West Brom's fitness coach defends punishing Austrian schedule

The Baggies are flying out to the Alps on Thursday for a week-long fitness camp, where they will be getting up at the crack of dawn in order to fit in three gruelling sessions a day.

It's the same terrifying trip they took in last summer, when the methods were labelled 'pre-historic' by Dutch coach Raymond Verheijen.

But Albion were relatively injury-free during the first half of the season and had very few muscle injuries throughout the campaign.

The players don't look forward to Austria, but the coaching staff see it as a necessary evil to get them back in shape.

Fitness coach Matt Green said: "That week in Austria last year set us up well for the rest of pre-season and the season in general.

"Last season we had an excellent record in maintaining a low amount of soft tissue injuries which as a science and medical department, that is one of our goals.

"We are hoping to use similar methods this pre-season to achieve similar results this season.

"Most players will find Austria the hardest part of pre-season because that is when the biggest volume of work comes from.

"As we progress through pre-season the work they do becomes more football-specific, bright and explosive."

The first session early in the morning involves running or cycling, before the second session in the middle of the day is strength and conditioning.

The final session in the early evening is football-based, when head coach Tony Pulis works on tactics and technique.

Before they head off to Austria the players will have screening tests tomorrow and Wednesday to assess their fitness after summer.

"It gives us a gauge of what condition the boys have come back in and who has been maintaining their level of fitness over the summer," said Green.

"We can make sure they are fit to proceed for the pre-season schedule by doing the screening tests and we can also individualise their training."

James Chester will not be joining the squad because he is still in France with the Wales team.

Albion's three other Euro 2016 competitors, Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans and James McClean, will all have their own tailored return dates.

Republic of Ireland international McClean was knocked out by France in the last 16 thanks to a four-minute Antoine Griezmann brace.

The winger said: "At the minute it's a bit gut-wrenching looking back on it with ifs and buts because we were so close.

"I think when the dust settles and we really reflect on it we can look back with a lot of pride.

"But at the moment it's still raw because, bar 10 minutes of madness which knocked us out in the end, we were so close."