this post was published exactly one year ago:
Barcelona announced today on its official website that new Barcelona manager Jose Guardiola has finalized the team that will assist him during his time as Barcelona head coach.
GUARDIOLA'S NEW TEAM OF ASSISTANTS
Sandra Sarmiento - fcbarcelona.cat
FC Barcelona’s first team coach already has his team of assistants in place: Tito Vilanova (picture left), Juan Carlos Unzué and Lorenzo Buenaventura.
This new team has four major goals for the 2008/09 season. They are to drive excellence and professionalism in the dressing room; to stress player performance and what impacts on it; provide more scientific parameterisation to monitor the players’ physical condition and health; and new training and fitness routines.
Coaching staff
Josep Guardiola will be head coach and will have three assistants: Tito Vilanova as assistant coach, Juan Carlos Unzué (picture right) as goalkeeping coach among other duties, and Lorenzo Buenaventura in charge of physical fitness and performance.
Lorenzo Buenaventura
Born in Seville, the physical fitness coach has come to FC Barcelona after a spell at Cadiz CF. Buenaventura has also worked at RCD Espanyol, Atlético de Madrid and for Argentina. He will be in charge of the team’s physical preparation with three aims:
- Tactical physical fitness work to make training more intense
- Planning individual and group physical training, scientific measurement and continuous assessment of levels of strength, stamina and speed of players.
- Managing all the variables which affect a player’s performance: performance on the field, individual physical preparation, diets, rest, avoiding injury, and sports physiology and psychology.
Fitness coaches
The first team will have three fitness coaches working under Lorenzo Buenaventura: Paco Seirul•lo as lead fitness coach; Aureli Altimira, who last season was with Josep Guardiola at Barça B, will be in charge of field work; and Francesc Cos will be in charge of strength work.
The doctors
Ricard Pruna and Daniel Medina will look after the footballers’ health. Medina was with Barça B and the indoor football team last season. New this season is the setting up of the physiology applied to top level sport department, led by physiologist Esteban Gorostiaga’s team. With extensive experience in professional football (Liverpool, Valencia, Osasuna, etc.), Gorostiaga is also a member of the Spanish Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission.
All the doctors, physiotherapists and chiropodists in the medical section will work closely with the physical fitness department to maximise physical performance and reduce injury rates.
http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada07-08/06/n080630104769.html
pep's opinion:
the arrival of buenaventura was already known, but that he really becomes guardiola's assistant (kind of replacing eusebio) shows the emphasis guardiola will lie on the physical preparation. in that perspective the most important change could be the appointment of gorostiaga, who apparently could introduce some kind of "barça lab". one of my points of view about the team performance last season has been that the dramatic collapse of the team from february on can only have been caused by physical reasons, which makes me very pleased about this first 'revolution' of guardiola.
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1 comment:
Anonymous said...
Isn't that former Liverpool coach once linked with Barca (Pako)?
I thought he would been one to be considered part of new coaching team.
pep said...
Pako Ayestaran has indeed been linked with Barcelona in the past but isn't there.
Marc said...
this is the most significant bit of news this summer. I barca over the last three years have suffered from a lack of physical preparation for the long campaign. It is the only way to explain why multiple players seem to pick up the same type of serious knee and muscle injuries in the same season. Sammy eto'o was never particularly injury prone before he got to barca.. and look at him now. A strong backline and a fully fit team caould put us right back up there..
Anonymous said...
I'm pleased to see that Pep's aware of the problems surrounding the 1st team last year and that he has an ambitious plan set in place. We are not prevy to the behind the scenes changes which I'm sure have already begun. We can only wait until the players grace the pitch to judge for ourselves wether Pep's plan has been a success or failure.
Kxevin said...
This is great news, frankly more exciting than any player transfer or rumor. Many of us observed that the lads were flagging over the course of a long season, and getting the kinds of injuries that are preventable. Muscle tears are preventable with strength and flexibility training.
Fitness over the course of a long season that is contested on three fronts, is critical. A deep bench is the other thing that will help.
This doesn't even take into account the "he's injured, no he isn't" Ronaldinho chaos of last season.
Sid said...
Arent we becoming a bit too german with desire for pace, work rate, physical presence, dead ball skills and now this emphasis on fitness. I remember Klinsman with his maniac emphasis on fitmess before the world cup.
But i will be happy if we can incorporate all this without losing ut on flair and beautiful football.
Ramzi Tanani said...
Sid...I am one of the people who may not join the majority of critics who always ask questions about "efficiency or attractive" or "sexy or productive" styles, because i honestly don't believe there is a contradiction between being "a pleasure for the eye" and being mature tactically and with wild teeth. I believe its up to the kind of squads u have that mostly dictate ur style. for example, for a team like Chelsea, u can only produce productive with no flavor performance as long as they depend on players like lampard, essien, mikel,drogba and so on...but when a team like barca have xavi,iniesta, messi, bojan, alvis and co,u don't really need to worry about the style of football u can expect, their technique is there,their skill on the ball is no doubt,nothing can take that away from them EXCEPT when they r "physically unfit" then even though their mind know what to do, and their skilled talent know how to do it,their exhausted bodies just cant execute...pepe is just trying to avoid that...my only concern was that pepe join the fans who demanded change in tactical structure, but since he said he will stick to 4-3-3(and hopefully he just switch the midfield structure to 2DM&1AM specially in away CL games), and after following the transfers barca graped...i can tell u i have never been that excited for the season to start.
ife said...
am happy with this fitness plan.i hope it helps our players on the pitch.
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