Football Analysis – Improving the game

Identifying the mistakes and learning from our mistakes is the goal we should focus on. It is true in every aspect of life. Whatever may we do in life, we tend to make mistakes, and the best thing we could do is learn from them. This is what makes the difference between a successful and a loser. The same is valid for football. For a football team to be successful they should identify the mistakes of their team and also identify possible mistakes their opposition can make. This process of analyzing different football matches is called Football Analysis. For any team to be successful, analyzing before a match is crucial. This analysis helps the teams in making strategies and counter-attacks.

Why is Football Analysis Necessary?

Before going into the description of Football Analysis, we should first know the answer to the question Why is Football Analysis Necessary?. This is a broad concept which we will go through in brief points.l The analysis provides the players an opportunity to understand and improve their performance in the game, with the help of proper and precise reviews after each match. This not only improves their style of playing but also understands how to play in the pressure moments of the game.

l Now the players have their technical results available in front of them. They can compare their speed, agility, and fitness with other players and improve their standards according to the needs of the team.l Doing analysis shows the team flaws in their game strategy and also provides the strategy of the other teams. Now there is no hidden strategy. Every team can see each other’s gameplay and figure out their tactics and develop a counter-strategy. l With the help of proper analysis the teams could set small objectives and different game plans with every different team. Earlier the teams had one or two formations for an entire season. Now, the scenario has changed. With every match, the teams could change their tactics and formation according to the need of the game.

With these points, I hope the question of why is football analysis necessary? is answered. Now, we can go for a deep understanding of Football analysis and understand how to do this.

Process

The football market is humongous. A large amount of money is invested in the sport every year. The main goal is to provide entertainment and uplift the standard of the game in every way possible. In modern-day football, a large budget is there just for the technical assistance of the game. This is to achieve a more precise and accurate game result. Recently the introduction of VAR is one such example. With this level of progress, Football teams also had to keep up the pace and improve their game consistently. With the only goal of being the best of the best. It is where the Football analysis part comes in.

Football analysis is a process to understand the game style and the actions of one’s team as well as the opposition teams. The analysis result can be interpreted in two ways in improving the team’s performance, and the second is countering the opposition. If the motive is improving the team’s performance, then the coaches can compare the statistical data of the match with the weekly practice data. If the team is winning then the coaches can distinguish the X-factor or factors for the win. Similarly, if the team loses, the coaches can verify where the plan went wrong and identify the game situations. These analytical results help the teams to evaluate the situation of the game and correct the execution of certain games through planned practice matches.

Now the information of one’s team can be made available through the different technical tools, but the information of the opposite team needs proper scouting. Now scouting has three steps, observation, forming a presentable report, and finally applying them in the match. In the observation phase, the tactical team collects different clips of the various matches played by the opposition team. The coaches and the technical team do a thorough analysis of the formations, tactics, and key players of the opposite team from the clip. After the thorough observation begins, the Report formation phase. After the coaches are done with the video clips, they note the key points they viewed in a report format. This report is passed and explained to each player on the team. The players are to go through the report and understand the opposition. Now comes the final phase of the application. In this phase, the players practice on-the-counter tactics formed by the coaches and modify their style of playing football.

This is the process of a short initial Football analysis.

Further, the data analysis can be broken into a quantitative and qualitative scheme which is used to deal with the in-depth proceedings of the game. The qualitative scheme deals with aspects such as the system of play and the general behavior of the team, which includes psychological, physical, and tactical conditions. Quantitative analysis is about statistical comparison.

Analysis is a deep subject that keeps evolving with technology and time. The subject of analysis has a lot of other small variables to be dealt with, such as describing and identifying the flaws and virtues in different won and lost games. The precise possession and faulty moves caused the non-possession of the balls. Calculating the percentage of saves and the successful free kicks.

The coaches and the staff are to regularly review and keep on improving the quality of their coaching. Players are to be assessed and made aware of the conditions and strategies a few days before the match so that the players are not under mental stress and can play freely. The main goal of the analysis is to identify the flaws and correct them. Because analysis is not about identifying the playing style and formation of the opposite team, but identifying the flaws of one’s own team and doing the need to rectify these flaws.