Pen pics of Arsenal's coaching, science, medicine and analytics staff.

Arsenal have already equalled the record for most goals from corners in a Premier League season - and blocking is a big reason why. Former Newcastle United Analyst looks at what they are doing and why.

Natasha Patel is Assistant Academy Director at Southampton and one of the most experienced women working in men's professional football. In Episode #64 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, she outlined her journey in football, how analysis has evolved and her experiences on either side of the Atlantic.

RENE MARIC is one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe. At the age of 31, he is Head of Coach Development and Playing Philosophy at Bayern Munich and has worked for Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach. He told the TGG Podcast about his coaching journey and lessons.

RADHI JAIDI became the first Tunisian to play in the Premier League when he joined Sam Allardyce's Bolton in 2004 and he remains a trailblazer as one of the only black Muslim coaches in senior European football. On Episode #61 of the TGG Podcast, Jaidi told us about his journey as a player and coach.

DR ZAFAR IQBAL is leaving Crystal Palace after eight-and-a-half years to become Head of Sports Medicine at Arsenal.

AS manager of League One Reading, Ruben Selles has one of the toughest jobs in the Football League. On Episode #60 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, he explained what it's like to lead the crisis club.

ARSENAL have promoted Richard Garlick from Director of Football Operations to Managing Director, replacing the outgoing Vinai Venkatesham.

BELGIUM'S Union Saint-Gilloise have marked themselves out as one of the smartest and most innovative clubs in Europe. In Episode #59 of the TGG Podcast, their Sporting Director, Chris O'Loughlin, gave insights into how they are managing to upset the established order.

NOWADAYS it's shape, not formation, that matters - and tracking data models make it possible to identify and analyse team shape. In this article, Stats Perform's Jon Manuel uses such a model to look specifically at inverted full-backs in the Premier League.

KEVIN THELWELL has been Director of Football during a tumultuous period at Everton. In Episode #58 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, Thelwell talked about what his role involves, formulating a long-term plan for the club and what the future might hold.

JES BUSTER MADSEN is Head of Research and Development at FC Copenhagen and a world leader in the application of cognitive neuroscience in football. In Episode #57 of the TGG Podcast he explained how and why brain training will be the next big growth area in football.

FOR the last decade, Mark Leyland has been one of the foremost analysts in this country - and has gone on to become even more than that. He spoke to TGG about the evolution of his role at Liverpool and Newcastle and his current job as Head of Coaching Methodology at City Football Group.

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta has raised the prospect of making tactical substitutions using his goalkeepers this season.

FORMER Arsenal Head of Analytics Sarah Rudd has said that clubs should share more of their data science work ‘for the good of the industry.’

FOR almost a decade, Sarah Rudd was Vice President of Analytics for StatDNA and Arsenal, making her one of the most senior women in the Premier League. In this episode of the TGG Podcast, she told us about her work with Arsenal, her wider career and her thoughts on the future of analytics.

MARK MASON has been appointed Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Arsenal following the promotion of Terry Mason to first-team duties.

MANY data scientists and analysts got their break in the professional game because of Twitter. One was Sarah Rudd, who went on to become Vice President of Analytics at Arsenal. She told TGG the main differences between being a Twitter and club analyst.

LIVERPOOL'S influential assistant Pep Lijnders was our guest on Episodes #53 and #54 of the TGG Podcast, giving in-depth insights into his work at the Anfield club.

MANAGER Ian Evatt and Sporting Director Chris Markham are working in tandem to try and restore Bolton Wanderers to their former glories. They outlined their approach in Episode #52 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl.

WHEN Irishman Conor Nestor got an unexpected opportunity to manage Svay Rieng in Cambodia, he grabbed it with both hands. He transformed the way they operated, including a complete revamp of their analysis and recruitment. Here he explains what he did and how it helped land the Cambodian league title.

ARSENAL have a fantastic record of producing athletic Academy graduates. In Episode #50 of the TGG Podcast Des Ryan, the club's former Head of Academy Sports Medicine and Athletic Development, explains why and how.

