Sheffield United: Brutal training regime could actually be a help not a hinderance, study concludes

A study, undertaken by a team of academics from Birmingham, Kent, Valencia and Southern Denmark universities, has found that footballers who combine “physical training with mentally fatiguing tasks” tend to play better and concede fewer goals than those exposed to less exacting methods.

Heckingbottom, the United manager, has made no secret of the fact he “asks a lot” of United’s players as they prepare for matches; crediting it with equipping them with the steel which saw his charges enter the World Cup break second in the table despite a packed treatment room.

According to the new paper, published in the International Journal of Sport Physiology and Performance, the effects of this approach will be enhanced if those under his command are asked to undertake Brain Endurance Training (BET) once their daily sessions have been completed.

After analysing how BET affected players in Italy, the authors discovered that those subjected to them routinely outperformed the control group, who simply listened to “neutral sounds” after workouts.

Professor Christopher Ring, from the University of Birmingham, said: “We believe that incorporating mental-fatigue inoculation training alongside basic physical training could improve players’ performance and lead to them conceding fewer goals – particularly when competing in a demanding tournament such as the World Cup.

“Our study shows that BET improves endurance performance, and indicates that it also improves players’ in-game performance – reducing the impact of mental fatigue on how they make important decisions that can help win matches.”

Intriguingly, Professor Ring and his colleagues also found that BET helped to improve endurance during “short sprints” and the subjects’ on-the-pitch decision-making.

Heckingbottom has consistently denied that “going full tilt” in the week is responsible for creating a situation whereby a dozen of United’s senior players were forced to miss their recent win over Cardiff City. However, he has conceded to “easing things off a little” in order to “protect” those who are available.