"Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey said she used ChatGPT for tactical advice this past offseason, which ultimately led her and her staff to test out a new formation with five defenders. Harvey, who is a three-time NWSL Shield winner and three-time NWSL coach of the year, told the "Soccerish Podcast" that she had not previously played in a back-five or heavily researched it."
"And it spurted out every team in the league and what formation you should play. And for two teams -- I'm not gonna say who they are, because they'll know -- it went, 'You should play a back five.' So, I did. No joke, that's why I did it. I was like, 'Hmm, let's go see.' It was earlier in the season. And I said to the coaching staff, 'I'm not joking, this is what I did.' And they were like, 'Huh, interesting.'"
Laura Harvey used ChatGPT for offseason tactical advice, which prompted exploration of a back-five formation for specific opponents. Initial AI output about team identity was unimpressive, but broader NWSL formation queries produced recommendations to play a back five against two teams. The coaching staff researched the formation, performed a deep dive on implementation, trialed a version of 3-5-2/5-3-2, and secured a win when using it. Seattle has frequently used 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 variations this season, with a documented switch to 3-5-2 early in the campaign.
Read at ESPN.com
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