11 Questions with Chaka Simbeye

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Chaka Simbeye, creator of @LeftBackFtball

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

I started blogging about football on a WordPress account when I was 16 and just finishing

high-school but I was not doing it well and I was not really seeing the game from a

tactical perspective. I started with Get French Football as the French National Team were

preparing for the 2014 World Cup as I got interested in Antoine Griezmann’s National

Team introduction as well as his growth as a key player. Then I started blogging with

Football Oranje, doing features on Dutch Football, improving my writing, research and

analytical skills.

What attracted you to scouting/analytics? What’s more intriguing now names or

numbers?

Growing up in Africa, I was quite blessed to have the Bundesliga, English Premier

League, La Liga and Serie A on one channel which was SuperSport, giving me a well-

rounded knowledge of European football. Also, curiosity, I grew up an Arsenal fan and

Arsene Wenger was signing little known players from around Europe, so I started

watching more European football to gain an insight into future Arsenal signings. I

remember collating a ton of Articles of David Villa and David Silva when I thought they

were going to sign while I was in Primary School. Every computer I went on, had

‘Arsenal Transfer News’ in its search history.

I think names are more interesting, especially in terms of the young managers around the

world. Most people in between the ‘boomer’ and ‘Gen X’ age groups will watch a team

that they will not normally watch because of the managers. A ton of people watched Red

Bull Salzburg because of Marco Rose, Stuttgart and Holstein Kiel because of Tim Walter

and Hoffenheim because of Julian Nagelsmann. Numbers are interesting to me but only

in terms of how they are applied. I have this idea of Nagelsmann improving strikers

dramatically because he allows his strikers more touches of the ball and high-quality

shots.

Expected Assists is important as last season, I wrote an article on Max Kruse and found

that he had a lot of situations where he had a lot of touches in the build-up to goals and

chances created which did not translate to assists. Situational metrics are interesting to me

as when I think about Expected Goals, I think of Alessandro Diamanti shot locations and

Ted Knutson. I like numbers, but I prefer to have a basis explaining the metrics behind it

as I am not an Ivy-League mathematician.

Who/what is the first player/concept you "found"? What caught your eye?

I watched PSV blow the Eredivisie away with Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum

a few years ago. I liked how Andres Guardado became a ball-playing midfielder in that

system. However, I remember in Julian Nagelsmann’s first game at Hoffenheim against

Werder Bremen, Rene Maric tweeted a video of how Nagelsmann used a pressing trap to

win possession and score a goal. I became more deeply enamoured with the tactical side

of the game and situational analysis after that. I feel we all grew up on Spielverlagerung

and Football Manager developing knowledges of concepts and players.

Who/what is the player/concept you "missed" on? What did you learn from it?

Writing and analysing the Eredivisie, you tend to miss on a lot. I thought Vincent Janssen

and Memphis Depay would still be in the Premier League. I learned to watch other

leagues to watch the pace of the game, systems, player roles while I learned to watch how

a manager uses a player rather than a player on their own. For instance, if a winger is

good at cutting in and scoring then moves to another club where the manager tasks him

with stretching play and remaining in the wide zone, he obviously becomes less effective.

If a midfielder looks great in a double-pivot but is then asked to play as a solitary six,

then he will struggle. Plus, you learn that you never really know with attacking

midfielders until you see them play in a deeper role or out wide.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

I would like to learn how to build my own statistical models, code and have a better

understanding of the biological side of players. I also would love to speak more languages

as I am only really fluent in English.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Is development on the club

or the player? Why?

It is art and it becomes art because of the balance between the club and player. The club and

manager have to put the player in the best situation to succeed with information, training and off-

the-field issues. Another is that the player has to be motivated to do so and has to have a

connection with the manager. For instance, I watched Fares Bahlouli at the Toulon Tournament

and he was the best player. Despite being at club’s renown for bringing through youth like

Monaco and Lille, I have not heard about him since.

