Liverpool have gone from a season almost completely devastated by injuries to a healthier side this season, especially after Christmas. It is far from coincidence, we can read in an article from telegraph Wednesday.
Zone7 in Silicon Valley is a company that specializes in artificial intelligence, and Liverpool have made great use of their algorithms this season – to assess injury risks and to assess what measures they need to put in place to stay in place. Player injuries.
Jurgen Klopp has stated that the quality of Liverpool’s stadium today is the best he has had in his career, but nine changes from one important game to the next are plenty no matter the situation. Rotation is mostly about avoiding injury to the best players, and it’s been proven to work very well this season.
Retreat by a third
Liverpool had a much better season than last when it comes to injuries. Figures from the Telegraph show that Klopp’s turn has yielded results both on the pitch and in the form of fewer names on the injury list.
From having players injured for 1,513 days last season, the number is 1,008 this season. When it comes to big injuries, the numbers are even better. Last season, there were 1,409 days in total where players were out with a serious injury (nine days or more). This season, the corresponding figure is 841 days.
Sports scientist Simon Brundish says in the article that Klopp is getting better at the rotation every year.
Klopp understands sports science. He makes good use of information and has a strong team around him. He has strategized for the entire season and rotated with the idea that players will get a certain amount of match load, he says and adds that Liverpool have never managed to get past the impressive schedule that has been this spring without focusing so much on a rotation.
Mostly algorithms
The Zone7 model addresses most things imaginable when it comes to assessing a player’s injury risk. The match and training data speaks for itself, but it also addresses things like each player’s sleep and stress levels. The information collected by the technology is delivered to Klopp and others in the support device via an application developed by the company.
The program ensures that the risk of injury is minimal and that the players are in as good a condition as possible at all times. Sometimes the answer may be that you need to train a little less on specific things, like sprints. Other times, the answer may be to train more and more because the player isn’t a good enough coach, says Tal Brown, founder of Zone7.
Two years ago, it was estimated that Zone 7 could detect 70 percent of infections up to seven days before infections occurred. They found that playing six or more matches over 30 days led to a sharp increase in the risk of infection. Liverpool just played their ninth game in 30 days, and rotation was key to avoiding more injuries compared to the few people in attendance.
Brown believes that their software will improve over time and they will have more data to enter into the model. For this reason, Liverpool have extended the agreement with Zone7 for two years, and it will also be used on the U23 and women’s teams. Combined with the best people in the field, including Andreas Schlumberger, it seems that Liverpool now also have the best technology available to avoid injuries in the future.
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