It’s been a turbulent few weeks in the UK. U-turns and diversions have been front and centre of the news agenda. It seems U-turns come at considerable cost in many walks of life. In a sporting context, turning, particularly at high speed and repeatedly come at a significant physiological cost. Fortunately, a new paper evaluating the turning demands of a Premier League team has recently been published and could help create a new understanding of this vital performance metric.

The concept of players fulfilling specialist roles isn’t a new one when looking across international sports. American sports such as football and basketball are perhaps the most obvious examples. American football has specialist kickers and even special teams squads. In basketball dependent on the game situation it is common to see coaches rotate players on an offence, defence basis. Closer to home, rugby has progressed to the notion of finishers rather than substitutes, a sign that players who are not stating will come off the bench to fulfil a specialist role.

While the football authorities across Europe discuss how and when professional competition will return, the players have been trying to remain in the best condition possible. With return dates now confirmed in Germany and squads in England beginning to head back to the training ground, we take a look at what methods the pros have been using to train during lockdown, how they are being monitored by the clubs and whether we should believe some of the impressive stats we’ve seen on social media.