Former Team Bath performance analyst helped England’s bid for World Cup glory in Russia
Former Team Bath performance analyst Mike Baker has been playing a key role in England’s bid to win the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1966.
Baker is one of the backroom staff who has been working with manager Gareth Southgate in Russia.
A Coach Education & Sports Development graduate from the University of Bath, Baker’s first professional experience as a performance analyst came at the Sports Training Village from 2005 to 2007 where he worked across a variety of sports including Team Bath Netball, Team Bath Football, British Bobsleigh and Skeleton, Team Bath Judo and GB Volleyball.
He then joined the Football Association and was promoted to the role of Men’s Senior Performance Analyst in 2015, working alongside Lead Performance Analyst Steve O’Brien to provide detailed video analysis for the England players of both their own performances and the opposition.
England’s backroom staff have received fulsome praise during the World Cup from Southgate and his players, with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford hailing their vital role in predicting where the penalties would go during the historic second-round shoot-out win over Colombia.
Former England U16 boss Dan Micciche is also impressed by the work of the video analysts, telling the Training Ground Guru website: “Video analysis is massive – you can really paint pictures for players before training and games and reviewing as well, which can save your voice as a coach and get you into the topic of a session a lot quicker.
“Knowing the backroom staff as well as I do, Gareth would have had a lot of excellent support from Steve O’Brien and Mike Baker, the analysts, who paint really clear pictures for the players.”
The Three Lions faced Croatia in last night’s semi-final and did the nation proud before going down by a single goal. It was England’s best result in decades.
