Darwin’s theory about England gives sum help for the World Cup in Russia
England's Euro 2016 teamwork numbers were 'diabolical' - players perform best when squad is settled and they know each other well
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GARETH SOUTHGATE’S World Cup plans are getting sum help — from a maths guru.
Aussie Ben Darwin has evolved a theory about teamwork by using an algorithm created by a boffin at America’s top university, Harvard.
Former rugby league international Darwin says England had the worst Teamwork Index at the 2016 Euro finals.
And he reckons the TI algorithm can help Southgate’s Three Lions squad add up to something better at next year’s World Cup finals in Russia.
Darwin, who won 28 caps before suffering a career-ending neck injury in the 2003 rugby league World Cup final, revealed: “England’s Euro 2016 teamwork numbers were diabolical.
“The skill is there, but the cohesion is not, so the collective is getting worse.”
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Boss Southgate and Dave Reddin, the FA’s head of team strategy and performance, have held talks with Darwin about employing his Gain Line Analytics company.
GLI already works with one Premier League club and rugby sides.
Darwin’s basic principle is that teams where the squad is settled and players know each other well perform the best.
Colleague Simon Strachan said:
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“We look at who has been picked and the history of each player — how many years they been there, whether they played with any of their current team-mates, which positions they have played.
“We will have their TI and correlate it against performance.”
Strachan refers to the ‘juggler effect’ when explaining the theory.
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He added: “If you and I start juggling together, after a few months we’ll be pretty good together.
“After a year we’ll be very good. And after five years we might be world champions.
“But if I switch to a different partner after six months, I’ll have a period of adaptation and my skill improvement will pause.”