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How to analyse a football match
The match is filmed, the file is there, and nobody knows what to do with it. That is where most clubs stop: they have the tool but no method for reading the footage.
A coach watching their video for the first time almost always does the same thing: follows the ball, relives the match, and comes away with the same impressions as live. Two hours to confirm what they already thought. The video is useless until you put a precise question to it.
One question per viewing
The most profitable rule of all: decide before pressing play what you are looking for, and look only for that. One theme per week. Let the rest go by, even when it is interesting, otherwise you end up with fifteen observations and not one changed session.
Three questions cover most of a team-sport match, and you take them one after the other, over three weeks:
- What happens five seconds before the action? Goals, baskets and turnovers are almost always decided before the moment you remember. Always go back five seconds: that is where the cause is.
- How far apart are the lines? Look at the spacing, not the ball carrier. A block stretching thirty metres explains more goals conceded than an individual mistake.
- What does the team do in the six seconds after losing the ball? Behaviour after a turnover is the easiest to train and the most visible on video.
Looking away from the ball
The useful information is almost always where the camera is not supposed to look: the opposite winger who does not track back, the pivot who drops off too early, the defender who follows his opponent instead of holding his zone. That is why a fixed wide shot beats one that follows play: a tight frame cuts out exactly what you wanted to see.
Counting rather than judging
“We lose too many balls building out from the back” is an impression. “Of twelve short build-ups, seven are lost before the halfway line” is an observation, and it can be checked the following week. Counting is nothing sophisticated: a tally mark on a sheet for each occurrence, on a single theme, over three matches in a row.
Two precautions to keep the number honest: define what you are counting before starting (what exactly does “short build-up” mean?), and count while watching the video, never from memory afterwards. Memory keeps the spectacular failures and forgets the ordinary successes.
What an amateur video cannot show
You need to know the limits of the footage you have, otherwise you draw wrong conclusions with great confidence.
- Real speed. A wide shot flattens differences in speed. A player who looks slow on screen may be the fastest on the pitch.
- What is out of frame. A player who does not appear is not a badly positioned player. Never blame a positioning the camera did not film.
- Fatigue and pain. They explain a good share of late-match errors, and the picture does not show them. Ask before asserting.
Pulling out three clips, not a file
The finished product of an analysis is three sequences of ten to fifteen seconds, with one sentence each, rather than a document or a long list of remarks. Three, because beyond that players retain nothing. And one sentence, because a clip that needs a paragraph of explanation is the wrong clip.
Keep a balance: at least one sequence of what worked well. Far from soft pedagogy, it is what makes the group accept the other two. How to run the moment itself is detailed in running a video session players listen to.
The trap of the highlights reel
A montage of goals and nice touches is excellent for the club, for social media and for morale. It is not analysis: a goal is often the exception, precisely the moment the usual pattern was broken. A team that only watches its goals learns nothing about what happens in the other eighty-nine minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to watch the whole match?
No. A targeted reading on a single theme, fast-forwarding between the relevant sequences, takes thirty to forty minutes and gives more than watching it all.
How much time should you spend on it each week?
One hour is enough: forty minutes of targeted viewing, twenty minutes to prepare three clips. Beyond that, the extra time rarely improves the session that follows.
Should you show individual mistakes?
Yes, but individually, and distinguishing a decision error, which can be trained, from an execution error, which is repeated in training. In front of the group, you only show what concerns the collective.
What should you start with when you have never done video analysis?
Set pieces or restart situations: they are short, repeated sequences where positioning can be corrected to the metre and progress is visible within two weeks.
By sport: Football · Rugby · Basketball
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Three clips, not a one-hour file
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