An approach to Performance Analysis

Performance Analysis is rapidly growing as a discipline within the football industry. Advances in technology coupled with the readily available access to the technology, means performance analysis looks like it is here to stay. Combine that with the ever-increasing competitive nature of football, the need for performance analysis in a professional setting is pretty much a necessity at this point. Clubs which are not adopting this as a part of their player development process, risk being left behind those who do utilize it their advantage. With performance analysis being a relatively new field, the implementation and usage of it will greatly vary from club to club.

In this piece I will take a closer look at different approaches to working with analysis and what that may look like in practice. Clearly there is and will be different approaches to take, however these are experiences which I have had and different ideas I would like to share. Whether you are a veteran analyst or looking to get started, I feel like these are some very key behaviors to consider.

Focus on the past to affect the future

Performance analysis should be used as a tool to enhance individual and team performance. By providing visual feedback through the use of video, we should be able to improve performances through better understanding of tactics and decision making. Looking at past performances and using positive reinforcement to ensure future performances continue in the same trend is a vital part of performance analysis. While it can also be used to work on fixing mistakes, I tend to notice players receive the use of positive images better than negative images.

Ideally as an analyst we are looking to develop players and improve their performances. Whether this is done through aiding a coach or directly via analyst and player does not necessarily matter. To achieve this development, feedback is a critical part of the process. Simply coaching the players based on our own experiences of their actions, may not always have the desired affect we are looking for. Video will allow the coach to come with the feedback in a relatively more objective approach, rather than simply basing our feedback on how we see the actions which have taken place.

As people are all different types of learners, the use of performance analysis will not have the same effect on all players. It should however let them feel more ownership over their own development by allowing them to also be engaged in the feedback process.

When gathering and processing information which we plan to deliver, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to consider the usefulness of the information. There is literally endless amounts information which can be gathered from analyzing a training session or a match, the key is to ensure that the information we are gathering from past performances, and in turn delivering, will have a positive effect on impacting future performances.

Building Relationships

One thing I quickly found out when I began as an analyst, is the importance of building relationships with the coaches and technical staff you are working with. This is especially important if you are working across multiple teams within the club you are at. If you are the analyst for more than one team, that means you will most likely not be able to attend all trainings, meetings and matches for each team, making it more difficult for you to know what exactly the team may need at a given time, as you will be missing out on key bits of information from time to time.

Coaches are not all the same, this means that different coaches will want different content provided to them. The more time you spend with the coaching staff, you will start to understand their philosophies and their way of seeing the game. This will make it easier for you in the long run to provide them with beneficial analysis, as it will hopefully allow you to find clips which have value and meaning to the coaches.

Here is what an example of what this may look like:

The coach asks you to provide them with some positive post-match clips of their buildup from the previous match. If you and the coach have different ideas of what a good buildup looks like, the clips which you find will potentially not be of use to them. However, if you have a good understanding of their principles of play, you will know what they are looking for. It is important to remember, as an analyst your focus should be on supporting the coaches, by providing them content which offers value to them and their developing of the team and players.

Another aspect of relationship building is trust. If you are responsible for opposition analysis it is critical that there is a foundation of trust between you and the technical staff. This will allow you to be more concise with your work, without feeling the need to always prove yourself. If you would like to show that the upcoming opposition likes to play long-balls into space, you should not need to provide 10 examples of this as proof. By having a trusting relationship, you will be able to provide fewer examples of this while still allowing for the coach to come away with confidence and knowledge of the opposition. Often times, less is more.

Flexibility

Flexibility in your support as an analyst is absolutely crucial. In the past I have tried to implement a schedule for the deliverance of my analysis, this does not always work as planned. While you may be able to set a timeline for some deliverables, such as pre-match and post-match analysis, there will almost always be something else of need which presents itself unplanned.

As an analyst you need to be able to adapt to the different demands of your club and the coaches within the club. Though it would make your job and workflow much easier, I don´t believe there is a blueprint for performance analysis. While you may have an outline of what you think needs to be provided on a week to week basis, often you will need to be willing to adapt to different needs and potentially go in a different direction, dependent on the current circumstances.

We have to always remember, the players and staff we are working with are human. There is no one size fits all guide for the delivering of analysis. While seasons, and weeks within season are often quite cyclical, different needs for continuous development will always arise. Flexibility in your workflow ties in well with having a good working relationship with the technical staff, as you will be able to understand and meet their demands quickly, while hopefully not hurting your productivity in the process.

Best Practice

Over the course of a long season it can be easy to get caught up in the weekly process, going from match to match, or from one training to the next. With so much focus being spent on everything that is recent, I think it is also important that some time is spent on the overall picture as well, meaning what we are always striving to play like. This is what many call “best practice”. Best practice videos will allow for players and coaches alike to always have a reference on different aspects of the game, in accordance to your club´s game model.

While perhaps a bit contentious within the industry, I find using film of the top teams and players in the world can have a huge impact, particularly if you are working with younger players. If we take a young holding midfielder as an example, one who maybe struggles to keep balance in the team. Showing him clips of himself, and how he behaves in his role will most definitely help to guide him in the right direction, but if we also supplement that with some clips of a professional footballer providing balance in the same role, it could potentially offer a better insight to the player on what that actually could look like.

This method could also be useful on a team basis as well. Youth players may have a difficult time comprehending the importance of team structure, such as distances between lines and distances between players within the line. Here we could possibly struggle to offer them extremely good pictures of their own performances, so by providing them with examples from the very top levels, they will be able to get an even better understanding of concepts.

While I do advocate using video from the highest level, it will always be important to have focus on your own team and players first. I would consider only using these types of clips as best practice, in addition to the normal film sessions.

Final Thoughts

Though this article was written with performance analysis as the main topic, you will probably have noticed that much of the information discussed did not directly involve the actual analyzing of football. Many analysts will come from a variety of backgrounds, whether you are a former player, transitioning from a coaching role or solely focusing on breaking through as an analyst, everyone will see the game in a different way, and have different ideas when it comes to analyzing a match. These are just a few of my experiences which I have encountered along the way so far, and information which I feel I would have found useful when I began.

Hopefully this piece provided some value to anyone who is interested in performance analysis and how it can be best implemented within a club environment.