Their pre-season trip to France may be a scenic departure from the daily grind but for Southampton’s players pre-season training is far from a luxury getaway.
With their heart rates, speed levels and distance coverage from every second of their sessions monitored, the last fortnight has been a gruelling physical examination.
Below, First Team Data Scientist Laura Bowen offers us insight into the incredible detail by which the Saints' training performances are analysed, with no stone left unturned.
"Every second my iPad refreshes with how much distance they’ve covered, how much high-speed running they are doing, so I can see what speeds they reach," Bowen explains.
"The managers really buy into the numbers and they’ll pull out players who aren’t putting a shift in or congratulate the players that aren’t working the hardest. So there really is no place to hide now."
Watch the detail behind Saints' pre-season
📈#SaintsFC's First Team Data Scientist @Bowen_8 explains the enormous detail in which the players' performances in training are tracked: pic.twitter.com/DbAUlO0gKW
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) July 27, 2017
Photo credit: Southampton FC