Man City lead clubs using AI seen in driverless cars to carry out real-time video analysis DURING games
A combination of camerawork and artificial intelligence in software Gameface lets manager make a decision in the dugout after seeing evidence at his fingertips
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PREMIER LEAGUE clubs know every second counts in the battle for points - which is why they're using real-time technology to carry out video analysis DURING matches.
Premier League champions to bring their technology to the dugout in-game.
And this season is the first in which Pep Guardiola and Co can use the app to judge the action while the players are on the pitch.
Another rival working with Prem clubs is Gameface, a company whose high-end software produces football data and analytics literally as the action unfolds.
And this program is being used by a number of top English clubs as well as by sides in the Bundesliga and La Liga.
It works by using artificial intelligence (AI) - an area of computer science that creates machines which think and work like humans.
And much like the 'deep learning' method used by self-driving cars, Gameface recognises when something is happening on a football pitch by watching the players and tracking the ball.
Data from any number of cameras can be accessed instantaneously during a match and fed into a device such as an iPad, which City's players and coaches use in the dugout and changing rooms.
The tracking of players through GPS sports vests has become commonplace at the top level of the professional game, and Pep Guardiola wants to use drones at City training.
But now bosses want the technology that will allow them to make decisions during the game based on tangible evidence at their fingertips.
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At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, each team was given access to data from FIFA’s Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems performance tracker system, and now Gameface are getting involved too.
Jalal Shaik, Gameface's founder and CEO, said: "Our platform understands patterns of play and we can produce instant heat maps, speed and distance data for each player.
"A heat map could show how far out of position your centre-back is, or if a manager's team is being outpaced down the left, coaching staff can look at the speed and distance data of the opposition's right-sided midfielder.
"They can then compare that with the data or their own players and a move a player across whose speed is higher than the opposing player.
"Gameface works with any camera set-up or angle and needs very little manual intervention compared with other platforms.
"Our AI technology automatically tags keys events like goals and tackles so you can find them from match footage instantly.
"And the more footage the platform reads, the deeper its knowledge of those teams and players - just like with a human brain."
This latest technology has been a long time coming, and Rafa Benitez was among the first to see the merit of having information at his fingertips when he created the Global Coach app back in 2010.
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The current Newcastle manager's bit of kit uses animations to help wannabe coaches and established professionals create and save training drills, as well as share tactical messages to players
Sol Campbell and Thierry Henry have been schooled in the technology as they embark on their first stint as managers.
The idea was borne out of Rafa wanting to show tactics he used to mastermind Liverpool's famous 2005 comeback against AC Milan in the Champions League final.
Benitez said: "I was watching some training sessions in Germany and a translator was on the pitch interpreting as a coach was giving instructions to a player.
"The app takes away this need for the translator as the player can visually see what needs to do.
“We have been using video for many years as a visual coaching tool but felt we needed to enhance video with animations that we could design quickly, effectively and simply to use at team or individual talks.
"It allows for me to create animations in minutes where in the past it would have taken days."