we've been planning this."
Bartlett acknowledges a gulf in class and salaries between his old and new clubs, but says he'd still enjoy the chance to test Salzburg against some of the top teams from the German Bundesliga and other, wealthier European leagues.
Red Bull Salzburg still have that chance to go toe-to-toe with Europe's better sides in the UEFA Europa League. After a 0-0 draw at Swiss champions FC Basel, Austria's league-leaders welcome Murat Yakin's side for the second leg tonight (21:05 CET) with the tie hanging in the balance.
"We didn't invest as much as we could physically in the first leg," Bartlett admitted having seen Salzburg drop out of Champions League qualifying last August. "Even at 80%, it was good enough for a 0-0 draw. We should be able to give them a surprise on how we can maintain this pace for the full 90 minutes."[/article]
[article]There is an argument put forward by regular followers of Borussia Dortmund that the club’s fortunes took a turn for the worse after the departure of one man, four years ago. It was not a player, nor a manager. It was their fitness coach, Oliver Bartlett.
Bartlett, a London-born Australian, joined Borussia Dortmund alongside Jurgen Klopp on 1 July 2008, having been head-hunted by director Michael Zorc while he was working for the German national team.
He was told to improve the Dortmund players’ athleticism and strength to the point where they could carry out Klopp’s relentless high-pressing game, gegenpressing.
Within the space of three years, Dortmund went on to win the Bundesliga title. They followed that with the League and Cup double in 2012. Significantly, they stayed largely injury-free, the players embracing Klopp’s methods and overpowering opponents with a thrilling, rampant brand of football.
Then, in 2012, Bartlett left to join Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Very much a disciple of Klopp, Bartlett was a key figure in implementing a similar pressing game, and Salzburg quickly went on to win the league.
Pep Guardiola, on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat with Bayern Munich in a friendly in 2013, said: “I have never played in my career against a team that has such high intensity.”
Dortmund, meanwhile, began to struggle with injuries, the list steadily mounting until it came to a head last season as they flirted with relegation, they were in the drop zone during the winter break, before eventually finishing seventh prior to Klopp’s departure.
To say Bartlett’s exit was the reason for Dortmund’s decline is a step too far, but it certainly had a big impact.
Something had changed. Injuries had been mounting for years until, in total, only three Dortmund players came through the last campaign at full fitness, and Klopp’s squad suffered 26 separate muscle injuries. High-profile stars Nuri Sahin, Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Ilkay Gundogan were all sidelined as Dortmund flirted with disaster.
The argument, essentially, is that Klopp’s style of high-energy football places too much demand on his players’ bodies until they inevitably break down with a series of niggling muscle injuries, and that without a world-class fitness coach – someone like Bartlett – it is a recipe for disaster.
All of which brings us to Liverpool, and an injury list that threatens to derail Klopp after a promising start at Anfield. After two more injuries in the Capital One Cup win over Stoke on Tuesday, Klopp goes into Friday night’s FA Cup tie at Exeter with no fewer than 10 key players sidelined – six of them with hamstring injuries, including the centre-backs Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren, playmaker Philippe Coutinho and - yet again - Daniel Sturridge.
Klopp is facing accusations – most notably from Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce and Reds legend Graeme Souness – that he is burning his players out, wearing them down.
“I don’t think Jurgen has realised how ferocious our league is,” Allardyce said. “These lads are fatiguing now with so many games in such a short period of time and are picking up muscle strains.”
Souness had previously said: "A new manager comes in and all the chat was about high press further up the field. It's hard work to do that for 90 minutes. You can do it in bursts.
"You can do it for an hour, you can do it for 70 minutes, but to do it for 90 minutes is a big demand on your legs. I just think they've fallen foul of that. It's not a coincidence, five hamstrings. To have them all at one time, I think they have to look at what they're doing in training."
It is a logical argument, although Allardyce may well be deflecting from his own team's struggles. There have been so many injuries, all of a similar nature in such a short space of time, that it is unlikely to be a case of bad luck. After Liverpool initially seemed to embrace the pressing game, dismantling Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton, they have visibly run out of steam in recent weeks.
But then again, Klopp is not the first manager to employ a pressing game – Brendan Rodgers did so to such enthralling effect in 2013-14 – and few have suffered such a spate of injuries. The answer instead may be found in the training methods.
So where does Klopp go? He will not abandon the philosophy that brought him so much success in Germany. It is tried and tested. Instead, he may look to bring in a fitness coach, or team, this summer who he feels can condition his players to the strains of gegenpressing. Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz, Klopp’s trusted assistants from Dortmund, are already in place. Could he next make a call to Bartlett? It is surely an obvious choice.
If Klopp could bring his old colleague to Anfield, it could be his most important move at Liverpool so far.[/article]
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-solve-liverpools-injury-crisis-a6800786.html
An interview dated 2014
[article]"Our football is relentless," said Red Bull Salzburg's Oliver Bartlett.
