Opposition briefing: how to turn opponent analysis into 5 minutes

Opposition briefing is the last step of opponent analysis - and the one where it is easiest to ruin everything. In the previous post I showed how I tag the opponent's matches with Poland U-20 and how a few hundred clips turn into 2-3 conclusions for each moment of the game.

Here I show what happens next: how I choose the opponent's matches, what the staff gets and what the players get. At the end you will find my cheat sheet - what I look for when the opponent attacks and when it defends.

Know the opponent's context before you press play

Before I tag anything, I check where the opponent is right now:

• recent results and whether we have played each other before,
• whether the coach has changed and whether this coach changes a lot,
• press conferences and players' interviews,
• the league table, the situation at the club and injuries,
• what kind of game it is for them - which match is their priority,
• whether they play differently at home and away.

An example from my work with the national team: before our game against Romania I saw that after two heavy defeats they had changed their style - away to Portugal they played very defensively, in a 1-5-4-1, and drew. The question was: would they stick with the new style? Without the context I would have prepared the team for a side that no longer existed.

Which of the opponent's matches to watch

I usually take the last four matches and watch them from the end - starting with the most recent one, because it shows best where the opponent is today. At least one of them has to be against a team similar to us: in league position, style of play or formation.

I also look at how other teams played against them - what worked and what did not. Sometimes the best idea for the game comes from the team that played them a week earlier.

Presentation for the staff: 20-30 pieces of information

The staff gets the full picture: 20-30 pieces of information, around 40 clips, roughly 30 minutes for each phase of play. I start with the context - recent results and formations. Then their attacking, split into two parts - build-up in their own half, and high build-up and finishing in ours - and the same for defending.

Each piece of information comes with a recommendation: what it means for us and what options we have. This is the place for questions and discussion. The game plan is set by the whole staff.

Briefing for the players: 2 x 5 minutes

The players get much less: two 5-minute "pills", each with about five pieces of information. The pill about how the opponent defends comes right before our attacking session. The pill about how the opponent attacks - right before our defending session. What a player sees on video, he practises on the pitch a moment later. I described how I spread analyses across the week in the post about the analysis microcycle.

Every piece of information has three parts - when, what happens and what the conclusion is - and it always answers one question: what do we do about it. For example: "When we build up, the opponent presses us 1v1 and leaves a lot of space behind. Let's play in behind their back line as quickly as possible - we need more runs into the third zone from our (7) and (11)."

Without the last part, information is just a curiosity. A pile of bricks is not a house yet - you need a design and someone to build it. That is why I stick to the minimum stimulus principle: the shorter and more specific, the more stays in the players' heads.

One more thing: I only show what we are able to implement. It is about solutions that are realistic for our players and built on their strengths, not about everything I have noticed.

Individual match-ups: who plays against whom

Finally, I set out the individual duels: which of the opponent's players poses the biggest threat and which of ours will face him. A few examples of what I look at:

• the opponent's winger cuts inside - we need cover and to show him to the outside,
• the winger runs in behind - we shift to his side or add a player in that line,
• which foot the key players prefer - we force them onto the weaker one,
• the goalkeeper takes a lot of risks with the ball at his feet - a fresh striker coming on in the second half gets one piece of information: press him.

Cheat sheet: what to look for in the opponent

When the opponent attacks

• What attacking style and formation it has - e.g. how it breaks a 1-4-4-2 block.
• How many players it leaves up front when building up - and how we will set up against them.
• How many players it attacks with - do the full-backs join in.
• Where it creates an overload - in the centre or on the flank.
• Whether it attacks in behind the back line and with how many strikers.
• Which side it prefers to build its attacks on.
• Whether it looks for through balls between the defenders.
• How it crosses and whether the striker attacks the defender's blind side.
• Whether it has a target man for long balls.
• How many players get into the box and how they fill it.
• How it protects the attack in case it loses the ball.

When the opponent defends

• Whether it presses us 1v1 in our build-up - and what tools from our game model we have against it.
• Whether it defends zonally or man-to-man.
• Whether it leaves a 1v1 at the back - and how we will use it.
• How many centre-backs it has - is it worth playing with two strikers.
• When it makes its pressing jump.
• How it reacts to an overload in the centre and on the flank.
• How many players it leaves up front for the counter-attack.
• Whether it struggles with second balls after long passes.
• In a low block: whether the back line squeezes up hard after our back pass, whether it shifts to the strong side and how it defends the goal - man-marking or zonal.

You do not take everything from this list. You look for 2-3 things per moment that repeat and that you have time to train.

The version for a small staff

No analyst and no 40 clips? The principle stays the same. Take the opponent's last 2-3 matches, including one against a team similar to yours. In each phase find one, at most two things. Show them to the players in one short briefing right before the session in which you train them.

The most common mistakes in an opposition briefing

• A players' briefing like a staff briefing. 30 minutes and all phases at once - a player will remember two things at most, only you will not be the one choosing which.
• Information without "what do we do about it". An observation alone changes nothing on the pitch.
• A briefing without training. If there is no exercise after the video, the information will not be implemented.
• An outdated picture of the opponent. A new coach or a new style, and you are showing matches from two months ago.

Summary

Opposition analysis has two audiences. The staff gets the full picture - 20-30 pieces of information to set the game plan. The player gets two 5-minute pills, right before training, and one answer: what do we do about it.

🎯 Analysis is for the staff. The player gets 5 minutes and the answer to one question: what do we do about it.

In 2027 I will run only two editions of Mentoring Analiza PRO (in Polish), up to 20 people each. A whole module of the programme is devoted to opposition analysis, and recording your own briefing is one of six homework assignments. Most of the programme is run by me, part of it by Special Guests. We review the homework together with them, and you get personalised feedback. You finish with a ready process and the confidence that you are doing it right. Registration opens in December, and people on the waiting list will hear about it first.