Good point by Dave stringer

[Yellowhammer 86]

play as much as possible the same team each week so they get to know how each other play and what to expect ,a point made by the special one after the Bradford game . Constant switching the team about is not good for them or morale of the team ,I know due to injury it cannot be helped but keep the heart of the side together . Ok football has changed greatly since the 70s but the same players played together for most of the 72 season and could read each other and predict what that player would likely do .

[Mr Jenkins 0]

That''s fine if you know your best team, how long is it since we have, probably the CH unbeaten run.

[BroadstairsR 2,136]

Players were more robust in 1972. Stringer himself was a constant as a player. I hardly recall him getting injured.Nowadays they are akin to finely-honed racing thoroughbreds. They get injured eating breakfast. Training ground injuries are now commonplace. This never, ever used to happen.My old man''s favourite player was a full-back called Bryan Thurlow. I don''t recall him myself but the old man used to say that you could run over him with a ten-ton truck and he would get up and carry on playing.There is also the fact that there are more substitutes allowed. It is now more a squad game.Stringer is right, but it likely won''t happen.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

broadstairs

"Nowadays they are akin to finely-honed racing thoroughbreds. They get injured eating breakfast. Training ground injuries are now commonplace. This never, ever used to happen."

It''s an intersting debate Broadstairs, the tackles were bigger, pitches were heavier and uneven, balls even in the seventies I suspect were a fair bit heavier than they are now, so if your assertion is true, which I suspect it is, why do players seem to get injured more now than they used to.

I think the answer is that in those days Cajones were bigger and players were not seen as a financial asset which had to be preserved in the same way as they are now. Also the flagrant abuse of painkilling injections which allowed players to play when injured, of course leading in many to crippling conditions in later life.

[sonyc 5,481]

Yes good points made by Stringer

. But what if the club was to try such an approach based on continuity?

Let''s see this season ....we''ve had 2 managers, 2 to 4 coaches (including mcAvoy, Holt, Robson, Phelan), one guide (Royle) so far.

[BroadstairsR 2,136]

Yes. Agree. The last bit about pain killers is so true.I do remember Ted McDougall refusing to take them, but he wasn''t injured a lot in any case.He was sensible in that respect. I loved Ted and his faithfull Bournemouth companion Charlie Boyer. Probably the best combination we have ever had up front.

[chicken 0]

I think football has changed a lot. The conditions of pitches etc have changed and the game is more about pace now as a result. Little by little the physical side of the game is being eroded and players appear to be going for agility and speed over muscle in most cases. To that extent you see more hamstring injuries as players push their bodies to the extremes so to speak.That said, even back then, luck with injuries play their part.Like when we had the meanest defense in the league, or one of the meanest anyway, in the early 00''s with Mackay and Fleming, neither of them were injured for long periods of time. Drury is another of that era that appeared to do well with injuries. It said a lot that we really only needed the additions of a consistent and quality goal scorer in Huckerby to really boost us up the league. That''s not to belittle the likes of Svensson or McKenzie but Hux really stole it that season - with a cameo from Crouch.In theory, defending should be something far easier to improve than scoring goals, and yet scoring goals isn''t the issue. We''ve scored enough - conceded too many.

[Somerset Canary 0]

I knew Bryan Thurlow (in his post-playing days).  He was a lovely guy and died far too young from early onset Alzheimers.  Almost certainly caused from heading heavy wet leather footballs.

[mrs miggins 0]

the last time we had a settled side was at the start of the season, but then Jerome came on and scored, Hoolahane got injured and we''ve never looked like the same side. Wasn''t it something like this?

-------------------Ruddy-------------------

Whitaker--Martin---Turner---Garrido

---------------Tettey--Johnson-----------

Redmond------Hoolahan-----Lafferty

-------------------Grabban----------------

[Mr Jenkins 0]

How many games was this for, I honestly can''t remember

[mrs miggins 0]

I think the midfield and striker stayed the same until Jerome came in v Brentford and scored, the game after we played him and Grabban together and drew against Birmingham where our string of bad results started and we haven''t really recovered from.

Wolves - L

Watford - w

Blackburn - w

Ipswich - w

Bournemouth - d

Cardiff - w

Brentford - w and jerome came in and scored on his debut

Birmingham - d first time we played two up front and haven''t looked back since. Adams certainly had a good thing going,

[Mr Jenkins 0]

It was a good run.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

The Brentford 3-0 flattered us, Rudfy played a blinder first half and kept us in the game.

Last time I saw Vadis too.

[mrs miggins 0]

Yeah, although it flattered us, at the time it felt like the last time we went up. We had confidence, a settled side a proven championship goalscorer scoring. The hooligan injury really affected us as Grabban can''t play with another striker it seems like Hooper can. Of course it became hard for Adams to go back to just using Grabban upfront because he wasn''t scoring and Jerome was.

[norfolkngood 1,086]

I heard it was in the 1970''s 1980''s players were playing on the streets or anywhere they could so the knees joints were being used and were being made stronger from a early age

now if you are 10 and get picked up by a club

you cannot play for anyone other than the club so play once a week maybe twice etc not been able to strengthen the joints by playing everyday and night

don''t know how true it is ?