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 try a new formation with five defenders.
Harvey, a three-time NWSL Shield winner and three-time NWSL Coach of the Year, told the “Soccerish Podcast” that she had never played in a back-five before nor had she researched it much.
She was initially unimpressed with the AI's answer about her own team's identity, but continued to probe with more general questions about the NWSL.
“And then I said, 'What formation should you play to beat the NWSL teams?'” Harvey said on the 'Soccerish Podcast' in an interview published Thursday.
“And they talked about all the teams in the league and the formation they should play.
“And for two teams, I'm not going to say who they are, because they'll know, they said, 'You should play five defensemen.'
The staff researched the training and “did into it” to see how he might fit into the team.
“We liked it. And it worked: we won the game.”
Harvey declined to say which opponent he was testing the formation against, responding to a question to say it wasn't the Portland Thorns, “but the ones that are really good.”
Seattle has frequently played a version of 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 formations this season, although the Reign's tactics and systems have varied greatly.
According to TruMedia, Seattle first switched to a 3-5-2 four games into the season, a 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride.
Three weeks later, the Reign defeated league-leading Kansas City Current, 1-0, in a 3-5-2 formation.
“It didn't tell you how to play it, what to do or anything like that,” Harvey said. “But it was like, 'This is what we would say to do.' And I was like, 'Hmm, interesting.' And that's what prompted me to look into it. So I really looked into it.”
Seattle currently sits in fourth place in the NWSL and has clinched a playoff spot heading into Sunday's final round of regular season games. Last year, the Kingdom finished 13th in the 14-team league.
