Team travel not as easy as it seems

Liverpool's 24-hour journey to Spain for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final, first leg against Atletico Madrid has brought up much discussion about team travel.

Organizing a team's travel itinerary is never easy, and there are several factors that go into putting together the ideal itinerary. The goal is to not only get the team to their destination, but to be able to put the players in the best possible position to succeed once they arrive.

Tony Cascarino of the Times writes about the challenges of battling the rigors on the road.

Liverpool to Madrid by trains, planes and automobiles? That’s nothing. Try Gillingham to Carlisle. For top players these days, the biggest threat posed by long-distance travel is boredom. Team buses are like portable luxury hotels. Liverpool and Fulham face very long journeys, but it’s only an inconvenience, not a disaster.

Lower-league clubs still travel immense distances on cramped coaches, as we did when I played for Gillingham in the 1980s. One Saturday we met at 6am at a place near the A2 and drove down to Exeter for a 3pm kick-off. Got a 1-1 draw, too. Even with Ireland, we endured a flight, a ferry then a long coach trip, all the day before a key game in northern Turkey.

There is an increased risk of muscle injuries if players sleep in awkward positions, or don’t stretch their legs at regular intervals, but Liverpool plan to do the journey to Spain over two days, which is sensible. And big clubs have so many support staff that the players are sure to be well looked after.

The trips Fulham and Liverpool face are not so much physical challenges as mental ones. If players approach the travel hassles with a pessimistic mindset their negative attitude could translate into mental fatigue, which can leave you drained.