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GM football fans. Route One here, the only newsletter you have inside jokes with. 

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Head Start

AI IN FOOTBALL

AI is about to change the game

Every fan knows that money has changed the game as we know it - and it looks like AI is going to do the same thing. 

Google’s DeepMind has unveiled an AI football coach, TacticAI, which they’ve honed with Liverpool for the past three years. 

The AI model has been trained to improve players’ positioning at corner kicks by analysing a dataset of 7,176 corner kicks taken by players for Liverpool.

The result? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Liverpool apparently hasn’t used TacticAI for real-game scenarios yet. 

But, in a blind test with five coaches at Liverpool, they favoured the TacticAI advice 90% of the time over existing strategies.

Anyway, despite AI’s help, it will take a lot more to replace Jurgen Klopp at the end of the season. TacticAI can only be used to plan for situations with predictable starting points such as corners. But… it’s only a matter of time.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Football’s evolving - and so are substitutions

Let’s face it… no one aspires to be a benchwarmer growing up. But as substitutes become more important, we might see more kids dreaming of becoming the best substitute their club has ever seen.

OK. Maybe that’s a step too far. 

But, according to Opta Analyst, substitutes are a key part of the English top-flight - more than ever:

• In 283 matches this season, 126 goals have been scored by substitutes. That’s just 6 behind the total for last season, which was the record.

• Those 126 goals make up 14.3% of all goals this season (884) -on track to set another record.

The main reason for this is: Premier League games are lasting longer than before. The average match length is - you guessed it - on track to break another record at over 100-minute mark for the first time.

One more thing… at risk of sounding like a broken record about broken records, the 2023-24 season has already seen more goals scored in or after the 86th minute of matches (134) than any previous campaign…

Moral of the story: expect to see a lot more of this…

As mentioned in yesterday’s edition, the Football Governance Bill was published (More)

Manchester City announced their US tour with the help of John Cena (More)

Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo has been added to the England squad for their upcoming friendlies (More)

Leicester City are facing a potential points deduction for an alleged breach of Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (More)

FPL Corner

As we said yesterday, FPL is hard.

That’s why 45.3% of FPL teams are now ‘dead teams’, meaning there have been no changes in the last 5 Gameweeks.

Ouch.

Off The Pitch

World News

🔫 Aaron Taylor-Johnson is reportedly next in line to become the next James Bond (More)

🤖 Nvidia unveils robots powered by supercomputer and AI to take on the world’s heavy industries (More)

🤔 Caitlyn Jenner backs N.Y. county’s ban on trans women competing on women’s sports teams (More)

💖 Frustrated by high unemployment and intense competition, some young professionals in China are turning to Tinder to further their career goals (More)

🍽️ A Deliveroo rider who bit off a customer’s thumb in Aldershot has pleaded guilty (More)

😅 Tesco has been told to change its Clubcard logo after losing a legal battle with Lidl (More)

Extra Time

Everyone knows that Cristiano Ronaldo is competitive. And he let his international teammates know he could beat them all at table tennis.

Speaking of international duty… here’s an outrageous skill by Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez. 

Whatever they say, being a mascot isn’t easy. Especially when they try outrageous stunts.

Some football shirts are simply iconic. Who do these shirts remind you of? 

The National League has caught our interest during the international break. Five points separate the 23rd and 14th teams which includes Dorking Wanderers.

You never know when you’re going to get the call up for a kickabout. And this granny makes sure she’s prepared at all times.

From taking Rhiana to his ‘hood’ to making short rap-style car videos… Benzema has had a colourful time on Instagram.

Kate Abdo grills Micah Richards on his love life. The big man looks small in the spotlight!

On Today

FOOTBALL 

Womens UEFA Champions League: BK Hacken v PSG (17:45 GMT, TNT Sports and DAZN)

Womens UEFA Champions League: SK Brann Women v Barcelona Women (20:00 GMT, TNT Sports and DAZN)

National League: FC Halifax v Chesterfield (19:45 GMT, National League TV)

TENNIS

Miami Open: Multiple Matches (15:00 GMT, Sky Sports Main Event)

SNOOKER

World Open Snooker: Multiple Matches (06:30 and 11:30 GMT, Discovery +)

BASKETBALL

NBA: Boston Celtics v Milwaukee Bucks (01:00 GMT, TNT Sports 1) 

HOCKEY

NHL: Multiple Matches (23:00 GMT, Viaplay)

*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9. 

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

-Bill Shankly