63% of Liverpool squad "asthmatic" - any substance to this article?

Salbutamol doesn’t case steroid like symptoms, it’s not a muscle stacker, it’s an inhaler. It relaxes the airways and makes it easier to breathe, and in turn, makes it easier to run more and recover from high intensity sprinting.

The quicker and easier you can get oxygen into your lungs and into your blood stream the easier it is to run harder for longer.

Hence the reason more than half the squad are on it...
 
Bazi said:
Na. Asthma is very convenient when you need legal access to certain substances on the doping list. Having a squad full of players diagnosed as asthmatics is a carbon copy of the cycling's 101 for dopers.
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While that is true, it´s not uncommon that top athletes training outside in the cold develop asthma.
 
Kasper said:
What do you mean? They're not taking it anymore? Any source to that claim? If they were ever on Salbutamol, why would that source have dried up?
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And: what would it have to do with the injuries they had this season?
 
Bwuk said:
They aren’t struggling but they’ve dropped levels massively from the previous 2 seasons.

They have had many players injured. Any LFC fan on this forum would be quick to list them.
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Isn't that expected after two 90+ point seasons? When has any Premier League side ever had more than two in a row reaching those heights? I'm amazed how many people are surprised we've dropped off.
 
I remember reading papers about cross-country skiers and how often they suffer from asthma. I was sceptical of those but then I do have suspicious mind and it's not really based on science or investigation, just gut feeling.

It seems that you can find a doctor, pay them, and they'll diagnose you with something or other . The medication to combat it will just happen to have performance enhancing effects. It looks like that goes on in quite a few sports. Was it testosterone in the UFC with a larger percentage of fighters than the general population suddenly becoming "deficient" in it when they were allowed to boost up to a maximum legal limit? And of course, they all wanted to boost to just below that number, which was still higher than the average person.

We also know that scientists in other areas can be bought to write academic papers to say what you want them to say. Is it beyond the realm that interested parties who would benefit could pay for papers/research on certain conditions too? As such I'm a bit sceptical about academic papers regarding exercise induced this, that or the other in general.
 
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Fans always love to think something untoward is going on.
From the John Terry injuries that should have ruled him out for months and he'd play the next week, to that doctor Hans Wolfgang or something?

City and their "Barcelona" doctors and Pep's "special training" and now it's time to turn it on Liverpool.
 
Achilles McCool said:
Then wouldn’t you assume that 60%+ of professional footballers overall would also be asthmatic?
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Not exactly, but I would assume that those 63% would fall somewhere within some sort of statistical boundary for English footballers. Or maybe premiership footballers, if genetics play a role as there are a lot more foreign players in the Premier league than lower divisions.
 
Apparently a random check at four lower level clubs revealed 28% of the players there had exercise induced asthma, only a third of them had been diagnosed previously. So it seems footballers do get it more. Don't know how it would look in the Premiership.

Fwìw, I am really disappointed in Klopp's public statements about doping in football so far.
He's either painfully naive or been 'normalised' to it being the de facto state of affairs.
 
B20 said:
Apparently a random check at four lower level clubs revealed 28% of the players there had exercise induced asthma, only a third of them had been diagnosed previously. So it seems footballers do get it more. Don't know how it would look in the Premiership.

Fwìw, I am really disappointed in Klopp's public statements about doping in football so far.
He's either painfully naive or been 'normalised' to it being the de facto state of affairs.
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What's Klopp said about it?

I've seen a lot of ex-players and managers roll out the usual guff about how drugs can't make you better at controlling a ball, while neglecting the bleeding obvious benefit of being fitter than your opponent and not being as tired in the last 10 mins.

Those type of comments always make me suspicious as they really can't be that clueless.

How often do we hear commentators tell us fatigue causes misplaced passes and defensive lapses?
 
Withnail said:
What's Klopp said about it?
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Think it was back in Germany when he said it, but he basically brushed it off as a non existent problem in football.

When you contrast with Wengers approach it is night and day.
 
Klopper76 said:
Isn't that expected after two 90+ point seasons? When has any Premier League side ever had more than two in a row reaching those heights? I'm amazed how many people are surprised we've dropped off.
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You've been incredibly dominant over the last two seasons. You also had the summer off, unlike Utd who started slowly but now have a better PPG than you.