The London-born Australian was one of the behind-the-scenes experts who helped mastermind Borussia Dortmund's recovery from near financial oblivion almost a decade ago. He was head-hunted by Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc after a recommendation from Sebastian Kehl whilst Bartlett was on national team duty at the DFB.
Bartlett hails from London with a German mother, but spent his childhood in the Australian city of Darwin where he developed an interest in track-and-field. His academic studies in biology eventually brought him to the Köln Sports University and he was appointed as Dortmund's fitness coach, combining his schedule with the German national team.
His role was to help give the players the athletic capacity to carry out the philosophy of the coaches. Klopp's back-to-back title-winning teams were largely constructed around a high-pressing model with lots of quick, dynamic sprints. The likes of Lucas Barrios, Shinji Kagawa, Mario Gotze and Nuri Sahin thrived on this strategy which brought the Ruhrpott side plenty of success on the domestic front.
Now at Red Bull Salzburg, Bartlett is part of an ambitious project led by former Hoffenheim and Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick, the club's sporting director, and former Paderborn head coach Roger Schmidt whom Bartlett describes as "one of the best up-and-coming German coaches around."
The attention on an Austrian Bundesliga team may seem odd considering the respective size and financial power the league. But Red Bull Salzburg have captured the eye in the Europa League for their intense, high-pressing style of football and a tendency to be involved in high-scoring matches. They've scored an incredible 93 goals in 27 league games this season, more than three a game.
Bartlett emphasizes the importance of Salzburg's strategy lasting for 90 minutes rather just small parts of the game. With former Barcelona man Jonathan Soriano and Alan as the two most advanced forwards, Salzburg have such a diverse range of attacking options, boasting two very complete and polished footballers.
One of the interesting ideas noted from Salzburg's taxing match preparation in training was the use of a clock. If the ball is not reclaimed after five seconds, the clock will ring. It's a way of ingraining a key strategy into the players' minds - that recovering the ball with haste is a top priority.
"We lay emphasis on recovering the ball. Ajax was a great example. They play in possession, moving the ball from left to right until a game opening appears - and we gave them no time, Bartlett said. "Their goalkeeper had the most number of ball contacts. Working as a team, we didn't let them use the ball as they wanted."
Ajax are not the only team to suffer the raw intensity of Salzburg's football - the Austrians also trounced the domineering Bayern Munich 3-0 in a winter-break friendly. All the goals came in the first-half. In addition, Salzburg also racked up a 3-1 victory over Bundesliga side Schalke.
While it may be easy to dismiss the scores from supposedly uncompetitive challenge matches, Pep Guardiola's side were only a week away from returning to the league campaign and therefore, in a normal training routine as they would be currently.
"I've never played in my career against a team that has played with such a high intensity as Red Bull Salzburg," Guardiola said after his side went down 3-0 to the Austrians. A week later, back to winning ways in the Bundesliga, he thanked Salzburg for providing his side with a winter wake-up call.
Bartlett's old club Borussia Dortmund could only limp through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a depleted squad running on empty in three competitions. But there have been comparisons between Dortmund's pressing style under Jurgen Klopp and the intensity of Salzburg's team.
"Physically, we're on another level [to Dortmund]," Bartlett said. "Experience-wise not so much. Dortmund has been doing this for a couple of years. It's only the last couple of years we've been planning this."
Bartlett acknowledges a gulf in class and salaries between his old and new clubs, but says he'd still enjoy the chance to test Salzburg against some of the top teams from the German Bundesliga and other, wealthier European leagues.
Red Bull Salzburg still have that chance to go toe-to-toe with Europe's better sides in the UEFA Europa League. After a 0-0 draw at Swiss champions FC Basel, Austria's league-leaders welcome Murat Yakin's side for the second leg tonight (21:05 CET) with the tie hanging in the balance.
"We didn't invest as much as we could physically in the first leg," Bartlett admitted having seen Salzburg drop out of Champions League qualifying last August. "Even at 80%, it was good enough for a 0-0 draw. We should be able to give them a surprise on how we can maintain this pace for the full 90 minutes."[/article]
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I wonder if he may have thought to himself that Klopp's style will place even higher demands on player fitness than Rodgers' style did, that the precedent was not encouraging and that he'd do well to "get his retaliation in first". What's the betting they both end up back at Swansea?
On the link between Bartlett leaving and injuries - they could easily be the result of a few years of overtraining rather than a change. And an emphasis on extreme fitness levels would have a bigger impact in a weaker league.
He also left Salzburg for Leverkusen - who've pretty much ended up in the same place in the league with him as without him.
Regardless I'm still delighted there'll be a change
He also left Salzburg for Leverkusen - who've pretty much ended up in the same place in the league with him as without him.
Regardless I'm still delighted there'll be a change
Is this Bartlett chap some sort of mythical creature? Because when I went to take a (quick) look in transfermakrt at the number and type of injury absences for RB Salzburg and Leverkusen in the seasons he was with them and compare them to the before and/or after pictures, I don't think I see a significant difference. 😀
Happy to see the back of another of the surname-for-a-first-name brigade.
