So finally Arsenal have moved into the 21st century. After all my ranting and raving earlier in the season about our archaic training methods, we’ve finally brought science on board.
Am I giving credit for this to Arsene Wenger? Nope. I think I’ll send it the way of the medical team. Colin Lewin and Gary O’Driscoll (Ruggers guy for the Lions) as the new boys probably had a lot to do with this and thank god. From what I’ve heard and read about this GPS malarkey, it really could be a bigger signing than September’s resigning of Rambo combined with last years new signings of Rosicky and Eduardo.
From the tech magazines and websites I’ve been swatting up on, GPS is used to establish a players optimum work out range. It calculates when a player becomes dangerously fatigued.
When you become fatigued you lose your core strength… which put simply, results in injury. If you can identify fatigue signs early, you make an educated decision on a player straight away.
*This isn’t going to prevent impact injuries like leg breaks or RvP’s ligament tweaks.
Wenger has always gone on gut feeling. If you cast your mind back to 2002, Wenger said one of his biggest regrets was not resting Bobby Pires before the Newcastle game. Bobby went on to rupture his ligaments.
GPS takes the guess work and gut feel out of it. It’ll identify a player who is fatigued early on and it will help the Arsenal training team manage fitness far better. This is especially important for a squad that is trained to match level standards before every game to achieve a higher levels of fitness. With this tech, we’ll get the best of both worlds, healthy fit players! I’d suspect we’ll get more out of Sol Campbell as well.
It also allows you to train players more intensely over shorter periods of time. Surprisingly Rugby is a million miles ahead of football with stuff like this and that is one of the reasons they use it. Short, intense training sessions reduce the likely hood of soft tissue injuries. According to my guy in Rugby, it also allows you put certain players on specialised programs. Some players don’t have the engine other players have. If you can work out who these players, you can make sure they are as close to peak condition as possible before every game.
Think of it like a battery gauge. If your phone didn’t have one, you’d get a flat battery more often. If it had one, you’d never rule out flat battery moments, but you could manage your phone a lot better.
I guess the only sour note about the whole thing is why didn’t we have this type of kit before? Teams like Fulham, City, United and Chelsea (3 seasons) have all had this for a while. We’ve been a bit behind the times.
Still, the key thing to take from all this is that if the hype is to be believed, injuries will be greatly reduced next season and our fitness especially late on in the season will be far higher.
Amen to that Grovers.
I’m going to get digging and see if I can get one of the GPS companies to give me a sales pitch! Shhhh!
Update:
As some of you will have already seen the above post due to my publish slip yesterday, I’m adding a little just so you don’t feel duped.
You will have all read the quotes in the press about Cesc leaving this summer to join Barcelona. I’ve heard people saying if he wants to go, let him. Come on people, the guy is Mr Arsenal… surely you don’t mean that? If your wife turned around to you one day and said she was sick of going to Nando’s every weekend because of the under trained waiters and the lack of service… deciding she’d be better off if you took her to Maze… would you simply say, ‘I’ll let her go.’
Or would you tell her she’ll never get the same respect in Maze, the richness of the food could make her feel queezy and if she doesn’t conform straight away, she may get asked to leave? It’s all about Nando’s people. We’re cheap and cheerful at Arsenal and we’ve got the Piri Piri spirit.
If Cesc truly wants to move to Barcelona I’d be very disappointed. There is huge competition for places with some of the best loved faces in Spain in front of him. If he was to move, I’d wouldn’t want to the cash unless we were going to reinvest it.
Give us some players… I’d take Yaya, that Eastern European defender… plus £40million. For me, if Cesc is allowed to leave… project youth is dead. We’ll have to have a complete rethink around our formation and we’ll have to find 15 odd assists and 15 goals. Nasri proved he’s not up to the job at this stage in his career… the last thing we want is another transitional half decade.
That would be the biggest disaster since Igor Stepanov’s was identified as a player of great spirit and technical ability.