I'd be pretty disappointed if I was a Liverpool fan.
 
rcoobc said:
You've been incredibly dominant over the last two seasons. You also had the summer off, unlike Utd who started slowly but now have a better PPG than you.

I'd be pretty disappointed if I was a Liverpool fan.
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Why? We’re still top as of right now and will be if we beat you on Sunday. We also topped our CL group. That’s despite losing our first choice CB’s for the entire season and a series of other injuries. In the grand scheme of things we’re not in a bad way.

You’re on a better PPG but have scored fewer and conceded more goals than we have (not by much tbf). You’re also in the Europa League after failing to qualify from your CL group, and just lost a fourth semi final in a row. You’ve improved a lot but you’re not the finished article yet. That’s why I think City are a bigger threat right now. You need another summer window imo, which is fine. It took Klopp several years to get us there.

A Sancho like signing and a better (more injury free) CB to partner Maguire would be huge. I think you should sell Pogba too.
 
rcoobc said:
You've been incredibly dominant over the last two seasons. You also had the summer off, unlike Utd who started slowly but now have a better PPG than you.

I'd be pretty disappointed if I was a Liverpool fan.
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I am disappointed with how shit we've been lately, but otherwise I'll wait till the end of season before expressing my full disappointment.

Right now I am more annoyed about the injuries really. We should have been seeing one of our best ever sides, stacked with 8-9 world class players strutting their way to a second title. We barely got to see a midfield of Fabinho, Hendo and Thiago, doubtful we will this season. Van dijk and Gomez lost for the season, TAA being shit ever since coming back from injury.
I wanted to see that team at full power for at least a little bit and we don't get to. Mainly I blame the Everton thugs.
 
:lol: I know we all like to laugh at Liverpool, but I can't see why they'd be disappointed, I wouldn't be if I was them. Frustrated maybe, due to the injuries. They had two freak seasons, its normalised a bit this year and they're still top of the league, looking good in the CL. They've got a very good chance of winning another big trophy this year, and that's without their key defender who many people thought they'd suffer greatly without. I don't like defending Liverpool, it made me feel a bit grim making this post, I much prefer mocking them and thankfully there's been a lot more to mock this season.
 
The only thing to be disappointed about right now is our run of form during the Brighton/Newcastle/WBA/Southampton games in the league which has been atrocious, not just that but the players also show a lack of effort imo which is inexcusable.

I'm not worried about United to be honest, but City could also go above us if they win their games in hand while we could've been well out of sight after their poor start to the season, so that's definitely disappointing. It's telling though that it should be considered "disappointing" for us to be "only" top of the league in January (and easy CL qualification as well as still in the FA Cup for a change).

Hoping for a major change in attitude by our players for the United game. A win there and we could be back on track.
 
I'm sure that there is some degree of doping in football, a game that generates that kind of wages gives huge incentives to reach the top of the game, with any means necessary. I doubt that any top club, today, have any form of a systematic doping scheme. There might be some individuals doing whatever to be able to claim the golden ticket for themselves and their families.

If by some chance there are top clubs that go around the rules to give themselves an advantage, I believe all top clubs are doing the same. There's zero chance that Liverpool is doing some under the table stuff without other clubs either knowing or doing the same.

City was accused of doping when they walked the league, Liverpool accused after two 90+ point seasons, Leicester when they won the league after running every team into the ground, and I'm sure there was plenty of accusations towards us after dominating the league for decades.

We have massively improved our running/sprinting in games after Ole took over from Mou, and I doubt that have anything to do with doping, in the same sense that I doubt that Liverpool's' two 90+ seasons had anything to do with doping. I'm looking forward to when the doping accusations are pointed towards us again, the "paying of refs/FA" is finally starting to come back and it's a sure sign that we are rattling some trees.
 
Withnail said:
What's Klopp said about it?

I've seen a lot of ex-players and managers roll out the usual guff about how drugs can't make you better at controlling a ball, while neglecting the bleeding obvious benefit of being fitter than your opponent and not being as tired in the last 10 mins.

Those type of comments always make me suspicious as they really can't be that clueless.

How often do we hear commentators tell us fatigue causes misplaced passes and defensive lapses?
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And what happens to a player’s first touch, awareness and decision making when he gets tired? Do the same people not consider this?
 