Kornmayer has worked for Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola
• Dr Ryland Morgans ended four-year stint in fitness role at Anfield in March
Andreas Kornmayer adjusts a performance monitoring device during Bayern Munich’s friendly against Internazionale in Shanghai in 2015. Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images
Andy Hunter
Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.30 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.32 BST
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Liverpool have lined up Bayern Munich’s fitness coach, Andreas Kornmayer, to become their head of fitness and conditioning next season.
Kornmayer, 41, has worked for his home-town club for more than a decade and progressed through the ranks before being promoted to first-team duties in 2010.
He has worked for Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola over the past six years but, with a summer of upheaval in store at the Allianz Arena as the Spanish coach heads for Manchester City, Kornmayer has accepted Jürgen Klopp’s offer to head Liverpool’s fitness team.
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Klopp has admired Kornmayer’s work at Bayern for several years, albeit reluctantly as he believes their fitness levels were a factor in Heynckes’s team winning the treble at his Borussia Dortmund squad’s expense in 2013.
“Don’t forget,” the Liverpool manager said this year, “the 2013 treble-winning team of Bayern was unbelievably strong and they had all their players fit until the end.”
Kornmayer, who will take up his post at Anfield in the summer, replaces Dr Ryland Morgans, who ended a four-year stint at Liverpool last month.
Morgans’ contract was due to expire at the end of the season and his first-team duties have been taken on by Andy O’Boyle, the Liverpool Under-21s fitness coach.
• Dr Ryland Morgans ended four-year stint in fitness role at Anfield in March
Andreas Kornmayer adjusts a performance monitoring device during Bayern Munich’s friendly against Internazionale in Shanghai in 2015. Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images
Andy Hunter
Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.30 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 12 April 2016 22.32 BST
Shares
7
Save for later
Liverpool have lined up Bayern Munich’s fitness coach, Andreas Kornmayer, to become their head of fitness and conditioning next season.
Kornmayer, 41, has worked for his home-town club for more than a decade and progressed through the ranks before being promoted to first-team duties in 2010.
He has worked for Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola over the past six years but, with a summer of upheaval in store at the Allianz Arena as the Spanish coach heads for Manchester City, Kornmayer has accepted Jürgen Klopp’s offer to head Liverpool’s fitness team.
Advertisement
Klopp has admired Kornmayer’s work at Bayern for several years, albeit reluctantly as he believes their fitness levels were a factor in Heynckes’s team winning the treble at his Borussia Dortmund squad’s expense in 2013.
“Don’t forget,” the Liverpool manager said this year, “the 2013 treble-winning team of Bayern was unbelievably strong and they had all their players fit until the end.”
Kornmayer, who will take up his post at Anfield in the summer, replaces Dr Ryland Morgans, who ended a four-year stint at Liverpool last month.
Morgans’ contract was due to expire at the end of the season and his first-team duties have been taken on by Andy O’Boyle, the Liverpool Under-21s fitness coach.
And you've been posting some weird pictures lately.
I mean, I don't want to throw a hysterical fit or act TOO small time, but we've just poached the Bayern Munich fitness and conditioning coach for fucks sake (albeit helped somewhat by the impending carnage of Guardiolas departure).
It's clearly an area we've struggled with for a couple of years, so what does our boss do? "Oh I'll go and grab the dude from Bayern".
Just in case you wanted a reminder of the completely different level Klopp has brought to our club, there it is.
It's clearly an area we've struggled with for a couple of years, so what does our boss do? "Oh I'll go and grab the dude from Bayern".
Just in case you wanted a reminder of the completely different level Klopp has brought to our club, there it is.
"Surnames as first names - whit's THAT all aboot? 'Have you seen Finlay by the way?' 'Oh yes, he's over there talking tae Farquhar'. I'd consider mysel' a very unlucky little 'Farquhar' to have a name like that." [Billy Connolly]
Maybe he did, and maybe it isn't just players who are attracted by the Klopp factor.
Have we got a club doctor yet?
Why do we need one when you can just send them to the gp? Saves the club a fortune.
They've still got the Academy guy Andy Massey acting as first team doctor.
He's the clubs head of medical services
As soon as Doc Iqbal left, the club hired a London firm (whose name escapes me), that specialises in finding people for top sporting positions, to find some suitable candidates. As far as I know, they're still being paid on a regular basis to do that (they were certainly being paid up until the end of last year, after about ten months of 'searching'). Last August, however, the club also advertised for a new Academy doctor, which suggested they weren't sure whether Massey was going to step up permanently or just fill the gap for a bit more. They didn't fill that position and instead hired Nolan and Partners, another London head hunters firm, to keep looking for THAT candidate.
And that's where the club still is - utterly confused about the whole issue. It's positively Parry-esque in the carelessness of the procedure. It's not even procrastination. Procrastination would actually be a sign of progress.
And that's where the club still is - utterly confused about the whole issue. It's positively Parry-esque in the carelessness of the procedure. It's not even procrastination. Procrastination would actually be a sign of progress.
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