Winning matches from the lab 12:00am

BBC’s ‘Pods and Blogs’ program recently covered the Milan Lab, which is working with Microsoft to develop new ways of analysing and increasing footballers’ fitness. Milan’s current squad is full of veteran players who only last season won the Champions League.

Their exit to Arsenal this year suggested a passing of the batton to a  much more energetic - though no less scientific - football side.

Today is no surprise to hear of the appliance of science and sports medicine in football training grounds, though The Times’ article about Aston Villa’s new complex at Bodymoor Heath raised an eyebrow:

“The coaching sessions at Villa are always high-intensity and game-orientated, 45 minutes is usually the maximum time that players will spend on the training pitch. On the day before a game it is simply two 10-minute periods between young and old, the competitive element enhanced by a vote among the players to award the yellow jersey to the worst among them. On match day the standard of measurement is more advanced. Villa are one of eight Premier League clients of Amisco, whose analysis software provides computerised reconstruction of games and statistics on distance covered by every player, the average time between activities, the number of passes and the number of passes completed. From next season this data will be available to subscribing clubs while the game is happening.”