Speed work with Darren Campbell was hidden from Jose Mourinho by Chelsea's striker.
[Independent.co.uk] Darren Campbell took a very gratifying phone call on Saturday night as he holidayed with his family in Cyprus. It was from Andrei Shevchenko, the Chelsea forward who has recently, and belatedly, begun to show why the club felt he was worth playing Milan a fee of £31m the summer before last. For the last six weeks Campbell, who retired last summer after an athletics career which had seen him earn medals at every major championship, has been offering the beleaguered Ukrainian private sprint coaching – the former manager Jose Mourinho was not keen on the idea – during which Shevchenko appears to have rediscovered his scoring verve. The goal Shevchenko scored against Manchester City during Saturday's 6-0 rout at Stamford Bridge could have come from the lean and hungry forward of old. From the moment he collected Michael Essien's angled pass into the box and accelerated away from the last line of cover, a goal appeared certain. "When Andrei rang he was just really really thanking me and saying how grateful he was for what I had done for him," Campbell said. "He was just very, very happy. He was saying 'I feel good. I feel sharp'. The other coaches had been saying he was looking sharp in training, and that is always a good sign, because it would have been easy for me to say that, and for him to believe it, but when other people notice then it means something."
Shevchenko is not the first high-profile subject whom Campbell has coached – he has previously worked with Jonah Lomu while the Kiwi was playing rugby for Cardiff. Campbell has also been working since the start of the season with MK Dons, at the invitation of their manager, Paul Ince, and in the last couple of days he has had a regular England player expressing the wish to benefit from his expertise. "When you look at some of the other big Premiership clubs, it looks as if they are doing the same kind of thing," Campbell said. "As a Manchester United fan, I have noticed that their players run very efficiently. Arsenal's players are the same. But there are usually improvements you can make. The only player I don't think I could improve would be Thierry Henry. His technique is already up there. He could easily be a sprinter, and is the template I use with other footballers."
The link between Ukraine's scoring legend and Britain's Olympic gold and silver medallist was forged by Chelsea's club doctor, Bryan English, who had treated Campbell in his previous job as head doctor for UK Athletics, playing a big part in his return to fitness for the 2004 Olympics where he was one of the victorious sprint relay team. "Bryan rang up a couple of months ago and asked me what I was up to," said Campbell. "He asked whether I could help Andrei sharpen up his sprinting. Before the first session I had been down to Chelsea's training ground and discussed what he wanted from me. But it was made clear to me that Jose Mourinho didn't really want me working with him. Why? I couldn't make a comment on that. I was just told. But then Andrei gave me a call and said could we keep it quiet and do the sessions at his house? "Andrei lives a few miles away from Chelsea's training ground in Surrey – he has a big garden and a tennis court, and we were able to go through the drills there. He has worked very hard. In the last few games he feels there has been a definite improvement and he has been scoring, so I think our training has worked out.
"Andrei and I really hit it off. We are more friends now than anything else, although there is still the coaching relationship there. He never said a single bad thing about Mourinho. He never said anything bad about any of the other players. He was just a really nice, quiet guy who wanted to get back to his best. And when you come across someone that nice it makes it even more the case that you want to help them and want them to succeed." Campbell was an ideal choice in more than one way, given that he had experience playing football for teams including Weymouth and Plymouth Argyle while taking three years out of athletics in the mid-90s. "One of the problems you find with footballers, especially when they have picked up injuries, is that they don't rehab properly. Every time they get injured, they tend to lose a bit of speed. It's all about muscle memory. "Shevchenko is a world-class striker. He's got more than 50 goals in the Champions League and scoring is his natural gift. But he needed to recover some of his technique, to give his muscles the feeling of running fast again. His game is based on being sharp over 10, 20, 30 metres, and it was clear from early on in our sessions that he still had the speed. He was also a quick learner and all he wanted to do was to get back to scoring goals. With direction from Bryan, we have worked on problems in his lower back, on strengthening his shoulders, and on getting greater flexibility into his hip after the operation he had. It was almost like giving him an MOT."
The MOT appears to have been passed with ease; Shevchenko now seems to be motoring, and Campbell's patent success with the striker looks as if it might have encouraging ramifications. Although Campbell never spoke to Mourinho in person, he has met Chelsea's new manager, Avram Grant, who appears more amenable to the idea of his players receiving specialised sprint training. Several of Shevchenko's team-mates are understood to be keen to improve their speed under Campbell's direction, and Campbell himself is hopeful that he may soon be working in a more welcoming environment.
