Cutting-edge data science and video analysis are helping clubs make better decisions on and off the field. Clubs are moving away from people making subjective decisions and gut instincts about their tactical game plans and recruitment strategies. They now use data and video to look more objectively at opponents and future signings to improve their chances of success.
Most clubs employ analysts who will cover areas such as:
- Post-Match Analysis – A review of their own team’s performance in their last match.
- Opposition Analysis – A look into their upcoming opponent, analysing shape, recurring behaviours, opportunities and threats.
- Training Analysis – A training session review that looks for ways to improve its quality and game plan.
- Player Analysis is a review of a player’s recent performances, with the aim of improving them and helping them make better on-field decisions.
- Recruitment Analysis – Using data and video to find talent that suits your team’s game model and improves your squad.
A team of analysts can cover these areas, but depending on resources, one person can be responsible for everything.
However, we are going to focus on player analysis for this blog.
It's very simple, you build a player like you build a house. First comes the basement, the base of a player is technique. You get that between the ages of 7 and 14 years of age. If you have no technical skill at 14, forget it. You will never be a football player. The second part is the physical aspect, the first floor. Unfortunately, that is decided between 14-17 years of age where you feel you'll be strong enough, quick enough. The second floor is tactical understanding. Does he have an understanding of the game? What to do with the ball? The final part that is decided at 18-19 years of age is how successful the player wants to be.
Trutactics comes in at the second floor. We aim to improve players’ tactical understanding so they can progress to a higher level of the game. This could be a young player at the grassroots level, looking to break into a professional academy. It could be a player in an academy trying to cement his place in the first team. It could be a professional player who is trying to get his first international call-up to his national side or a move to a club at a higher level. It can be anyone within the game with the basement and first floor built like Arsene’s quote.
What are the benefits?
Video telestration is an effective way to aid players’ memory recall of information, and a recent study of this was carried out, as shown in a recent article by the Training Ground Guru website.
- Participants in the telestration group achieved 84% recall rates.
- Participants without the telestration achieved 52.57% recall rates.
This shows how vital the use of video telestration is for players looking to improve their decisions on-field. Also, other sports have been doing this for years and are way ahead of football. It was well documented in Netflix’s Quarterback series, which showed players in the NFL analysing their games to find weaknesses in them and their opponents.
It is important to note that not all players will see the benefits of this process, and as an analyst, you do need buy-in from the player. However, elite-level clubs are now seeing the huge benefits for their players and are employing specific analysts to specialise in this field.
Our mission is to make high-quality analysis accessible to all levels of the game.
James, what we’re saying to him is to not just be a player who can play between the lines, and take the ball to feet, but be a running number 10. Go and break the lines, go and get beyond, and it’s something we’re constantly talking with him on. Jack Lyons, our young analyst, has been taking him through clips of players and moves. It’s what development is. That’s the great joy in coaching.
Our approach
We know that the percentage of players within the game who can access this level of player analysis will be very low. However, we want to revolutionise that.
We will release more information about our tailored programs designed to suit players of all levels, from grassroots to professional.
Our programmes incorporate the latest telestration software and methods used at the elite level to enhance a player’s performance and understanding.
We will review the footage of your game and use our advanced coding software to break it down into various actions such as passes, shots, duels, and more. We will then analyse these clips and add telestrations to the footage, so it’s ready for delivery. By recording and analysing your performance in your first match, we can easily demonstrate your improvements as you progress through our player improvement programme.
Please keep your eyes out for our launch in April 2024!