BENFICA are the reigning UEFA Youth League champions and have the most profitable Academy in Europe. Their Technical Director Pedro Marques was our guest on Episode #49 of the TGG Podcast in association with Hudl.

OUR guest on Episode #48 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast is Norwich City's Stuart Webber, who we've often described as the 'purest' example of a Sporting Director in this country.

IN Episode #47 of the Training Ground Guru Podcast, Tom Vernon tells us about the origins of Right to Dream, its objectives and what the rest of football can learn from the group.

PROFESSOR David Sumpter is a pioneer of the application of data science in football and has worked with leading teams including Ajax, Barcelona, Hammarby and England. In Episode #46 of the TGG Podcast he gives insights into his work and predictions for the future.

JONNY WHITMORE of Stats Perform uses advanced metrics to analyse the contribution of Thomas Partey this season and show why he is Arsenal's unsung hero.

BRENTFORD first-team coach Justin Cochrane tells us about his coaching journey on Episode #45 of the TGG Podcast.

SALLY NEEDHAM is the Human Development and Performance Culture Lead at Sheffield United's Academy. On Episode #44 of the TGG Podcast she gives us the lowdown on her unique role.

SIMON MURPHY has been promoted to Lead Performance Physio by Arsenal after turning down the opportunity to join Nottingham Forest as Head Physio.

RUI FARIA is the most successful number two in football history. Here he gives in-depth insights into his time working alongside Jose Mourinho.

SEAN DYCHE explains the lessons he has learned throughout his career, from being a trainee under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest to taking unfashionable Burnley into Europe for the first time in 51 years.

DANNY KARBASSIYOON was a young player for Arsenal almost 20 years ago, but never made it. However, he has ended up returning to the club and making a big impact in a completely different guise.

STEVEN REID left his role as first-team coach at Nottingham Forest earlier this summer to become a confidence, wellbeing and leadership coach. On Episode #41 of the TGG Podcast he explains the reasons why and gives insights into his two decades as a Premier League player and coach.

JACK WILSHERE has returned to Arsenal as Under-18s Head Coach, with Mehmet Ali promoted to U21s lead.

ARSENAL Senior Physio Simon Murphy has left the club after a year to become Head Physio at newly-promoted Nottingham Forest.

DAMIEN COMOLLI tells TGG about the strategies he has employed to restore Toulouse FC to the top table of French football - and how they were honed during three decades in the game.

ARSENAL Head of Academy Performance Tony Strudwick has joined West Brom as their Director of Medical Services.

IN April, Southampton announced that they were launching a “unique” Learning Lab that would embed a “research culture focused on modern Ecological Approaches” in their club and Academy. TGG decided to find out more by welcoming two members of the Learning Lab Board onto our podcast.

ARSENAL Under-23 Head Coach Kevin Betsy has been appointed manager of League Two Crawley Town, with U18s boss Dan Micciche as his assistant.

HEAD OF PERFORMANCE Shad Forsythe has left Arsenal after eight years. The American was brought to the club by Arsene Wenger in August 2014 and was one of the longest-serving members of backroom staff at the North London club.

AUSTRALIA assistant Rene Meulensteen was our guest on Episode #38 of the TGG Podcast. He told us about his coaching journey from Holland to Australia via Manchester United and the lessons learned along the way in front of a live audience..

ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta has paid tribute to Steve Rowley and his players will wear black armbands in memory of the club's former Chief Scout during tonight’s Premier League game against Chelsea.

ANDREAS GEORGSON gives us insights into individual development coaching, evolving set pieces at the highest level, Malmö's youth development secrets and what it was like to work under Arteta.

THE Training Ground Guru Podcast is celebrating its third birthday. We look back on the 37 episodes we've had so far - and ahead to season four.

ARSENAL Academy Manager Per Mertesacker says there is a risk of clubs missing out on a ‘sweet spot of development’ by making scholarship decisions on players at Under-16s.

FOR 24 years, Francis Cagigao was one of the most important and influential figures at Arsenal. He tells TGG about his time with the North London club and about his new role, as Director of Football for Chile.

