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An explanation for the Slow-Start Syndrome?

Hellish bootcamp in prospect...

Everton head coach Jimmy Lumsden has been proudly talking up the greulling regime of pre-season training Everton players have in prospect when they return to the care and keeping of Finch Farm in a couple of weeks. Could this be a factor in Everton's now notorious Slow-Start Syndrome or a key to their success late in matches?

Excerpts from the Jimmy Lumsden interview:

David Moyes's pre-season: Think special forces commando bootcamp, mixed with a boxer's pre-fight training regime, and you're close to the back-breaking, leg-wearying, vomit-inducing slog that Everton's players endure each summer to ensure they are among the fittest in the league.

Moyes's methods have become legendary, and even his most experienced players like Phil Neville and Sylvain Distin fear the physical intensity they must undergo every pre-season. But for Jimmy Lumsden, Moyes's first team coach, the ends justify the means, even if he does have a little sympathy for those dread-filled players currently trying to forget about July's imminent exertions.

?To be fair to the gaffer he does sometimes admit it might be a little bit old school, but he does it mostly for mental reasons rather than physical,? says the Glaswegian, who marked a decade at Goodison in March.

?If they can do these runs they can do anything. They drag each other through them and that's an important aspect too. Coming to the last 10 minutes of a game, if you can drive yourself that little bit harder, go again that tiny bit quicker, than the seeds were sown in pre-season. It's mental training.

?If you can be sharper in the last phases of most games, you have a better chances of getting more points. Our stats tend to show that.

?Luckily the lads we have around Finch Farm are consummate professionals like Hibbo and Ossie. They are players that drive themselves on all the time, and it's no coincidence that they often come on strong towards the end of seasons.?

?The boys had a good end to the season which was to their immense credit because it would have been easy to think it was over and start thinking of the beach towards the end,? he continued.

"It's usually the same teams getting into the Champions League. Nevertheless we can still match these teams in games. It's down to fitness and the way the gaffer keeps on top of the players right throughout the season. Those training sessions are tough; he allows them to get away with nothing. He never accepts anything but their best.?

Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Echo

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