How Do Top Managers Use Video Analysis? – Learn Football Video & Tactical Analysis On Mad About Sports

The landscape of tactical innovation and game assessment & preparation when it comes to the management of a football club has evolved with the use of video analysis. Managers now rely heavily on video analytics to prepare and set up their teams before their upcoming games.

The greatest managers in the modern era from Pep Guardiola, to Jurgen Klopp, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Marcelo Bielsa, and every top manager in the game use video analytics to learn, study, execute, ideate, and implement their philosophies on the pitch.

Using Video Analysis

Technology has penetrated every part of our lives and football is no different. At the forefront of modern coaching is the use of video analysis.

Modern coaches have the ability to record, watch and analyse training sessions and match footage to see what impact their tactics are having and make required changes to help their team gain an advantage.

Video analysis assists in the cohesive application of a manager’s ideas, tactics, and methodology and translates them into performance by the team on the pitch on gameday.

Video analysis reveals exactly what happened in-game & in training and how every player reacted in a specific situation. It tells an irrefutable picture and is the clearest way to explain and convey managers’ advice to players based on their actual decisions made during the match.

It is used by all the top managers in the world and is finding its way to the lower leagues and grassroots football as well.

What Do Managers Use Video Analysis For?

Analyse their own team

Being able to watch back matches and training sessions allows a manager to look at what his team is doing right and wrong. Before fixing a problem you need to know what exactly the problem is and that is what video technology is used for.

Managers can see the shape of their team in different match situations, and the way their players respond to them. This allows them to pinpoint the exact strengths and weaknesses of their team and helps them set up and form a solid foundation to build upon.

It can be the base formation, positioning, off-the-ball movement while attacking, defensive shape and positioning without the ball, how to organise their attacking play based on possession or counter-attacks, and this is just scratching the surface.

In the above picture, Jose Mourinho uses this particular clip to highlight the position of his midfield three, and his centre-forward Harry Kane dropping deep to play a pass to the other front-line runners, namely Son and Bergwijn, who are making runs in behind trying to beat the offside trap in a counter-attack transition.

Analyse their opposition

Now that a manager knows what his team is good at, it’s essential to know what the opposition is good at and anticipate what they are going to do. Video analysis allows managers to find patterns of play of their opposition.

What their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, how they set up during build-up play as well as when the opposition has the ball, their set-piece routines etc. With this information, the manager can now make the right changes needed to nullify the opposition’s tactics.

Marcelo Bielsa, one of the most revered managers in the world is a huge admirer of video analysis. He seeks to eliminate uncertainty in the game with a method of analysis that borders on the scientific.

“I can’t speak English, but I can speak about the 24 teams in the Championship”, said Bielsa in an interview about his coaching methodology and reliance on video analysis while at Leeds.

Whereas Pep Guardiola quipped to Bielsa, saying “You know my team, better than I do” before their meeting in the 2012 Copa Del Rey final while Bielsa was coaching Athletic Bilbao.

This just goes to show how the top managers including El Loco, i.e Bielsa have implemented their in-game tactics using a methodology firmly based on video analysis.

Give clear tactical information to specific players

This part of the process is key for player growth. Without seeing what a manager wants from you it is rather difficult to execute it. Showing players video footage of their gameplay and making the right movements or their decision-making ability would help them shape their own game and grow as players.

With the help of video analysis, managers can show players individually what they did wrong, what they should have done in a particular situation, and how they can improve. This part of video analysis also helps players become more tactically aware and buy into their manager’s tactics, philosophy and approach to each game.

In the above picture, Pep Guardiola freezes the frame to highlight how his defence is out of position in this transition against Watford. Both Ruben Dias and Joao Cancelo are caught in the same position marking the wide player while there is ample space for the runners Sissoko and Kamara to make darting runs inside the box. Fernandinho is left trying to anticipate and block out the pass into the final third while other City defenders are left with it all to do because of Dias’ mistake.

Give clear tactical information to different units (defence, midfield, attack)

Cohesion is key in a team if they are to be successful. Especially between players of a particular unit ie. defence, midfield, attack. This means it is important for all the defenders to know exactly where they have to hold the offside line, whether a high line or deep, how to set up in a low, or medium block, and how to transition from defence to attack.

For midfielders, they need to know when to press, when to fall back, who covers which area, how to pass and penetrate and progress the ball into the final third etc. While for strikers, they need to know how to make runs, hold up play, how to drop deep and be part of the attacking build-up or drift wide to let more midfield runners through. In all these aspects, video analysis makes this process easier and faster.

How Marcelo Bielsa and his coaching staff using video analysis during the training session📺⚽️ pic.twitter.com/P74vfRLq33

— Julius Riemann (@julius_riemann) November 8, 2021

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