Finally, match of the day pundit, Lee Dixon has had his thoughts on the season and they don’t make for pretty reading. This is a guy whose played under Wenger and won trophies… this is an Arsenal legend who is always measured and balanced in his words about the club.
“There’s been a huge amount of negatives this season: not competing at the top – getting back into the title race twice but dropping out – the lack of consistency and not being good enough when not in possession.
“Arsène has given the youngsters a period of time but I’ve heard signs from him that it hasn’t worked. So he’s going to do things differently this summer.
“Wenger has moved forward in his attitudes towards his team. You can’t turn a bunch of kids into champions and he realises that now.
“Any Arsenal fan should be happy with that – he’s finally accepted what’s wrong with the team and has plans to change it.”
I’m glad to hear someone who probably has a decent amount of insider knowledge has come out and said that. Combine those comments with the Wenger and Gazidis rhetoric coming out of the club and I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a ripping summer.
Before I leave you, according to one of the Grovers whose has a penchant for Italian blogs… word leaked to the Italian fans that Buffon had tied up a deal with Arsenal which lead to great anger amongst the Juve crowd.
‘Why would he move to a club that play square football’
Was believed to be one particularly harsh critique of our wonderful club. Square… as in geek… nerd? Who know’s… if the rumblings are true and Buffon has been a massive pain in the arsenal for Juve this year… that could be one of the greatest signings of Wengers career. Can anyone smell a Sagna + cash swap deal in the offing?
No? I can’t either… it wouldn’t have a smell, would it?
Anyway, exciting times ahead grovers!
See you in the comments!
- Facebook: facebook.com/legrove
- Twitter: @legrove
I guess im a fool then Ken. Because we have no idea how Buffon would adjust to the prem teams like Blackburn, Stoke etc surrounding the keeper and firing the ball into the 6 yard box.
Obviously i would be delighted to sign Buffon but to think he would be a sure thing success isnt right. We need an aerially dominant keeper more than anything. Serie A isnt exactly known for its strength in the air imo.
Well if Ibrahimovic goes for 65m + Eto’o the i think its fair that we at least try for Yaya+Chygrynskiy+30m.
Stu
come on
you are a pretty good reader of the game, surely you are just being argumentative here.
as if some one like buffon isnt good enough to deal with blackburn…
the guy has been at the top for years and years, he has won the world cup.
dont let your judgement get blurred by fabianski or almunias performances.
seriously
“looooooool you don’t even know football !
Cecs = Yaya Touré + Chygrinsky + 40 M !
HAHAHAHAHAHA !
The best we can have is Cesc = Touré + 25 M
Or Cesc = Touré + Bojan ( or caceres ) + 10M”
crack head
““looooooool you don’t even know football !
Cecs = Yaya Touré + Chygrinsky + 40 M !
HAHAHAHAHAHA !
The best we can have is Cesc = Touré + 25 M
Or Cesc = Touré + Bojan ( or caceres ) + 10M”
crack head”
Nice arguments !
Maybe i am being argumentative for arguments sake. I think you’re right Incesc. My judgement is probably being clouded by Fabianski and Almunias influence on me over the last few seasons..i cant help that part.
Honestly, i dont doubt Buffons quality, who would. But im a little worried about us having the same problem of noone dealing with crosses. I mean, who knows, maybe Al and Fab are actually cracking keepers but the training isnt right..i dunno.
Well Denis, you clearly know football. What do you think would be a fair deal if we were to let Cesc leave. Bearing in mind that just last summer Ronaldo went for 80m, Ibrahimovic for 65m plus Eto and Kaka for about 60m too.
The problem is that cesc is really young ! To me his price is around 50 M not more. Look at benzema, he left Lyon for 35 M€.
Regarding Kaka and Ronaldo have a better record of achievements.
The best thing would be to keep Cesc… then to take yaya + 25 M !
