As the Manchester United players returned to work on Monday morning, another drone hovered over Carrington. He followed every move on the training pitch and forwarded data to Ruben Amorim and his technical staff.
Shielded behind the £250,000 privacy wall installed by Amorim's predecessor Erik ten Hag, the team's return to training after the most dramatic comeback in the Manchester derby at the Etihad on Sunday could be clearly observed.
The GPS vests they wear provided another set of statistics for Amorim's team of analysts led by Eduardo Rosalino, one of the backroom team he brought from Sporting Lisbon, to por over.
There is no hiding place for footballers these days. Not unlike the year 2000, when Bolton striker Ian Marshall, a notoriously reluctant trainer, took the wind out of manager Sam Allardyce's sails by taking a heart monitor home to Leicester and attaching it to his dog.
Nothing is now left to chance: weight, diet, nutrition, recovery. The facts speak for themselves.
Perhaps Amorim will rely mainly on his eyes and ears. Sir Alex Ferguson has always trusted his instincts when it came to assessing players and their moods, and United's new head coach appears to be of the same breed.
He recently spoke about Manuel Ugarte – a player he knows from Sporting Lisbon – who needs longer rest than Bruno Fernandes. Others will need to be checked on a case-by-case basis to ensure they do not enter the red zone.
Amorim is happiest on the grass among his players, mowing and pushing through a training session. It has only been eight years since he retired as a player. One of the reasons United signed the 39-year-old was his ability to form a better connection with the players than Ten Hag.
He understands the modern footballer. Amorim recently chuckled when he pointed out that players can't concentrate on a tactical video for more than twelve minutes.
He doesn't like to talk to them straight after a match and is known for keeping his half-time team chat as short as possible as well.
But very little will have escaped the attention of the new coaching staff in their first few weeks in the job, especially as United have had so many games and so few training sessions to get their ideas across.
Amorim will have shared his observations extensively with his team – assistant Carlos Fernandes, coaches Adelio Candido and Emanuel Ferro, goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital and performance specialist Paulo Barreira – and listened to their feedback.
It is under these circumstances that he will have decided to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from his matchday squad for the Manchester derby.
It was a bold decision after seven games in charge – especially as United made the short trip to the Etihad after suffering multiple Premier League defeats – but one that Amorim felt he had to make.
The bare minimum he asks of his players is effort; “run like mad dogs,” he said earlier this month. Rashford and Garnacho couldn't even give him that, it seems.
While Ten Hag sent his side to penalties after they let him down in his second game against Brentford, Amorim preferred to invite two of his biggest names. Rashford is the club's second-highest earner and Garnacho, until recently seen as one of the few untouchables in a squad of players virtually all for sale.
Defender Diogo Dalot summed up the new order under Amorim after United's 2-1 win over City after Amad Diallo won a penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes and then scored a late winner.
“The message was clear from the beginning: if you want to succeed and prosper, you have to work hard and suffer,” Dalot said. “If you're ready to do that with us, we'll be a good team. If you're not, there's no room for you.'
When Amorim spoke of Rashford and Garnacho improving 'standards off the pitch', it was widely interpreted as lifestyle – especially given the ongoing concerns about Rashford in that regard.
His reference to the way the players dress conjured up images of Rashford dripping onto the bling court at New York's Madison Square Garden last month, when other players had returned early during the international break to work under the new boss to go.
It could just as easily be a matter of dress code within the club, something Garnacho has been known to break on occasion, but it is clear that Amorim's comment was general and highlighted the importance of giving a good impression.
His complaint about the way the two players interacted with teammates was seen as a reference to their body language. Neither exudes a good atmosphere.
“He has given us strong indications of what has happened in recent days, that they have been moping around and not doing their bit on the training pitch,” former United captain Gary Neville told Sky Sports.
'Why did Ruben Amorim, a young coach, work with two young players for two weeks and say: 'I don't want you in my matchday squad'? We saw that Rashford and Garnacho did not chase back. Amad Diallo runs across the field as if it hurts.
'If he leaves Rashford and Garnacho out he will feel so strong.'
Crucially, Amorim made sure to leave the door open in his comments on Sunday. This is a new week, he said, a new opportunity and it is up to the players to seize it.
He has built a reputation as a great man-manager at Sporting and this is a stern first test of his skills. Amorim has drawn a line in the sand and the club must support him, because this group of players has had their way for too long.
Perhaps most worrying of all was the admission that he is powerless to stop either of them from leaking his line-up after United's team re-emerged for the derby. It's hard to imagine Ferguson would be so phlegmatic about such a closely guarded secret.
“I think it is impossible to solve this nowadays because there are many people in the club and the players are talking to agents,” Amorim said.
“You can talk to friends, so it's hard to know. It's not a good thing, but let's move on and go to the next one and see if they find the next starting XI.'
Garnacho's brother Roberto has denied being the source on social media, and United insiders insist this was not a factor in his exclusion from the squad.
But it is not a good picture of a time when Amorim is trying to promote the kind of unity and mentality that helped United come back and beat City.
“Over the last few years we've had some crazy games like this where we fought until the end and I think that's the DNA of this club,” Dalot added. 'You could feel the energy between us and it was really good.
'I've played here a few times since I arrived. It was probably the first time we were emotionally in control. We felt like we could win the game at any moment. It was the first time for me personally that I felt able to do that, so that indicates some progress.'
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