TOLLY COBURN has been promoted to Data Analytics Lead by Arsenal as they continue to reshape the department.

ARSENAL’S Tyler Cox has been appointed as the new Director of Analytics at MLS side Seattle Sounders.

BRENTFORD'S journey to the Premier League is a story of innovation, clever use of data and investment in people. We found out more about this from their Director of Football, Phil Giles.

MEHMET ALI has left Reading to become the new Under-23s assistant at Arsenal.

MARIELA NISOTAKI is the Head of Emerging Talent at Norwich City - and the only female scout on the circuit in the UK. She told us what her job involves, how she balances data with live eyes and why Norwich are an ambitious club doing things their own way.

In Episode #33 of the TGG Podcast, Chris Ramsey MBE tells us about his role at QPR, his career journey, how he develops coaches and why the game has lost a generation of black leaders.

GREGG BROUGHTON is the Academy Director at Bodø/Glimt, the small club making a big noise in European football. He was our guest on Episode #32 of the TGG Podcast.

THE story behind the story of Arsenal's 'youngest recruit', which went around the world last month.

ARSENAL'S Mikhail Zhilkin offers advice to clubs looking to make their first foray into data science.

OWEN EASTWOOD, who has worked with the England men's football team since 2016, shares insights about building an optimum environment for teams and athletes to thrive.

LUKE BORNN, the former Head of Analytics at AS Roma, tells us about his own journey, and that of data science in football.

ARSENAL Under-23s assistant Ryan Garry is to become England's new U18s coach.

DAVE ALRED MBE shares the secrets for performing under pressure that he's used with Jonny Wilkinson, Luke Donald, Francesco Molinari and even Gareth Southgate

SARAH RUDD, Arsenal’s Vice President of Software and Analytics, is leaving the club after nine seasons for a “new gig” with “an all-star cast.”

ENGLAND Under-18s coach Kevin Betsy has been appointed as the new U23s boss at Arsenal.

ARSENAL have hired Dutchman Kevin Balvers from Malmo to become their first Football Methodology Analyst.

IN just 20 months, Russell Martin has marked himself out as one of the most interesting and original English managers in the game. He told TGG more about his approach, covering topics including Buddhism, politics, playing without fear, work-life balance and the importance of sticking to Plan A.

SET PIECE specialist Nicolas Jover has left Manchester City after two years and replaced Andreas Georgson on the staff at Arsenal.

MICHAEL BEALE gives an insight into the training ground methods that helped Rangers land their first title in a decade.

TONY STRUDWICK is leaving Sheffield Wednesday after two years to become Head of Academy Performance at Arsenal.

ARSENAL have sacked Under-23s coach Steve Bould after two decades on the coaching staff at the club.

CARLOS CUESTA is a 25-year-old who holds the Uefa Pro Licence, speaks six languages and plays a key role on the coaching staff at Arsenal.

CHELSEA WOMEN manager Emma Hayes on some of the key influences on her career and how they helped to shape her leadership philosophy.

JACK WILSHERE says the loss of “proper Arsenal people” from the staff at the North London club has hurt performances over the last few seasons.

RICHARD GARLICK has left his role as Director of Football at the Premier League with immediate effect following the failed attempt to create a European Super League last week.

LAURENCE STEWART, the Head of Recruitment for AS Monaco, explains the core principles of the club's transfer strategy.

DES RYAN, Arsenal’s Head of Academy Sports Medicine and Athletic Development for the last eight years, is leaving the club to become Director of Coaching and Performance at Setanta College.

RENOWNED coach and coach educator Brian Ashton MBE tells TGG the lessons he has learned from five decades in the profession.

AZ ALKMAAR Sport Development Director Marijn Beuker outlines how the club outperform their budget by thinking differently.

LIVERPOOL legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher tells TGG how he analyses matches and aims to take fans inside the world of the manager's post-match debrief.

LAST summer Arsenal made their senior scouts redundant and announced a more video and data-driven approach. Now those changes are starting to take effect.

PROFESSOR Geir Jordet explains why it's not just frequency but also timing that's important when it comes to scanning.