B20 said:
Not exactly, but I would assume that those 63% would fall somewhere within some sort of statistical boundary for English footballers. Or maybe premiership footballers, if genetics play a role as there are a lot more foreign players in the Premier league than lower divisions.
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The national average is 12%. Do you need to improve scouting?
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
The national average is 12%. Do you need to improve scouting?
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Further up on the page is also a reference to how professional athletes seem to get it at a much higher rate. A sample from four championship clubs was 28%, most of them previously undiagnosed.

63% at a glance still sounds very high.
 
Basically, I think any and all chronic diagnoses that proffer access to various medicines should be verified by an independent organ. The amount of cyclists who claimed asthma to obfuscate their doping makes things like this extremely iffy.
 
Did a little reading from the cycling world, where this is talked more of. Apparently, the actual level of asthma in cycling is around 40%.

Other source:

What is the prevalence of asthma among elite sportspeople?​
​
In terms of the research we have done, around 21 per cent of the British Olympic team were using an inhaler. It’s higher in sports with a high aerobic element such as cycling and swimming. Some reports suggest that around 40 per cent of British Olympic cyclists use an inhaler, and it’s similar in other sports that have a high ventilatory requirement.​
​
Why such a high proportion?​
​
Athletes are more susceptible to asthma than the general population. The reason is that when you’re exercising you’re breathing in larger volumes of air, which, if you are susceptible, increases the dose of potential triggers for an asthma response. In cycling, you increase the amount of dry air going into your airway; and out on the road there is air pollution as well. Therefore you are more likely to trigger an inflammatory response, which is likely to cause asthma symptoms. Athletes increase their exposure, so they increase the chances of developing the condition.​
 
I wonder if all of Liverpool are falling apart injured because they got paranoid about having to take blood tests and covid tests done consistently now
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
The national average is 12%. Do you need to improve scouting?
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It's probably higher, just people aren't tested for it (although maybe not 60% higher)
I got given an inhaler in December after never putting two and two together my entire adult life (one of those things where if you've always had it you don't think its an issue, I thought struggling to breath and coughing my lungs up after exercise was what everyone did). Apparently I was taken to the Doctors when I was a kid as my parents thought I had asthma but the Doctor said it was hayfever without doing any tests.
 
mitChley said:
It's probably higher, just people aren't tested for it (although maybe not 60% higher)
I got given an inhaler in December after never putting two and two together my entire adult life (one of those things where if you've always had it you don't think its an issue, I thought struggling to breath and coughing my lungs up after exercise was what everyone did). Apparently I was taken to the Doctors when I was a kid as my parents thought I had asthma but the Doctor said it was hayfever without doing any tests.
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Isn’t it?:confused: I’m exactly like that, doesn’t matter if it’s the third intervall day at the start of a training cycle or after running three times a week for 6 months.
 
I'm not having this. Poor lads are being FORCED to wear masks by the evil Premier League despite being asthmatic.
 
Erics_Collar said:
I think even a tub of Vicks vaporub to share between them would do better than whatever shíte the doctors have them on now.
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Didn't that Spanish doctor mention something about 3 year cycles for blood doping and any longer than that is dangerous? Well, that could explain it.
 
I_live_cement said:
Didn't that Spanish doctor mention something about 3 year cycles for blood doping and any longer than that is dangerous? Well, that could explain it.
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yeah I read an article at the start of this season that said something along the lines of if Liverpool were doping and their last 2 seasons were a result of that they would have to have a year off this year and would majorly drop off...
 
I love the idea that club doctors are thinking, right, let's get involved in some high level doping, but then let's not do it for a year as that's dangerous.

Seems hilarious fantasy as much as it'd be superb if true.
 
Sandikan said:
I love the idea that club doctors are thinking, right, let's get involved in some high level doping, but then let's not do it for a year as that's dangerous.

Seems hilarious fantasy as much as it'd be superb if true.
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Isn't that how all steroids/doping works? As in you do it in cycles? I only know few people who did steroids and they are professionals in solo sports like weightlifting, wrestling and boxing, not team sports, but from what I understand they do it for a season, then fake injury next one and come back at the top again the year after.
 
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