REVEALED: The hi-tech GPS gizmo Liverpool use to ensure Gerrard, Suarez and Co are fit enough for new season 

By Laurie Whitwell for the Daily Mail

Published: 08:39 EST, 25 July 2013 | Updated: 08:50 EST, 25 July 2013

Pre-season used to provide an opportunity for players to re-engage with football away from too much physical scrutiny.

Matches were low-key affairs where little notice would be taken of a sprint cut short, a lack of distance covered, or a heart rate remaining sedate. 

But those days are gone. Now, an omnipotent fitness system can measure all the data a coaching team desires and highlight those individuals who are not meeting targets.

Keeping tabs: Steven Gerrard lifts his shirt to reveal the STATSports Viper unit strapped to his chest

Fancy that: Liverpool tweeted this picture of the devices before they were strapped to the players

Steven Gerrard lifted up his shirt during Liverpool’s win over Melbourne Victory to reveal he was wearing a STATSports Viper unit – a GPS system that collects a multitude of statistics on speed, distance, heart rate, dynamic stress loads (explained later) accelerations and decelerations. 

It is a sophisticated piece of kit that has revolutionised how performances in pre-season are assessed and is also used throughout a campaign to tailor training schedules and pick up early on injuries.  

The Merseyside club are not walking alone here. Premier League champions Manchester United, their neighbours City, as well as Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, West Ham, Norwich, Southampton, Sunderland, Swansea, Aston Villa, Cardiff and Crystal Palace all subscribe to the software: all but six top-flight teams.

England’s national side use the product, along with Juventus, Galatasary and, as of this week, Barcelona. It was developed with rugby in mind, however, and England and Ireland union teams worked in its conception phase. A host of club sides from both codes have since signed up.

Irish rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll believes the system has transformed his training. ‘The feedback we get is hugely important to our fitness staff in working out the time we spend on our feet on a weekly basis,’ he says. ‘In a nutshell it’s revolutionised professional rugby training.’

That’s a lot of fuss, and understandable when you appreciate how the STATSports system works. Taking the form of a small, ergonomic pod the weight of just two AA batteries, the Viper fits on a player’s back in a pouch supplied by the tight-fitting vest.

Each pod contains a mind-boggling list of components including four processors, a state of the art GPS module, a 3-D accelerometer (which determines direction as well as speed), a 3-D gyroscope (that locates balance and orientation), a 3-D digital compass, a long range radio and a heart rate receiver.

Various parameters are measured and calculated 100 times per second, meaning almost a quarter of a million numbers every minute can be analysed from a team of 11 football players. Frankly ludicrous figures you may associate more with space travel.

Data is both collected for storage and streamed live to coaching staff sitting at laptops up to two pitches away – vital if in-play changes need to be made.

The beauty of the Viper’s channelling mechanisms means that such statistics are 99 per cent accurate even in a stadium of 90,000 people using phones and wifi gadgets which can interfere with other similar systems.

Closer look: Gerrard and his team-mates were all kitted out with the sports technology

You too: Luis Suarez (centre) takes off his shirt to reveal the hi-tech piece of kit

The feedback gives valuable insight that is then used to optimise players’ performance, workload and goals. In a pre-season friendly, for example, a manager can see if a player is running more heavily on one side or another (the dynamic stress load rises) – and that’s usually an indication an injury is being compensated for.

In training, over time, optimal ranges can be set – for sprinting speeds, heart rates, metabolic ratios etc – and then used to show if a player is over or underworking and needs to be told either way.
The clubs mentioned above will all use the devices this pre-season and every day in training during 2013-14.

There is a grey area over whether Vipers are allowed in competitive games due to FIFA rules and the governing body is looking into whether a decision over use needs to be made.

It is thought players returning from injury may have worn the kit in Premier League matches to assist analysis of their comebacks already.

Individual diary: A number of stats on physical condition can be determined from the equipment

Ever present: This heat map for ex-Arsenal player Martin Angha is another example of the technology's uses

The system is the brainchild of sports scientists Alan Clarke and Sean O’Connor, who co-founded STATSports in 2007. The company has bases in Newry, Northern Ireland and Dundalk, Ireland, as well as London.

O’Connor, 31, explains to Sportsmail: ‘The GPS is used by all our clubs every single session. The more data you have the powerful it becomes. You establish a profile for each player and know their benchmarks.

‘You get incredibly accurate data on players’ movements, efficiency, and biomechanics. Every player has a style of running, how he hits the ground, and if he starts to fatigue you can see slight changes. They start hitting the ground heavier and it’s a sloppier movement.

‘It has become part of their kit now, you’ve got your boots, your shinpads, your kit, and your GPS – away you go.’

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