England players to have specially-designed mobile phone apps to keep up to date with Roy Hodgson’s tactics at Euro 2016
Three Lions stars will also have suggestions on nutrition and team shape... and will have to complete an in-depth sleep log
Behind the scenes, someone has to make it ’appen.
Each morning the players update an England app, designed and written by senior video technician Andy Scoulding, on their mobile phones.
They are tailored to each individual, giving them advice on everything from nutrition to tactics to team shape.
Overnight the data is downloaded after a team of analysts have studied the previous day’s training.
Once Roy Hodgson’s players have finished for the day, the crane overlooking England’s training sessions lowers and the number crunchers get to work.
This is a growing business which the Football Association, initiated through their head of performance Dave Reddin.
He is dragging the national team into the 21st century.
They monitor everything these days.
When the players wake up each morning they complete a sleep log before they hand them into the sports science team.
Hodgson’s charges wear GPS monitors for training and the expectation is that they will soon be used during matches at international level.
Related Stories
Uefa, European football’s governing body, have recently sanctioned the use of the devices — with the England Under-21 players wearing them during their victory in the Toulon tournament.
The monitor counts the number of accelerations and decelerations during a game, as well as recording a “fatigue index” for each player. Three Lions boss Hodgson has always maintained he is a classic football man.
He relies on the naked eye to make a judgment on a player or a system.
But in recent years he has come to rely on Scoulding, who worked with Hodgson when he was head coach at Liverpool and Fulham.
Scoulding is so highly regarded that Gary Neville seconded him when he was made Valencia chief at the start of the year.
The analytics department is a developing area, with negotiations continuing to take place with Premier League clubs over their profiling for each player.
Some co-operate, others are reluctant to assist.
Reddin is behind many of the changes, with most of them being implemented at Under-21 level and below at the very beginning.
The FA’s head of performance arrived after Hodgson and he has taken on an advisory role with the senior side.
Understandably, he does not want to be seen to be treading on Hodgson’s toes.
Although the England coach is broadly supportive of the assistance, he has yet to be convinced that it can actually WIN football matches.
It is a training aid, a welcome addition in an era when everybody is talking about marginal gains.
As ever, Hodgson knows what really counts is what happens out on the pitch.