It’s only my opinion !
fuck me does wenger really think he’s going to keep cesc by signing players like diakahte,schwarzer,chamakh,romero..
a keeper wont win you the league but a top keeper will just do a job quietly without being noticed. Buffon would catch crosses all day long and after a year we wouldnt even notice.
On top of that he would bring a massive personality to the club and make hos defence play better to prove themselves to him.
as a defender if fabianski shouted at you would you care as much as if buffon did?
So vermealean was a bad signing BBK ? I mean cesc didnt know him before he join us !
incesc i would love to see buffon in our team. But i think he is expensive, i would prefer to spend our money on REALLY good midfielders and CB.
anyway
buffon is a pipe dream
cesc wont leave either
we will still have diaby and denilson in the team when we play man u next season
I would love to see Melo instead of denilson !
denis
who would you take for defence?
is melo any good?
we need energy imo
don’t get me started on vermaelen
Melo has balls, we just need balls in midfield !
the players wenger will want won’t keep cesc at the club
I think the signing of Silvestre has tipped Cesc over the edge.
Why did we ever sign that shite Manc cunt. Have a word with yourself Wenger.
b.b.k
vermalean?
what?
Insesc, regarding the defense… i want a tall defender. Vermealen is quick and has energy ! I think Cahill will be ok. Actually Subotic is my dream !!
incesc what???
I agree with BBK on this. We need a big name, not necessarily a big price tag, but a big name to show intent. We need a signing that will show the others we arent being held back by debt anymore and its our time to dominate the league. Signing a relatively unknown, decent player isnt going to do that.
get started on vermalean…
Big name… but who ?!
lets just say im not his biggest fan .
stu big players come with the big price tags.
Denis
i think i would prefer cahill, for his premier league experience and most winning teams in england have a big englishman in defence…
He did silly things vs barcelona… but on other games he was great !
b.b.k
he started well and faded badly but for a very young central defender it was a very good learning experience
imo
and earlier in the season he had some heart
the whole fucking squad lost its heart after the nou camp
i will never understand why that happened.
they were still playing for the championship but they gave up…
sad to say but that is the manager
Regarding goalkeepers, i have seen romero’s game… to me he is pretty good ! Not as good as a Lloris, but he ll be a good signing i think !
and regarding big signing… just take a look at Barcelona and Ibrahimovic ! … Their best signing was Maxwell !
Not a big signing as in a 40m superstar. But imo Yaya or Gourcuff or someone of that ilk would be relatively big for us and a signal of intent. They wouldnt cost more than 30m each imo.
*more than 20m each.
Dont want Romero either. Another very average keeper playing in an average league. I mean if a keeper makes the mistakes he does in a league of that quality then he has no hope in a tough league imo. At least Vermaelen was the best defender in the Eridivise and has dont very well against the bottom 2 thirds of the prem. Its only with the top teams Vermaelen has been caught out.
did anyone see that comment left on a.c.l.f
To me Blackburn and Bolton are as shitty as AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente !
Gourcuff will be great to replace cesc, if this one leaves !
If your wife turned around to you one day and said she was sick of going to Nando’s every weekend because of the under trained waiters and the lack of service…
——————————–
no i think its more like taking your mrs to a tapas bar where she flirts with every Spanish man she talks to .
do you want to get shot of her now ?
or are you prepared to put up with Spanish slops ! ?
and keep paying for her up keep to stay with you ..
when she’s only going to go off and bone some young better looking Spanish guy eventually anyhow !
he is about as much MR ARSENAL as adebarndor
TV for captain ..
damn straight !
if cesc wants out , we need a replacement ..
denial is not a river
we paid that lad top wages every year
and he really has only repaid us with a double digit goal tally this 1 season ..
2 average years.. 1 above av… and 1 excellent .
is that a good enough return on project youth ?
the only real one to make it , we sell as soon as he’s ready ?
ethangunner Says:
May 15, 2010 at 01:07
TV for captain ..
damn straight ! you been drinking
Yaya Toure is the big name we need to sign, he will fuck Darren Fletcher up.