RICHARD GARLICK is leaving the Premier League "in the coming months" to become Director of Football Operations at Arsenal.

UNDER-16s lead Dan Micciche outlines the key principles of Arsenal's Academy and how they go about developing 'Strong Young Gunners.'

BRIGHTON Technical Director Dan Ashworth explains what the role involves and why he believes it’s so important.

ARSENAL Academy Manager Per Mertesacker says every player in modern football needs to be a leader - of themselves.

ARSENAL Under-16s coach Dan Micciche says his late cousin Gus Grieco taught him “anything is possible on a football pitch” by painting astonishing pictures with his mouth.

MARCEL LUCASSEN, Arsenal’s Head of Coach and Player Development, has left the club after two-and-a-half years for personal family reasons.

EVERTON assistant Davide Ancelotti was the guest on episode #19 of the TGG Podcast. The 31-year-old talked about growing up with a famous father, gave insights into his role, explained why Dominic Calvert-Lewin was "the best striker we could have" and opened up about his own managerial ambitions.

ARSENAL Director of Football Operations Huss Fahmy is leaving the club next month as their restructure of internal operations continues.

Eddie Jones, Tom Vernon, Dave Reddin, Lorraine O'Malley and Karen Bardsley outline what they believe will be the big developments in football in the coming months and years.

ARSENAL physio Tim Parham is leaving the club after two years and returning to his native Australia. Means that all three physios brought to the club by Darren Burgess in 2018 have now left.

ARSENAL Technical Director Edu has said he will be working a “a lot more” with StatDNA, their in-house data and analytics company, as part of the club's revamp of recruitment.

LIVERPOOL Academy Manager Alex Inglethorpe takes TGG inside the club's Kirkby training centre and explains the principles that underpin one of the most successful youth programmes in English football.

ARSENAL have announced that Carlos Cuesta, Andreas Georgson and Miguel Molina are joining the club as assistants to Head Coach Mikel Arteta.

FREDDIE LJUNGBERG is stepping down as Arsenal assistant to pursue his ambitions as a manager.

ARSENAL Head of Football Raul Sanllehi has left the club after two-and-a-half years.

DR PIPPA GRANGE, the former Head of People and Team Development for the Football Association, tells us about the differences between winning deep and shallow.

MANCHESTER UNITED Academy Manager Nick Cox lays out the key tenets of the club's youth programme, including the belief that there is a higher purpose than just producing professional footballers.

PHYSIO Paulo Barreira has left Arsenal at the end of his two-year contract with the club.

FLO NEWTON has been promoted from the Academy to become first-team doctor at Arsenal.

DANNY COWLEY lays out his footballing philosophy, which he described as "old-school values with new methods".

ARSENAL and Tottenham have re-opened their training grounds for players to use for individual sessions.

TONY STRUDWICK says building relationships is still the most important skill for any practitioner, despite the increasing influence of data and science in football.

ARSENAL Head of Medical Gary O’Driscoll has decided to remain at the club, having initially agreed to join Liverpool at the turn of the year.

ARSENAL have closed their London Colney training centre and Hale End Academy after Head Coach Mikel Arteta tested positive for COVID-19.

GÉRARD HOULLIER is the "most underrated" Liverpool manager. according to Jamie Carragher, but he brought the club into the 21st Century and his legacy is still felt to this day,

ARSENAL have made a trio of appointments to their new Talent ID Department, including the hiring of scout Phil Antwi from Wolves.

BLACKBURN have been one of the surprise packages of the Championship season so far - and 35-year-old Stewart Downing has been their talisman. He tells TGG about the astute management of Tony Mowbray and how it's helped prolong his career.

ACADEMY Operations Manager Lee Herron has been chosen to head up Arsenal’s new Talent ID department, which replaces their former youth scouting section.

WAS Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta justified in blaming the length of the Turf Moor grass for his side's 0-0 draw at Burnley?

FORMER Arsenal Head of Elite Performance Darren Burgess has defended his cull of medical staff at the club in the summer of 2018, saying a “culture change needed to happen” and that “the players often ran the place” when he first arrived.

