The intensity at LAFC training this week has been at a different level. According to coach Bob Bradley, that’s all by design.

“This week we raised the physical load. So today was the hardest training session yet,” Bradley said following Tuesday’s session.

Using the entire length of the field, Bradley had his squad working at a high clip for long stretches. The day’s focus was pressing and exploiting space, both in the attacking third and defensively.

The commitment to pressing the action on both sides of the ball is something Bradley has weaved in throughout all of training camp.

“One of the ideas is, as we attack, how do we organize defensively,” Bradley said. “So that when we lose the ball, we’re not a team that is easily countered. We also have to have good starting points to try to win the ball back quickly. That requires a lot of detailed work and also a lot of physical work.

“For now, we construct training sessions that push players different ways, on different days. And then based upon that work, we can assess at that moment where the overall fitness level stands. But I feel that for the moment, we’re getting good work every day and players are moving themselves along physically.”

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