30 ottobre, 2007
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4 commenti:
Al di là delle (sempre gratificanti) conferme sull'educazione e sul senso del rispetto, che sono tratti distintivi della persona, sono interessanti le considerazioni del trainer olimpionico circa la rieducazione muscolare post infortunio del Balon d'Or. Si tratta - spiega - di riabilitare la "memoria" dei muscoli allo scatto, restituendo all'atleta la "sensazione" della velocità. Dunque un problema fisico autentico c'è stato - i famosi guai alla schiena - ma lavorando sul potenziamento delle spalle e sulla flessibilità dei fianchi è stato risolto (sperabilmente) o è in via di risoluzione. Campbell concorda dunque sull'opinione qua espressa di recente: l'istinto realizzativo è un dono di natura, che non viene meno; altra cosa è la velocità, che si ottiene allenando la tecnica di corsa. La magia di Sheva si sprigiona negli scatti di 10, 20, 30 metri, e a 31 anni la velocità non se ne è andata per sempre. Revisione e tagliando superati con profitto, dunque? Il tempo dirà.
È probabile che una parte dei problemi sia di natura atletico-preparatoria. Ricordo che Donadoni, infortunato per una frattura alla mandibola i cui esiti sono ancora evidenti, giocò sottotono per sei mesi perchè la diversa postura mandibolare doveva comportare una dieta diversa che fu individuata solo dopo mesi. Tornò il fuoriclasse di prima, cosa che auguro al caro Sheva.
Danielone
Ce lo auguriamo! Emblematico peraltro il fatto che, sotto lo Special One, Sheva fosse costretto a portarsi in casa Campbell, di nascosto dall'allenatore, per la riabilitazione muscolare. La mia opinione è che Mourinho abbia fatto tutto quello che era umanamente possibile fare per mettere in difficoltà il pupillo del padrone. Non c'è da stupirsi che al secondo giro il russo abbia fatto saltare il banco. Il bello poi è accorgersi che ora la squadra gioca meglio, o nella peggiore delle ipotesi uguale a prima.
FRIGHT NIGHT
01/11/2007 - For so long he has been the problem child of the Chelsea dressing room. For so long this season Andriy Shevchenko has struggled to convince the fans that he is more than just a shadow of the striker that made his name as a marksman supreme at AC Milan.
Last night, however, the Ukrainian's predatory instincts made him the saviour of Stamford Bridge as his late, late show prevented Leicester from pulling off the biggest upset for years.
Yes, Frank Lampard grabbed his first treble for nine months to put Chelsea into the quarter-finals. Yes, Claudio Pizarro, the fabulous Scott Sinclair and Florent Malouda all helped to shred the City defence late on. But it was Sheva's goal, three minutes from time, that dragged Chelsea back into the game after Carl Cort's 73rd-minute strike made it 3-2 and looked for all the world to be the goal that would decide this incredible match.
A goalmouth scramble and a controversial late winner - first credited by Chelsea to Shevchenko, then later to Lampard, settled the tie. A shoving match between the No.2s of both clubs, Steve Clarke and Gerry Taggart, then ensued on the touchline as City claimed the ball had not crossed the line. What a finish to a pulsating contest which must surely silence the critics who continue to bang on about the Carling Cup losing its appeal.
Leicester, 15th in the Championship, drew first blood after just six minutes when Matty Fryatt crossed into the box and skipper Gareth McAuley nodded home. The goal was the first the Blues had conceded in 447 minutes of football. On 21 minutes Lampard did what he does best, arriving late and shooting low into the City net. And on the half-hour, Sinclair centred superbly to cause chaos in the box. As City struggled to clear their lines, Lampard kept his composure and picked his spot. Chelsea laid siege to the City goal in the second half, with keeper Martin Fulop pulling off two magnificent saves from Pizarro. But then City hit back brilliantly, first DJ Campbell stepping off the bench to head a brilliant equaliser over the hapless Carlo Cudicini on 69 minutes, then ex-Wimbledon and Newcastle striker Carl Cort side-footing home a free-kick. By this stage Chelsea were staring down the barrel of their first defeat in open play since being put to the sword by Arsenal in February 2004.
Jose Mourinho, under whom the invincible lead had been established, must have been pouring himself a large one. But then his old friend, the much-maligned Shevchenko, turned it round with a fabulous strike on 87 minutes and Lampard scrambled home the third goal of his hat-trick in injury time to give Chelsea a stunning reprieve in this pulsating tie. With the heavyweights all easing through to the closing stages of the Carling Cup, it is unlikely Chelsea will go into another tie with such a disparate bunch of fringe players, few of whom justified their claims for a first-team place. Owner Roman Abramovich's heart surely cannot take it. Perhaps he might want to rethink his demand for open, attacking football.
da: www.mirror.co.uk
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