GARY O’DRISCOLL is leaving Arsenal after 11 years to become Head of Medical Services at Liverpool.

ENGLAND rugby coach Eddie Jones shares insights gleaned from three decades in coaching, ranging from the influence of Pep Guardiola to managing mavericks to tactical periodisation.

NEW manager Mikel Arteta has named his coaching staff at Arsenal, with assistants Steve Round and Albert Stuivenberg, and keeper coach Inaki Cana Pavon joining the club.

MLADEN SORMAZ, Head of Football Analytics at Leicester City; Luke Benstead, Head of Performance Analysis and Innovation for Belgium, and Ed Sulley, Director of Customer Solutions for Hudl, discuss the current state of data science in football and where it could be headed.

PAUL BALSOM, Leicester City’s highly-experienced Head of Performance Innovation, says a rare alchemy has taken the side to heady heights in the Premier League this season.

WYSCOUT founder Matteo Campodonico explains how he came up with the idea for the scouting and analysis platform, how clubs use it and why he believes Big Data will transform the way it is used.

LEEDS UNITED Sporting Director Victor Orta says the club’s recruitment policy is 70% human judgement and 30% data.

LES FERDINAND charts his journey from star player to Director of Football at QPR and laments the fact that bigger clubs are now “stockpiling” young talent.

ARSENAL loaned rising star Eddie Nketiah to Leeds United last week following a series of presentations to a committee made up of loans manager Ben Knapper, chief negotiator Hussein Fahmy and the player himself.

RHYS LONG, Head of Performance Analysis and Insight for the Football Association, outlines his philosophy in the Training Ground Guru Podcast.

DAVE REDDIN, the Football Association’s Head of Team Strategy and Performance, tells the TGG Podcast that sports science is creating a generation of players with “limited physical capabilities”.

ARSENAL have appointed former midfielder Edu as their first Technical Director.

THIS month we go behind the scenes at the TGG Youth Development Conference in Manchester, with speakers Kris Van Der Haegen, Leigh Bromby and John McGuigan.

FREDDIE LJUNGBERG and Steve Bould have swapped jobs at Arsenal, with the Swede becoming assistant manager and the long-serving Englishman taking on the club’s U23s.

ARSENAL Head of Elite Performance Darren Burgess is leaving the club just a year after carrying out a radical revamp of his department.

TGG gets a tour of Burnley's Academy, which is on the verge of going from Category 3 to 1 inside three years.

KEN GILLARD has been appointed as Arsenal's permanent Under-18s ?boss, completing the club's Academy coaching set-up.

ARSENAL's Richard Allison lifts the lid on the club's nutrition programme.

ARSENAL Director of Performance Darren Burgess says training has become much more “aggressive” since he arrived at the club at the end of 2017.

MARK CURTIS has been promoted to senior analyst at Arsenal as part of a revamp of the department.

FORMER Birmingham, Derby and Stoke manager Gary Rowett is joined by his former Head of Performance, Dave Carolan, and Head of Analysis, Joe Carnall, for the first episode of the new Training Ground Guru podcast.

FORMER Arsenal physio Ben Ashworth has been appointed as Head of Performance by Sparta Prague, where he will be reunited with Tomáš Rosický.

READING Head of Academy Player Development Lewis Goater has left the club after almost 11 years to join Arsenal.

ARSENE WENGER says a top player has a “head like a radar” and that more work needs to be done on perception and decision making at young ages.

ARSENAL manager Unai Emery believes it is important to create “friction” with his players to get the best out of them.

LEAD analyst Ben Knapper has been promoted to the new role of Loans Manager by Arsenal.

MODERN football's focus on GPS has led many clubs to lose sight of another important part of the monitoring picture: heart rate variability.

FORMER MK Dons manager Dan Micciche has been appointed as the Under-15 boss at Arsenal.

KEN GILLARD has been put in temporary charge of Arsenal Under-18s following the departure of Kwame Ampadu to Monaco.

