SOUTHGATE & CROUCH
England boss Gareth and ceiling-bothering pundit Peter on fake crowds, VR training and the unknown ‘Crouchgate’ scandal
“WE’VE ACTUALLY GOT TOO MUCH DATA NOW, SO WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME SORTING WHAT’S RELEVANT”
What are you both like when it comes to tech?
GS: I run my life on my phone, so without it I’m not quite sure how I would operate. I’m using apps for things like fitness, because I’m not able to get to the gym at the moment, and obviously there’s everything to do with work on there.
Years ago, the only accurate data we had was around how far people ran. Normally it was used in a really basic way: you’d get the fitness coach to bring it to you on a Monday and tell you this player didn’t run far enough and therefore we didn’t win. It was a really misguided way of assessing these things.
Now we’ve got so much accurate performance data around every pass that’s played, you can assess teams much more clearly. We’ve actually got too much – and we have to make sure the data we use is really accurate and specific, so we spend a lot of time sorting out what’s really relevant for the England team – relating to improving our own performance, but also preparing us for the next opponent.
PC: What I love in tech at the moment are the Apple Airpods – absolutely loving them. We’re on series five of That Peter Crouch Podcast and I’m only now looking into getting a mic.
The show has got so big, I’ve got to the stage where I need a proper setup. I never really classed doing the podcast as a job and now it is, so I need to sort myself out. Chris [Stark] and
Tom [Fordyce] are proper broadcasters – they’ve got the full setup, the noise isolation boards and whatever else. I’m literally with a mic in my front room. So yeah, I need a serious upgrade.
How did you feel about watching games on TV with the fake crowd noise?
GS: I turned it off. For me it’s more interesting without, because I can hear the way players communicate, which is a really important piece of information when I’m watching players play. You learn a lot about leadership, who’s organising the others in difficult moments, so I prefer the crowd noise off.
PC: I wanted to hear the fake crowd noise. A lot of fans I know want to hear the players, but I’ve heard the players for 20 years, I don’t need to hear them! I prefer a little bit of atmosphere when I’m watching matches on TV otherwise it just sounds like a reserve game.
You can’t beat having the fans there, though. It’s just spine-tingling when you think about Euro 96 and what that was like. If we can get the same sort of buzz together now, that would be amazing. There are loads of teams I’m interested in seeing at the Euros but I’m really excited about this group of young English players we’ve got now – and also excited to see how Gareth is going to fit them all in.
How has tech changed the way you work?
PC: Punditry is now more technical. Working with BT covering the games, you have the tactics board and the screen to draw the arrows and highlight the players… and you have to be able to use it if you want to show the sort of thinking around the tactics now.
GS: Embracing tech is part of modern management. With England it’s more to do with the wider team of staff: we’ve got seven or eight different departments, from medical to video analysis to the commercial team, and they’re all part of building support for the team.
A lot of those guys are further ahead than I am on where technology is and where data needs to be in certain departments. We’re embracing it. I obviously don’t understand all of the details, but I’ve got people who are better than me in those areas who can bring that to the table. The world is changing so quickly, you’ve got to be ahead of those advances.
How do you think augmented reality tech could be used in football?
GS: One of the things we’re always looking at is delivery of team meetings and how that can be more interesting. So in terms of tactical ideas for players, for example, augmented reality could show where they move and let you move people around the pitch. With young players, I think some of the tactical learning could take place with that type of system.
PC: That would be great for sorting tactics. I think it could
certainly help with set-pieces, looking at where players need to be positioned.
And what about making use of virtual reality?
GS: In America I’ve been seeing guys recovering from injuries with VR headsets. So some of the quarterbacks are able to go into plays, and make the type of movement where people will come in to make tackles. The idea is they’re then able to dodge tackles without actually having the hits.
PC: I’ve seen Jamie Carragher with the VR headset [on Sky
Sports]. What’s good about that is you can see the sort of situations that players are in, maybe see things from a different perspective and actually put yourself in the position of a player.
If VAR could chalk out one bad decision from your playing days, what would you pick?
PC: I’d like to see how things would have panned out if Lamps’ goal at the 2010 World Cup [against Germany] had counted. We were beaten fair and square, but would that have changed it in any way? I’m just glad I’m not playing with VAR around – I reckon my scoring record would have come down by about 20 or 25 goals. I remember one against Man City where I handballed it twice. It’s in the record books now so it doesn’t matter! Gareth Southgate and Peter Crouch helped launch the world’s first 5G AR ‘foosball’ tournament, hosted by EE at Wembley Stadium. You can catch all the action on EE’S Youtube channel.