FADING Arsenal might have gone missing in the title race but there is no chance of Arsene Wenger losing track of his players any more.
For the Gunners boss has turned to the sophisticated world of satellite technology to monitor the movement of his stars.
And Robin van Persie has revealed how the geeks at the club's London Colney training ground used their computer skills to check out the claims of a forgetful team-mate.
Mention Big Brother to most footballers and they think you are talking about Imogen Thomas and the super-injunction row with her mysterious Premier League 'friend'.
But to Wenger and his fellow managers, the concept of George Orwell's 1984 is becoming a reality as they take advantage of the latest developments in Global Positioning Systems - or GPS.
Gunners striker Van Persie, 27, revealed: "It's really hard in English football nowadays because everyone knows everything about each other.
"Nearly all Premier League clubs now have a GPS system to track down the opposition and monitor how much players run in a game.
"They know absolutely everything - this one is a lazy player, this one defends well, this one covers a lot of the pitch - and now we're wearing a GPS in training as well.
"We had a funny situation at Arsenal recently when one of the players said he had to go home to pick something up - but forgot he still had the GPS around him.
"So one of the physios said 'Ok, you go home' and these guys went straight on to the computer and tracked him down.
"They could actually see he really did go home and came straight back, so he wasn't lying. And now we don't have a private life!"
For Wenger, too, there is no hiding place as his team which led title race in December now looks set to limp home in fourth.
Angry Arsenal fans booed their team off the pitch after Sunday's 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa, which opened the door for Manchester City to move up to third place.
Van Persie added: "I can understand the fans' reaction because I feel connected with them and know they are frustrated.
"The players share that frustration but we are giving it everything.
"I am the first person to say when something isn't good enough and I'm not trying to hide from our results. But we should've won against Villa.
"We had a Marouane Chamakh goal disallowed and it was a clear goal.And Aaron Ramsey had a clear, 100 per cent penalty that wasn't given.
"Just before that, someone passed the ball to me and Richard Dunne basically kicked me. I didn't do anything, I went past him, one against one, passed to Ramsey and the ref awarded a foul against me.
"What I'm saying is that it's not just down to bad luck, it's sometimes bad decisions as well."
Van Persie joined Arsenal seven years ago and, in all that time, has won only the FA Cup - in 2005.
Yet he remains committed to the club and, with his contract due to expire in 2013, is due to open talks this summer over a new deal.
Having missed the first three months of the season through injury, Dutchman Van Persie has scored an astonishing 22 goals in 24 games for club and country this year.
He said: "This is definitely the best scoring form of my career but there's been lots of ups and downs for me and for team this season.
"The highlight was beating Barcelona at home. When you look at them, they play four or five top games in a row and then have one when they don't play so well but still win.
"That is when you can say you are a hugely good team - and that has to be our aim at Arsenal."
Robin van Persie was speaking at the launch of the adidas adipower Predator boot.
No comments:
Post a Comment