ARSENAL Head of Elite Performance Darren Burgess says ‘forced recovery’ has become crucial because of the pressures placed on modern players by technology and social media.

ARSENAL have made the final appointment to their new-look backroom team ahead of the upcoming season - and he could be the most interesting of them all.

CHRIS MORGAN has been appointed as senior physio at Arsenal - two months after it was announced he was leaving Crystal Palace "to return up North for another challenge".

HEAD COACH Unai Emery has taken five of his long-time assistants with him to Arsenal - while first-team coach Jens Lehmann has exited the club after less than a year.

FORMER Arsenal Invincible Freddie Ljungberg is returning to the club in July to take charge of the Under-23 side.

EXPERIENCED physios Ben Ashworth and Andrew Rolls have been made redundant by Arsenal as part of the medical department restructure carried out by Head of Elite Performance Darren Burgess.

NEW Arsenal boss Unai Emery will bring his long-time assistant Juan Carlos Carcedo and goalkeeping coach Javi Garcia with him to the Emirates.

COLIN LEWIN, Arsenal’s Head of Medical Services, has reached a settlement with the club that sees him depart after 23 years. His role has been taken by club doctor Gary O’Driscoll, who will head up a new-look medical department.

INCOMING Arsenal Academy boss Per Mertesacker says changing players’ mindsets will be a key objective for him in his new job.

ARSENAL have suspended Under-23 coach Steve Gatting and his assistant Carl Laraman following accusations of bullying made against them.

JOSE MOURINHO says his assistant Rui Faria would be “a good fit” for Arsenal and that he would “help him to pack and carry the bags” if he did land a big job.

LEE HERRON is leaving Reading after 17 years to become Football Operations Manager at Arsenal’s Academy.

ARSENAL have appointed Barcelona’s Raul Sanllehi to the new position of Head of Football Relations.

TRIBUTES have been paid to Dermot Drummy, the highly-successful former youth coach of Arsenal and Chelsea, who has died at the age of 56.

SVEN MISLINTAT, Borussia Dortmund’s Head of Professional Football and the man nicknamed “Diamond Eye”, has joined Arsenal as Head of Recruitment.

CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN has highlighted the role Dennis Bergkamp played in his development when he was at Ajax.

SOON clubs will be able to start signing pre-contract agreements with players who are available on Bosman free transfers - and Scout7 provides priceless information about who is available.

DARREN BURGESS, the new Director of High Performance at Arsenal, has called on practitioners to “stick together and not publicly comment on what happens at other clubs” following a tweet from his West Brom counterpart.

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger says he has no idea whether modern recovery techniques work or not - and claims no-one else does either.

ARSENAL have installed ‘one of the largest cryotherapy units in the UK’ as part of their refurbishment of the London Colney training centre.

ARSENE WENGER says the manager of the future will not even need a football background, because his or her decisions will be based on science and technology.

GERMAN defender Per Mertesacker is to retire as a player at the end of next season and take over as Arsenal’s Academy Manager.

FORMER Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann has joined the club as first team coach as Arsene Wenger continues the most significant overhaul of his backroom team since the late 90s.

ARSENAL have hired Hussein Fahmy from Team Sky to deal with their player contracts.

ARSENAL have appointed Darren Burgess, Liverpool's former Head of Fitness and Conditioning, as their new Head of Elite Performance.

GARY LEWIN, one of football’s best-known physios, has joined West Ham as their new head of medical services.

WEST BROM won the Premier League fitness title in 2016/17, with the lowest number of significant injuries and days lost to injury.

ARSENE WENGER has completely dismissed the possibility of working with a Director of Football as long as he is at Arsenal.

BOURNEMOUTH have used the latest principles on 'training load' to manage Jack Wilshere’s regime and minimise his risk of injury this season.

ARSENAL say the process of finding a replacement for Andries Jonker as academy manager is ‘ongoing’, with chief executive Ivan Gazidis playing a ‘central role’ in the process.

BARCELONA are already one of the main clients of Dorset-based Elite Skills Arena - which seems fitting for a company vowing to bring Tiki Taka to any club or country.