Agree 100% general fitness does appear to be a problem that we have had for a long time and is not only in relation to our older players.

Why bewildered?. They are playing how they are told to by Roy et al, the training is borderline 70s style, fitness levels and the ability to sprint or play high pressing football is non existent.

As we all know the game plan is 11 behind the ball for 89 minutes and keep fingers crossed that a ball gets crossed to Tekkers for which he never makes a run for anyway. The whole set up makes Trevor Francis look like a football genius, our team is dead man walking, 11 players and manager out of contract, who coincidentally thinks 0-0 to Fulham is all we could of dreamed of.

Agree totally, this team have not looked for a good while fit enough to compete with the modern pressing game.
I'm pretty certain that a good while ago I saw an interview with Sir Steve the gist of which was whatever can be said about his team, fitness issues were not one of them, they could go toe to toe with any team.
Watching some of over current lot saunter about like it's a school playground kickabout is a joke.

You train your fitness for what you require no more no less.

If a manager has a set style then that is what it would be for.

Players losing pace that happens again with style of play also age plus wear (humans are not suppose to do these activities its not natural it takes its toll)

Regarding injuries these happen no matter your level of fitness and a big point that has been missed is schedule professional athletes should not be competing in so many games in short periods their is lots of evidence to back this up plus as stated before humans are not designed for these activities its not healthy.

The clear example when it comes to fitness was Pep when he went to City he has a style and it took him over a year to get players upto the fitness levels required also he could see some people just cant do what you are asking so they needed replacing.

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27 to 29 should be when you hit peak fitness.

You shouldn't start losing pace until you start losing muscle and mobility.

In modern sport 30 shouldn't be that old.

We get an alarming amount of hamstring injuries.

Our midfield isn't that mobile, but Luka, McArthur, and previously Meyer all covered a lot of ground in seasons gone by, but that seems to be diminished drastically in the last couple of seasons.

Guys the size of Benteke, Wickham, Sorloth etc are carrying around 20kg more that a smaller nimble midfielder. You shouldn't expect them to put in the same amount of ground over 90mins as the test of the team.

Everyone knows who I'm going to point the finger at. It's all very concerning.

Some managers seem to get more injuries that others, Pardew sides had lots of injuries at Palace and Newcastle.

The Dad's Army argument can apply to players aged 33 plus, but for the majority of our side, it shouldn't be an issue.

I’ve been thinking about McArthur recently. I know he’s a tad unfashionable, aging and also another defensive midfielder but his positional awareness and link up play in the middle has always been good. It’s not a coincidence that our frailty in the middle has coincided with his absence. I also think Milo plays better with him as a wing man in the middle if that makes sense. If we’re going to push on towards 50 points this season we need him back. I’m not convinced with Riederwald in the middle although I don’t doubt is commitment and overall improvement..