Newcastle United player uses Google to spy on opposition

Footballers tend to research their opponents before they play them, but this usually means watching DVDs of the team play to see their strengths and their weaknesses. Newcastle United’s Argentine player, Jonas Gutierrez, takes his research a step further. Rather than just watching DVDs, or even attending games where his next opponents are playing, Gutierrez likes to conduct his own research on Google.

Since Newcastle were relegated last season, Gutierrez is no longer playing against household names such as the players of Manchester United and Liverpool, and instead has to travel to teams such as Blackpool and Preston. Naturally he knows nothing about these teams or the players they have, so relies on the Internet’s greatest weapon when it comes to looking things up; Google.

Gutierrez researches his next opponents before he plays them, as he explains:

We can only look at one team at a time.

But I know Bristol are a hard team to play against. They will try to take some points from us here.

I always check on Google about different teams – I want to know more information about them.

I want to know who we are playing. I like to know how they play and who is playing for them.

This shows that Google is useful for more than just looking for things to buy or idle reading, you can also use Google for your job; even if your job is playing professional football.