High Performance Analysis Workflows: Pre-Match Opposition Analysis
The pre-match opposition analysis process can be one of the most time consuming roles as an analyst depending on your strategy. This process allows you to analyze trends in the team's recent performances and can provide you with further tactical insight into the opposition's style of play. To create a high performance workflow there are three key components to build your opposition analysis strategy. Content, Process, and finally, Delivery.
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2. Process (For Analysts, Coaches and Players)
The ‘Analyst Persona’
Traditionally analysts took the sole responsibility for the compilation of the pre-match opposition analysis process. More recently analysts have been seen as deliverers but also a facilitator of the information that is gathered in a modern multidisciplinary approach through coaches, players and support staff.
Through the ever-increasing education of coaches to use analysis software such as Hudl Sportscode and the ever-increasing options to use XML’s from data production companies such as Wyscout, it has given the time back to the analysts to provide a deeper level of analysis of the opposition using Event and Tracking data in parallel with video to provide an extra level of insight and evidence for the coaches and players to achieve success through the teams' performance.
The ‘Coach Persona’
In Global Football historically the coaches have been reliant on the analysts to provide all the context about an opposition with their role to summarize and feedback to the players. More recently there has been a huge increase of coaches becoming part of the process rather than the end receiver of the information due to the improvement of education from analysts but also in coach education and software becoming easier to use and more coach-friendly.
For this reason, coaches now have the ability to use analysis software such as Hudl Sportscode to create their own video profiles of an opposition to support a collaborative process. Whether the coach has a specific area to focus on or a full remit they can provide their expertise and experiences to enhance the level of detail and leave no stone unturned in creating a successful game plan for success.
The ‘Player Persona’
Players traditionally are at the end of the process, however many teams have started incorporating players within the process to better understand but also to take ownership due to players controlling the outcome of the performance on the pitch. Inspiration for this change has come from those who were open minded to look at other sports and industries.
The saying, “Tell me and I likely forget, teach me and I might remember, involve me and I will learn”, is key to understanding players in this context. Many successful coaches speak about embedding the players in the process to build that high performance culture around trust, ownership, responsibility and relationships to deliver on the pitch.
