What is Sports Video Analysis?
Due to the constant evolution that exists in the world of sport and more specifically in football, we are faced with the implementation of new tools that did not previously exist.
The appearance of new technologies such as video softwares applied to football allow certain members of the coaching staff, called analysts, to have a greater possibility of reducing the chance and uncertainty that exists in the game.
Video analysis in football
It consists of the use of audiovisual resources – video, basically – to analyse the individual performance of a football player or of a team.
Why is the figure of the analyst necessary?
The objective of the analyst is to monitor the different teams that are going to be rivals during the course of the season, with the intention of knowing their weaknesses in order to take advantage of them and their strengths in order to neutralise them.
What is the objective of an analyst?
This is why it is becoming increasingly necessary for all technical staffs to have as much information as possible about their opponents and thus have the ability to anticipate certain situations that will serve to increase the probability of success, because if we know what we are facing, we will know how to counteract it in a more optimal way.
Nowadays, within the structure of a club, we find more and more experts of all kinds who are especially dedicated to their task, which means that what is dealt with in this area is produced and enhanced in an optimal way.
The analyst is one of them, since he is a football specialist who is in charge of studying the sport in detail, making use of technology and with the help of all kinds of data.
A clear example of this, and of the importance that this figure is acquiring in the world of football, are the statements made by the Belgian player of Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne.
After the match against Cardiff in the FA Cup, where he stressed that the goal from the free kick was thanks to the video analysis team, as they were the ones who warned him that the players who were located in the barrier always jumped.
One of the interviews that clearly and concisely explains the work of the analyst within a professional football team is the one given by Javier Madrid to the newspaper Libertad Digital.
Javier Madrid, who is currently the director of the youth academy and assistant sporting director of FC Cartagena in the Spanish second division, previously worked in the coaching staff of FC Cartagena in the Spanish second division. He previously worked on Diego Pablo Simeone’s coaching staff, winning the Europa League with Atlético de Madrid in the 2017/2018 season.
What exactly does the job of an analyst consist of?
La respuesta que Javier Madrid dio al citado medio fue que: “El trabajo de analista es una labor un poco oscura dentro y fuera del terreno de juego y que está compuesta de muchas horas de observación, análisis e interpretación.”
The answer of Javier Madrid gave to the aforementioned media outlet was that: “The work of an analyst is a somewhat obscure job on and off the pitch and is made up of many hours of observation, analysis and interpretation.
I think there are times when neither the players nor some members of the coaching staff know what we do, but our job is to observe and interpret all the individual and group movements, offensive and defensive, our own and those of our opponents, to find the strengths and weaknesses of our team and the team we are going to face”.
Therefore, it is clear that sport, and more specifically football is all about details, and they take on special importance when facing a match. For it is these details that can later help us to get a greater benefit in the short or long term. That is why, having control of the more details the better, will serve as a differential factor.
At SIA Academy it is a regular working tool in all its teams. We invite you to learn more about this exciting topic here.
[1]VINUESA, David. Así trabaja un analista táctico en un equipo como el Atlético de Madrid de Simeone. En: Libertad Digital [en línea]. [Madrid]: Libertad Digital, 2019 [consulta: 18 de noviembre de 2020]. Disponible en: https://www.libertaddigital.com/deportes/futbol/2018-11-23/analista-tactico-atletico-de-madrid-simeone-1276628749/
