Everton’s squad has been divided into training groups as the Club’s medical and sports science staff work to maintain players’ physical and mental health.

Individualised seven-day training programmes supplied at the start of each week are designed to incorporate variety and competition and guard against players becoming “mentally isolated”.

Carlo Ancelotti’s squad are recording details of their daily sessions and providing the staff member heading their small class with a rate of perceived exertion [RPE] for monitoring purposes.

Alternative provisions are being made for the injured trio of Morgan Schneiderlin, Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Cenk Tosun, while Seamus Coleman, who suffered a muscle problem against Manchester United on 1 March, has resumed full training.

Everton’s USM Finch Farm training base was shut because of the coronavirus outbreak more than two weeks ago.

And Danny Donachie, the Club’s Director of Medical Services, revealed the players’ programmes have significantly advanced in that period.

“Initially the players had quite a lot of freedom in how they exercised but now we are more specific, in terms of the period of time they’re running and work-to-rest times,” Donachie told evertonfc.com.

“We are individualising the programmes to a greater degree and each member of fitness staff is overseeing a small group of players.

“The players have more distinct things to do each day – and we are receiving more feedback from them and tracking what they are doing.

“They are still working on either outdoors running or treadmill running and on a Wattbike or normal bike, alongside their usual strength training.”

Details of the players’ weekly workload are distributed by Head of Physical Conditioning Francesco Mauri, Sports Scientist Dave Flower and Jack Phillips, the Club’s Strength and Conditioning Coach.

The primary aim, says Donachie, is to achieve a balance, both in terms of variety and allowing players sufficient time to switch off from their day jobs.

Players were placed in groups according to their physical characteristics and simple logistics.

And the practice of logging daily sessions via an app is adding a competitive edge to remote workouts.

The RPE monitoring technique enables players to deliver a subjective assessment of the physical and mental effort invested in their sessions – measured on a scale of 1-10.

“We can’t monitor distance, so we are asking them to log their sessions and give us an RPE,” said Donachie, one of a number of senior Everton figures remaining in regular contact over planning and potential shifts in circumstances.

“That is a reliable score we use on a normal training day and gives a rough value of where they are in each session.

 
“We are hoping to generate competition by doing some sessions together in our training groups.

“It isn’t always possible because of logistics. I have a group of four, for example, and two of them don’t have bike, so we can’t do the bike session together.

“But we have a weekly log of their sessions and that has introduced an element of competition because some of them want to do more sessions than anyone else – and see that recorded.”

Manager Ancelotti’s squad are training “five or six days” each week, the onus on sustaining fitness rather than trying to achieve any gains during an indefinite period without matches.

Everton’s most recent game was at Chelsea on 8 March and the Premier League will not return before 30 April at the earliest.

“The main objective is players maintaining their levels but also to stimulate them at home,” said Donachie.

“We want them mentally and physically prepared [for their return to training] – but also to keep them engaged.

“We don’t want them to be just sat at home and becoming disengaged and feeling mentally isolated, so it is keeping them feeling part of the group as well.

“We are keeping them fit but not doing too much.”

French midfielder Schneiderlin underwent knee surgery last month after tearing his meniscus playing against Arsenal.

Gbamin, signed last summer from Mainz 05 in Germany, also had surgery last month in a bid to cure his long-standing quadriceps problem.

Striker Tosun damaged his anterior cruciate ligament training with loan club Crystal Palace and had an operation after returning to Everton to undergo his rehabilitation this month.

“The two most challenging situations are with Morgan and Cenk,” said Donachie.

“They are not able to do any weight-bearing exercise.

“Most of what we’d have done with them would be hands-on – and that’s not possible.

“We are doing regular Skype sessions with them but what we can do practically is very limited.

“Morgan is due to see the surgeon on Monday next week and we will do that via Zoom.

“From then, he can probably do more exercise, so I will be doing one-to-one videos with him every day.

“Seamus is training normally and in the same position as the rest of the lads.

 
“JP [Gbamin] is easier to treat – Adam [Newall, Physiotherapist] sets him a weekly programme and checks in with him on video most days.

“Because he is at a higher level [in stage of recovery than Schneiderlin or Tosun] it is easier to maintain.”

Donachie added: “We are checking in with Morgan and Cenk every day.

“Because they can’t do a lot, the disappointment about not gaining is not that large, they wouldn’t be seeing much improvement at this stage anyway.

“And they see the bigger picture over what is happening in the world.

“They appreciate what is going on and because of that, you appreciate the smaller things, don’t you?”