St. James’ Park is one of the toughest venues to play at when Newcastle are fit,” commented Ruben Amorim. The United manager was right, it was just as tough as expected with a 4-1 loss. Now Manchester United are calling in a capacity that will work intensely right up until kick-off on matchday.
We shouldn’t underestimate the value of data collection and analysis, but once you’ve covered enough big matches, you’ll realize that the analysis work done by the players, opponents and potential match progression is enough to make something in the match turn everything on its head. Then it is about the players’ and coaches’ ability to adapt and face what is coming. That requires experience, flair, the ability to read situations that are not planned – and exploit it in a matter of seconds.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe left early as the new United boss with the task of bringing in the best people in all areas. Dan Ashworth was rated as one of the best sporting directors on the market, he kept his job for 159 days. Ratcliffe and INEOS have been heavily involved in the ownership and sponsorship side of cycling, sailboat racing and Formula 1. Now United will take advantage of this network.
According to the Daily Mail, United are in talks with Michael Sansoni, who currently has a central role at Mercedes’ Formula 1 team as a performance engineer. United should have faith that Sansoni’s skills can be transferred to football.
In a previous interview with a student newspaper in Southampton, Sansoni explained what he is really doing in the Formula 1 circus.
“My job is to make sure the car performs at the highest level possible when we start testing on Fridays during a race weekend,” Sansoni said.
He also works closely with the Mercedes drivers. Now Sansoni is on his way to Old Trafford, reports the English newspaper.
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Okay, clearly an exciting link between Formula 1 and football, but right now we would rather see Manchester United build a squad with players who are more reminiscent of Magnus Karlsen in chess. The opponents have prepared through months of data analysis to meet Karlsen with an advantage. This works until Karlsen uses his extraordinary ability to follow his intuition. After this, it’s all about chess “unplugged”.
The biggest matches in the football circus are also often decided with football unplugged, where emotions, mentality, creativity, injuries, support punches and everything else that happens during ninety minutes in this very uncontrollable arena, tilts a match to lose, or victory.
