The Role Of A Video Analyst At The Top Level – Learn Football Video & Tactical Analysis On Mad About Sports

Football video analytics has become an industry-specific job role at football clubs across the world. The reason for the boom in this job role is the ever-evolving landscape of technology and data available when it comes to the sport. Football at the highest level is a results business, and often the difference between winning and losing comes down to preparation, execution, and of course performance on the pitch.

With the impetus on managers to deliver consistent results, football video analysts play a significant role in the process of match preparation and tactical strategy and implementation which assist the manager in improving their team’s performance and identifying critical areas to work upon and strategize before their teams take to the pitch on game day.

The Role Of A Video Analyst

Managers these days don’t do all the analysis themselves, clubs hire a specialized team of video analysts who assist the manager. The role of these analysts is to understand what the manager is looking for, find relevant clips and get the ideas across to the players.

A video analyst often evaluates the prospective opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and hence determines how the team should play in order to optimize their chances of winning. A performance analyst, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with the performance of his own team. Performance analysts examine every game the team plays and are familiar with the team’s and individual players’ attributes, gameplay, and pros, and cons both in games and in training sessions.

Once this is done, they both communicate their results to the manager and coaches so that these positives and negatives may be addressed in training.

The role of a video analyst is key in the modern game. They are the ones who watch hours of match footage to understand an opponent’s style of play, passing patterns, set-piece routines, and tactical setup. They take a lot of burden off the manager’s shoulders and help him understand what the opponent tends to do so that he can implement the required countermeasures.

Video & performance analysts are the bridge between what is being done on the pitch and the extrapolation of the manager’s ideology, and philosophy. They help in conveying the manager’s ideas & tactics to the players in video format so that the team can be prepared and execute what the manager exactly wants come matchday.

An Example Of The Kind Of Analysis Video Analysts Provide

Here we’re going to have a look at Pep Guardiola’s attacking tactics by building from the back in Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last season.

Here we see the 5-3-2 low block tactical setup of Atletico Madrid. A very narrow compact system where they look to sit back, soak up pressure, and spring attacks on the counter. Here we also see the two strikers stay very narrow in an attempt to block off the pass to Rodri.

To counter this, Cancelo plays the ball back as City moved to a back 3 of Ake, Stones, and Dias, with Ake spreading out to the left, and Stones sightly to the right, with Cancelo pushing in alongside Rodri in midfield. This meant that it was a 2v2 in midfield and Rodri was no longer being marked out of the game.

Atletico Madrid’s midfield 3 stayed compact and moved side to side as City moved the ball. Here we see in the first image the midfield move over to the left to apply pressure on the City player. But he is able to pass the ball to the free player on City’s left wing, the Atleti midfield quickly shuttles across to close the player down.

As seen in the final image below, Atleti’s front 5 have a very high work rate so they were able to keep chasing the City players down as City penetrate, and as a result, the Manchester outfit were unable to create any chances. Pep then decides to push Cancelo out wide which allowed Mahrez to tuck in forming a front 6 for City against Atleti’s back 5. This created a 6 v 5 numerical superiority in the attacking play. You can see the space on the wings for City’s full-backs and the gaps to allow playing through the lines in the central areas. This created a lot of problems for Simeone because if he tried to stay narrow and cover the central area, it would leave the wide players free, and if he spread his team out to cover the wide areas, they would leave holes in the central areas.

This is just an example of the kind of tactical information a video analyst would provide to a manager.

How Players React To Videos Created By Video Analysts

With the rise in accessibility to this technology, anyone with the knowledge can create a video analysis of a team. All the top teams nowadays usually have their analysts in the stands who record the match and give the manager feedback at halftime and full time. The whole process has become streamlined and as a result, there is a constant evolution in managers’ approaches to using video analysis.

The days of the infamous “hairdryer treatments” are gone, and today’s footballers are more in tune with the tactics of the team. The visual aid has really helped the players understand what they should do and replicate what the manager tells them in a given situation. This leads to them analysing the game themselves and possibly coming up with ideas themselves.

A prime example of this was the Champions League final last season, where there was a famous clip of Carlo Ancelotti seeking advice from the likes of Kroos, Marcelo and Casemiro in the final minutes of the match.

Video analysis has sped up and given depth to the coaching process. Using recorded footage of their own teams and opposition teams and finding key patterns of play through analytics, make the manager’s life a bit easier.

Learn Football Video & Tactical Analysis On Mad About Sports

Do you want to learn how to become a football video analyst?

Mad About Sports are facilitating the beginning of your journey into football video & tactical analytics with their pro-level course.

Whether you’re a budding football analyst, upcoming coach, or simply a football fan and enthusiast who is looking to learn more in-depth about video analytics used in the modern game, this course is the ideal way to kickstart your journey in football video analytics.

In the course, Mad About Sports cover an introduction to football video analytics, a case study on Pep Guardiola’s Man City, how to prepare tactical reports and the use of different tools, resources and software, and a demo of opposition analysis.

The entire course is designed carefully & astutely, covering all the key elements of video & tactical analysis to enable anybody to begin their journey into football video analytics from scratch.

Click the link here to register for the course and begin your immersive journey into the details and intricacies of football video & tactical analysis: https://s.madaboutsports.in/ftwfva

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