Yeah, Yaya touré would be a great signing !
A little bit likeARSENAL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BWZ14eC4Js&feature=related LOVE FROM MIKE
gUYS KEEP IT STRAIGHT! sTRAIGHT AS A DICE!!
nOW YOU HAVE HEAR THE sMOKIE wHAT DO YOU THINK!
cHATCH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxAZU7PK8OA&feature=related
lADS THESE GUYS HAD IT ALL SORTED! DIDNT THEY?
hI GUYS LISTEN TO MY MATE I THINK HE IS THE BIShttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brq3KlUt81E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcLbSxqACkQ&feature=channel
cHECK THIS GUY OUT! HE THE BUSINESS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brq3KlUt81E
tHIS IS EVEN BETTER x FACTOR MY ARSE nO NEED WE HAVE FOUND THE NEW BOSS!!
barca will never pay the rate for a player they class as one off their own,never.
wANKERS OR WHAT!
Im still mad at Dunga. Fucking cunt
rich girl she buys her dream its a rich world behind the sences green eyes she takes it all the more she takes the harder she falls!! i LOVE IT WHEN THE PRESSURE IS OFF!!
iNCESC AND aa23 gUYS LETS CALL A TRUCE! nO MORE FIGHTING!!
gOOD NIGHT VIETIAM!!
its mike the woofer. Wad up dog
mike,
pass the duchy on the left hand side
Arsenal 2010/2011:
Buffon
Sagna – Hangeland – Vermalen – Clichy
Milner – Yaya – Song – Nasri
Chamakh – RVP
Subs: Hart, Mannone, Walcott, Ramsey, Djourou, Gibbs, Arshavin, Campbell, Diaby, Bendtner, Wilshere, JET, Lansbury
In (GBP m):
Buffon (18), Hart (15), Yaya (17), Milner (18), Hangeland (16), Chamakh (0) TOTAL = GBP84m
Out (GBP m):
Denilson (10), Senderos (2), Gallas (0), Silvstre (0.5), Cesc (60), Eduardo (8), Rosicky (8), *Eboue (20) TOTAL = GBP108.5m
*total football special price
Net spending = 108.5m – 84m = 24.5m balance!
24.5m extension 9 years to Arsene Wenger? Hmmm!!!!
So, Nasri says 5 Arsenal players refuse to speak to Gallas after something happened in training awhile ago, but that it doesn’t affect the results on the pitch. Hmm.
You know Pedro/Geoff, you guys do a great service for all us Grovers/Gooners all over the world. I have come to realize in the odd three years or whatever I have been a mungler that after a bad loss, a disappointing result, there is no absolute better way then to simply talk about it and let everything out with all the other “experts” on here. You all keep us sane with your daily posts, and you all give us an outlet to express whatever we may be feeling that day.
In sport, as in life, it is always unpredictable but in sport you ALWAYS get a second chance. And therefore no matter how far we sink or how low we go or how bad the result on that day, I will ALWAYS be a Gooner and I will ALWAYS believe that the next year, the next season, the next game is our turn!!!
You all keep us sane with your daily posts,
—
Beg to differ, people drive me mad sometimes
yeah in that madness we find sanity bnsb. Disagreement on here is the best catharsis…its either that or I get shitfaced to forget the result and that has to be a lot worse for mind/body.
When I come on here and see everyone suffering and dealing with it, taking it out in their own way, it always brings some perspective.
OT:
Congrats to all Aussie gooners who are cricket fans on your teams “humongous” victory yesterday. It would have been farcical if our neighbours were to be in final – winning One in qualifying and one in super eight.
Izham
wat about porto gr8 established superstars huh no young player developed(deco carvalho) u heard about Milito before mourinho joined lolz,,,