Age no barrier for super-fit Baggies

Albion have got the oldest squad in the Premier League but one of the best injury records.

The Baggies are currently operating at 94 per cent availability for the season, if 100 per cent meant every player was fit for every game and every training session.

It's something director of performance Mark Gillett is proud of.

Thanks to Albion's head doctor and his team of 15 staff, players like Gareth McAuley are playing well into their 30s.

The centre-back turned 36 earlier this month, but he played 180 minutes in 48 hours over the weekend.

His superb last-ditch tackle on Moussa Sissoko in the first half on Monday drew critical acclaim, and Gillett reckons there is plenty more left in the Northern Irishman's tank.

"I don't see a real difference between him now and two or three years ago," said Dr Gillett.

"We have to be careful with him, as we do with Jonas (Olsson). Sometimes reminding them that they've got to be careful is a big part of it.

"McAuley could conceivably go on in the Premier League for another two or three years, I'm sure of that."

Gillett was an NHS consultant in emergency medicine before he joined Chelsea as first team doctor. He moved to Albion five years ago and is now chair of the Premier League Doctors' Group.

With the games coming thick and fast, this is traditionally his busiest time of the year.

There has been added pressure this Christmas with two players suspended and Tony Pulis's custom for making as few changes as possible.

The Welshman only made two changes between the Swansea defeat and the Newcastle victory but Albion looked fitter and stronger than the Magpies, outplaying them for the majority of the 90 minutes.

Incredibly, the doctor hopes to have both Jonas Olsson and Victor Anichebe fit for Saturday's game against Stoke.

"It's particularly pertinent with Tony, but it's the same with all managers," admitted Gillett.

"The players who are not playing, this time of the year is suddenly the time they're going to be called upon. And if they're not match fit, it shows.

"So there are two groups that give you problems. The ones that have done too much are under-recovered and the ones who haven't played and are perhaps under-cooked."

So how does he tackle such a problem? Facilities like underwater treadmills help. Then there are yoga teachers, nutritionists, and podiatrists who all play a role.

It's a cocktail of recovery and injury prevention tailored to each player by Gillett and his staff. And it's working.

"If you look at our physical output against Liverpool, in that game, the only outfield player to run under 11km was Jonas and he ran 10.95km," said the doctor.

"A lot of people talk about Klopp's teams and how far they run and we outran them by 4km.

"We outran Spurs too."

Bournemouth may have put in more miles than Albion but Gillett said: "It would have been interesting if we had 11 players on the pitch how that would have panned out because obviously McClean is our highest output guy."

In the summer, Albion came under criticism from Dutch coach Raymond Verheijen, who branded their intense summer camp in Austria as 'pre-historic'.

But Gillett is sure it set the team up for their relatively injury-free season.

"The thing about Austria is, we knew from all the monitoring work we'd done before that, that it was going to put us in good shape for the season," explained Gillett.

"Basically, because it's a low-level altitude and the gradient is very steep, it works the heart very hard but what a lot of people don't realise it actually raises a lot less demands on knees, ankles and muscles.

"Those are the things that catch you out in pre-season."

"So everybody has to work hard on a heart rate point of view, accelerating and decelerating, changing direction.

"That really accumulates in pre-season and gives you an additional load that you can carry into the season.

"This was our first pre-season with Tony but we were confident from what we've done before that that would be the case, and actually when we monitored it, it was."

Gillett has been at the club for five years, and according to him Pulis is the Albion manager most in tune with what the medical staff do.

"Of all the managers I've worked with I think Tony is the one most focused on players being physically right for Saturday," he said.

"He's very flexible, he needs his tactical time, obviously. That's what we do, play football, but he's very aware and intuitive about how important physical condition and freshness is at a weekend."

Albion's squad is full of hard-nosed experience, but the club's head doctor says there is no issue with old-school players hiding injuries through bravado.

These days even grizzled centre-backs like Jonas Olsson – ("He'd tell me, don't worry about him not telling me!") – let Gillett know when they need treatment.

"I don't think we have that problem," said the doctor, who spends ten months a year with the players and so can pick up on different characteristic signs.

"Each player has their own different way of dealing with things and we spend an awful lot of time together in the season."

But there is one area where modern players are still stubborn, and it's something Dr Gillett is acutely aware of.

He said: "Interestingly I think the only time that's ever really a problem is when somebody has got a head injury.

"The natural reaction of players to that injury is 'I'm fine to go' on and now obviously with everything that's gone on and the new rules we have to be really careful about that.

"I think that's the one area where you might have to say 'look are you ok?'"