Live analysis during the match: what to tell the head coach and when

In my two previous posts I wrote about what I do before a match: how I analyse the opponent and how I turn that analysis into a briefing for the players. Today - what happens during the match. Live analysis is not about equipment, it is a process: who tells the head coach what, and when. Here is the first-half plan I recommend to every staff - three short consultations, a half-time video and 30 seconds at the monitor after every action in the box.

Equipment is the smallest problem

A camera, a laptop and a feed on the bench cost less today than many coaches think - around 1,500 PLN can be enough to start. The tools are affordable and easy to use. The problem is people and processes.

In many staffs, including professional and large ones, I see the same picture: tasks are split only roughly, and during the match everyone does a bit of everything. So before you buy another tool, set up the process.

Does live analysis pay off?

To be honest: in many matches live analysis changes little. In my experience, roughly once every five or six matches there is a moment when a faster reaction can change the outcome. That is little and a lot at the same time - a draw instead of a defeat once every few matches means several extra points over a season.

On one condition: live analysis must not do harm. And it does harm when the coach gets too much information, at the wrong moment and from several people at once.

One person talks to the head coach

During the match the whole staff can consult among themselves. But only one designated person talks to the decision maker - the head coach. That is the only way the coach does not drown in noise.

The first-half plan: three consultations and a half-time video

Minutes 1-15: one key action in each phase

The first minutes are often chaos for the coach: emotions, talking to the referee, fouls, sometimes a conversation with a player or someone from the staff. That is why the first consultation is very simple - one piece of information from attacking and one from defending, together with the opponent's shape. We answer two questions: is our plan working, and is the opponent doing what we expected?

For example: we defend deep in a 1-5-4-1, and the opponent in a 1-4-3-3 builds attacks mainly with long balls behind our back line. It sounds trivial, but in that chaos the coach often does not see even such basic things. A calm 30-second conversation lets him cool down and see the picture of the game.

Minutes 15-25 and 25-40: 1-2 specific corrections

The second and third consultations are specific corrections - one or two things that can change the picture of the game. No more. Outside the consultations we do not add information for the coach, unless something really important happens that needs an immediate reaction.

Optionally, there is ongoing feedback - an assessment of the coach's message. The coach shouts at a player that he did not attack the far post. The analyst sitting next to him can add: "Coach, good feedback - he could have made it" or the other way round: "He couldn't have made it, he was fouled". A short hint like that builds the analyst's credibility. How much of it to give depends on the head coach and on the relationships in the staff.

Minutes 40-45: the half-time video

The end of the first half is the time to prepare the video. A good standard is 5-10 clips for the staff in three categories: key actions, structures in each sub-phase, and the staff's questions and observations. The players get less - 2-3 clips and, if needed, individual feedback. What exactly reaches the players is decided by the head coach together with the staff.

If the staff is bigger, it is worth having one person who goes to the dressing room before the end of the half, calmly reviews the prepared material and draws on it straight away.

Ready for the whole match

Not everything waits for half-time. A red card, VAR, an injury, a drinks break - at such moments the coach may have one key minute. The feedback has to be ready right away.

It is also worth listening to what the opposing coach shouts. If during a high press he calls out to his team: "Well done, that's how we wanted to play!", that is a clip worth cutting - you have just learned his game plan.

The message to the coach: moment, information, solution

I build every message from three parts: the moment (which sub-phase it happens in), the specific information (what is happening) and the solution (what we do about it). I wrote about it in the post on the opposition briefing - during the match this rule matters even more, because there is much less time.

Add the principle of minimal stimulus: as little information as possible, delivered as briefly as possible, but in a way that works. The coach has to understand the message in a few seconds. We then talk to the players the same way.

30 seconds at the monitor

This is something I recommend to every staff. After every opponent's entry into our box, the coach responsible for defending goes back to the monitor and watches that action again for 30 seconds. The coach responsible for attacking does the same with every entry of ours into the opponent's box. The set-piece coach - with every set piece.

It is a requirement, not a favour. In my view it is a game changer - you can learn a lot from that single replay.

Splitting the tasks in the staff during the match

You can do live analysis with a small staff, but two people are the absolute minimum. It starts to make sense with three coaches: one manages the match, the second takes care of substitutions and the warm-up of the substitutes, the third handles the technical side. An intern, an injured player or even a parent can help.

This is how the tasks were split in the Legia U-15 staff in my last season at the club:

• Head coach - observes and manages the match, coaches the whole team and the midfield and attacking units; together with the staff decides what to tell the players at half-time.
• Assistant coach - the attacking phase, including the box and set pieces; coaching players (2/3) and (7/11), stats for the wide channel, pre-match warm-up.
• Analyst coach - the defending phase, including the box and set pieces, running the live analysis; coaching the defenders, feedback and analysis at half-time, pre-match warm-up and observing the opponent in the first 15 minutes.
• Intern coach - recording the match, stats for the central channel, technical support.

Coaching was split by units, so that messages to the players came from the person responsible for that unit. The bigger the staff, the more specialisation - set pieces and the box can go to further people. The smaller the staff, the more you have to condense or consciously drop something.

When information reaches the players

Every longer break in play: a goal, a penalty, an injury. A short message from the bench, if there are not many fans in the stadium and the player can hear it. A talk with a substitute before he comes on. And half-time - the most natural moment: 15 minutes of calm (as far as a match allows) work with video.

The most common mistakes in live analysis

• Too much or too complicated. Complex terminology and a lot of information at once - a common mistake, especially among young coaches.
• Information without a moment or a solution. "They are creating an overload on us" - but at what moment? And what do we do about it?
• Several people looking at the same thing. VAR is checking and the whole staff rushes to the laptop to see who fouled whom. That is the perfect moment for the set-piece coach to watch the last set piece and for the defending coach to watch the opponent's last entry into our box.
• No preparation. Without a planned process and division of tasks, live analysis turns into rushed improvisation.

Summary

Live analysis is not about seeing everything. It is about the head coach getting 1-2 right pieces of information at the right moment: around the 15th minute - is the plan working, then specific corrections, and for half-time - a video prepared calmly.

🎯 During the match the coach does not need everything you see. He needs 1-2 pieces of information at the right moment.

This plan comes from my webinar "Analiza live jak w topowych klubach" (Live analysis like in top clubs, in Polish). The full recording and a second video - a live analysis of the Champions League final Inter - PSG, where I show what I look at, step by step - are a gift when you sign up for my newsletter "Prosto ze sztabu" (in Polish): pachelski.com/prezent.