There was also a situation at Ajax a few years ago where Peter Bosz took over and was bringing

through youngsters, but Anwar El Ghazi, Kenny Tete and Jairo Riedewald were dropped despite

making their debuts with the Dutch National Team, just months before. They just did not suit

Bosz’ system. Injuries and recovery also play a bigger part than we can ever imagine

Last season, I saw Javi Ontiveros instantly take an upturn in form under the coaching of Victor

Sanchez Del Amo because he just put him in a system that liberated him. He did the same with

Dani Ceballos at Real Betis after Gus Poyet did not play him for half a season, both earned

moves to Villareal and Real Madrid, respectively.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

I have begun to root for the underdogs, so I guess, I enjoyed Ajax’ campaign in the UEFA

Champions League last season. I distinctly remember a Hertha Berlin vs Borussia

Monchengladbach match from a few years ago where Salmon Kalou scored a hat-trick, the week

after his father had passed. And Zambia winning the African Cup of Nations in 2012 as it was so

unlikely, and I am from the country.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

I know this is a controversial choice right now because of recent ongoings. Victor Sanchez Del

Amo because he is a talented coach but has had bad luck with jobs. He got fired a few weeks into

his Olympiacos job, he got fired from a Real Betis side he steered away from relegation in a

season where they had three coaches and completely overhauled the squad for Quique Setien in

the next summer and tried everything with a Malaga side that sold off its best assets and did not

invest because of the owner. He also developed Pau Torres from Villareal loanee to a good ball-

playing centre-back that plays for Villareal and the Spanish National Team within four months.

He continues to be willing to coach, to be willing to learn and once reached out to commend an

analysis piece on him that I wrote.

I, like, everyone on Twitter, love Rene Maric. He teaches us interesting things like not using

difficult football terminology for the sake of seeming knowledgeable as well as speaking about

formations in terms of shape, position and situation rather than in a more binary fashion. He also

speaks about not using terms like man-marking and zonal marking which makes sense when you

think about it as most teams use both in pressing and low-block situations. The fact that he has

achieved so much at such a young age while remaining humble and interactive on social media is

a lesson that I try to take on. He has also retweeted a few of my articles which has led to a 300%

rise in traffic on my website.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into media/analytics?

I learned this really late but have your own blog/platform where you control the output and post

about whatever you want. People may find it interesting, I spent so much time writing for other

blogs that I rarely built myself up and when I applied for jobs with Media outlets that had no idea

what Football Oranje was or could not quantify the importance of the blogosphere, it really

showed. Now, that I have my own site at leftbackfootball.com, people have something to link me

too and I get more freelance work than when I was writing on other blogs. I also control my

output and what I want to write about which has given my site a range that you would struggle to

find elsewhere. It has led to interest from football people and just normal fans, it’s crazy but the

analytics show that they are people who will spend an hour on my site, rummaging through

articles.

Never be afraid to reach out. I am still learning this but more clubs than you think are willing to

listen to ideas to expand an audience and more people are willing to chat about football. My best

piece of work ever which is an analysis of Kevin Vogt under Nagelsmann came about when I

asked the Hoffenheim press officer for some quotes from Nagelsmann and Vogt. He showed

great kindness to get them for me and that really made that article stand out and has thus become

the article that I am most proud of.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for fun!)?

I used to like WhoScored now I enjoy, and I am learning more about WyScout. There was a few

months where InStat let me use their software for free a few years ago and that was a blast,

having every league and every player at your finger-tips is exciting. I once spent 900 hours on

Football Manager turning Marseille into three-time Ligue 1 champions then winning the UEFA

Champions League with them before moving to Manchester United, winning the league and

losing the Champions League in extra time because all of my players got injured. I like the

translate tools on Android phones as I can read articles from Voetbal Internacional, El Pais,

Spielverlagerung and La Nacion. I also love Twitter.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst? Why?

I just got into watching the NFL, I try to watch about five/six games games in a weekend but

on Sunday, I switch to the NFL which allows me to unwind. It feels good to watch a sport for

fun rather than to gain tactical insight. I plan to start watching hockey because I was once

talking about Tim Walter build-up sequences on Twitter and someone in Dutch hockey

reached out and said that his way of build-up was similar to how they moved the ball in

hockey.