The motivation issues Portsmouth players are facing with football season at a standstill

Tom Naylor has revealed the fitness frustration footballers are facing with the season suspended.
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And the Pompey captain has told of the challenges of maintaining a strong physical condition with no clear return to action in sight.

Football League club chairman Rick Parry contacted clubs this week telling them they should not resume training until at least May 16 amid the coronavirus crisis.

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Parry is hopeful the season can be completed in 56 days, as and when it’s safe to resume playing football.

But in the uncertain times the world is now in through the Covid-19 pandemic there are no guarantees over when the date will arrive for football to recommence.

That presents problems to footballers over what programmes they should undertake when it comes to maintaining fitness levels.

Keeping up match fitness is impossible without football-based training, but players are being given their own schedules to undertake within the constraints of government guidelines.

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Naylor explained keeping up any kind of impetus without a match to work towards is an odd and challenging scenario.

Tom NaylorTom Naylor
Tom Naylor

Hes said: ‘It’s hard to get motivated when you know there’s still nine games left in the season but you don’t know when you’ll play them.

‘It’s hard because in the off season you know you should be running and you know you should be ticking over to get back to pre-season.

‘You can go away and do some work, but it’s difficult at this time and in this situation because you need to get motivated in the morning to do a run, but you don’t know what you’re working towards.

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‘You’ve got to be doing your running, but you don’t want to do too much until you get back.’

While running provides the basis of what players are doing while they tick over and await news on what lies ahead for the football season, Naylor and his team-mates are also trying a number of different approaches to maintaining fitness.

But being able to do that also brings its own issues.

Naylor added: I’ve got a few bits and I’m trying to get a treadmill sorted - but they’re not in stock!

‘There’s a few things I can do to tick over, that’s mainly my legs and upper body.

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‘Other than that it’s running outside and it can be tough to get going when there’s no game to be working towards.’

The expert view is footballers will begin to lose match fitness within a week or two of not playing games.

Next Tuesday will mark five weeks since Pompey’s last competitive action as they picked up a 2-2 draw with Fleetwood.

Naylor said: ‘There’s only so much you can do.

‘I went down for a couple of days (to the training ground) to do a session and there were a few balls out there.

‘It was nice to touch a ball but when you’re on your own you can’t do much.’

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