Mauricio Pochettino is set to become the next Manchester United head coach, and his notoriously high fitness demands could decide the futures of several players at Old Trafford.
Part of the narrative around Michael Carrick's Manchester United this season has centred on fitness levels and whether the players can cover the required distance and reach the intensity needed to compete in the Premier League. United's running statistics were poor before the first international break of the season and, although they have improved slightly since, doubts remain about the squad's conditioning.
Not all of that criticism is fair. Carrick has defended his players on that front, and it has been clear the 45-year-old wanted to build a team that controls games with the ball rather than one that races around trying to win it back. The distances covered have been lower because Carrick has not really built United to press, an argument that came to light after Bruno Fernandes criticised the approach following the 4-1 defeat to Como.
Intensity as a hallmark
With Pochettino now set to take over from Carrick before Premier League action resumes with a trip to Liverpool on September 22, intensity is expected to become a feature of United's play between now and the end of the campaign. That has always been the hallmark of Pochettino's teams. He wants his players to press aggressively, win the ball high up the pitch, and play with energy, and his best sides have been remembered for their impressive fitness levels.
That is partly why his January 2021 decision to take the Paris Saint-Germain job seemed such a mistake. Pochettino's mantra and his teams' identity were never a natural fit within that PSG squad.
Now it remains to be seen whether these United players can adapt to the methods of the 54-year-old Argentine, who is set to leave his job as head coach of the USA men's national team to take over at Old Trafford once Carrick is dismissed.
The Gacon test explained
Some of the players Carrick leaves behind will be starting to feel nervous about the famous Pochettino fitness exercise, the Gacon test, named after French fitness coach Georges Gacon. It is a drill he has carried out with players everywhere he goes and demands they increase the distance run without increasing the time allowed, as he explained in his 2017 book Brave New World.
"To start with, the players have 45 seconds to cover 150 metres, with 15 seconds to rest," he said. "In each subsequent 45-second rep, they have to run 6.25 metres further, with the intensity steadily increasing."
Appearing on the Stick to Football podcast earlier this year, Pochettino said the test was "horrendous" but was over in 10 to 12 minutes. He also said that when he arrived at Tottenham ahead of the 2014/15 season, he was better than his players at the test despite being 42 years old at the time.
Mid-season fitness push
Now 54 and a little heavier than in his early days at Spurs, no doubt thanks to a couple of years in the USA, Pochettino is unlikely to be besting any of his United squad in his favourite fitness drill. He might also struggle to find time to push his players at a point in the season when the schedule is at its most demanding, but at some point the stopwatch will come out.
How United's players respond might make or break a few Old Trafford careers. Alarm bells were ringing when Youri Tielemans described pre-season as "chill" in Ireland in August, although that was taken out of context given he had spent much of the summer at the World Cup with Belgium.
There is a view that United perhaps did not prioritise enough fitness work during what was a long pre-season. Improving that mid-season can be difficult, but if anyone can drag a little more out of the squad, it might well be Pochettino.
