Manchester United players will no longer receive a day off after matches under Mauricio Pochettino. The new head coach will reportedly instruct his squad to report to their Carrington training facility for recovery work, a change from the approach of his predecessor.
End of the post-match rest day
Michael Carrick is understood to have rarely demanded the squad attend Carrington the day after a game. Under the previous setup, Carrick and the United squad were notably not at Carrington on Monday following their 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford, with numerous squad members travelling to link up with their national sides after receiving call-ups for the international break.
The Sun report that Pochettino is implementing the new rule to improve the team's conditioning. The manager's eldest son, Sebastiano, is also arriving as a specialist coach concentrated on that department.
Fitness staff changes
Charlie Owen already holds that position at the club and has done for more than seven years, since his promotion from the academy. He has featured in the first-team structure under Carrick, Erik ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruben Amorim.
Amorim, similarly to Pochettino, was accompanied to United by his own fitness coach, Paulo Berreira. Yet he also departed in January, and they have subsequently been reunited at Milan.
Former player backs the approach
Toby Alderweireld, who spent five seasons working with Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur, told the BBC of his former coach: "First of all, he made us very fit. Pre-season was brutal."
"The way he wants to play - on the front foot, putting people under pressure, a high line, very dynamic play - you need to run. You need to be capable of running and be capable of high-intensity runs - the basic is to be fit," Alderweireld said.
"Every manager wants a good pre-season and time to give the players their ideas and the fitness, but the players are going to feel straight away that it's a different level. This is every day at the training ground; it's 100% - that's what he asks, what he demands. It will be a big difference for the players, and they're going to see results there straight away."
Alderweireld also recalled a Champions League semi-final moment: "We were 3-0 down [against Ajax] and he didn't have a tactical half-time talk. He just said, 'You're going to be physical, you're going to fight, you only need one goal to be back in the game, believe that everything is possible.'"
"That was a big moment because we were nowhere near Ajax at that time, especially in that game. But we changed everything by intensity, by duels. I remember the long ball to [Fernando] Llorente and just fighting and asking, 'How badly do you want it?' It changed from that moment."
