11 Questions with Rofiq Naufal

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 Rofiq Naufal,

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first real paying job that I got is in 2018 where I got a job as a statistician for InPlay Sports Data (now Genius Sports) which allows me to attend more local matches in my vicinity and collect data for the company. I made a few connections as well along the way which proves to be quite helpful. I had been doing voluntary writing work since 2016 for Fresh Press Media, Transfer News Central, The Goalmouth Scramble, and Football Wonderkids where I learned a lot about football journalism and a few about analysis. 2019 is a particularly special year for me. That year I decided to drop out of college as I felt I’m not interested to study Chemical Engineering anymore and wanted to focus fully on football.

In January 2019 I applied to be a scout intern at Mellemmand where I gained lots and lots of knowledge, insights and experience on how it is like to be a scout and recruitment analyst. When it comes to tactical analysis though, Ronnie Dog Media has been the best experience so far for me. I was a development analyst in April 2019 for Ronnie Dog Media and now I’ve climbed the ranks and become a senior analyst.

The best part is that I got paid for doing something I love so much. In September 2019, I also started a freelance job as a scout for The Scouted Hub who are focusing on football recruitment consultancy. At the moment, I’m not yet a professional analyst/scout and my analyses/scout reports I believe are not yet quite on the level of the pros yet but I’ll keep learning and improving and hopefully some time in the future (hopefully in the near future) I can get an opportunity to work for a club.

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

Definitely Football Manager games. I played my first Football Manager game in 2009 and have been playing the new releases every year. For some reason, finding a hidden gem from Scandinavian countries and developing youth players until they reach their potential are the two things I’m interested the most rather than setting tactics and playing matches. I’d often skip matches and focus more on the scouting side of the game. When I got older, I started to also get fascinated by the tactical side of the game. 

How certain tactics can affect the match and how the right ones can win you games. More recently, I also got interested on training schedules and how setting up the right schedules can both help your player develop and keep them fit and fresh enough for matches. Growing up in Indonesia, I can see that scouting/analysis was not used much back then. Even until now, scouting/analysis is still rather “new” to most Indonesian clubs both professional and amateur and still far, far less advanced when compared to European clubs. However, most Indonesians (including me) have grown to be much smarter and much more interested in the tactical side of the game in recent years and scouting/analysis is finally getting the appreciation it deserved.

Both names and numbers are equally intriguing in my opinion. I could spend a whole day watching matches and taking notes and I could spend a whole day in the following day to look at the numbers to support my analysis.

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

The first player that I “found” that made me love football (and all its unpredictability) even more is Håkon Evjen who currently plays for AZ Alkmaar. Watching him in 2018 Eliteserien season, I never really though he was going to be a big hit in the future. Makes too many mistakes, too vulnerable under pressure, indecisive, and lacks awareness of his surroundings. He does, however, has that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that makes me interested to dig deeper and watch him even more. In the 2019 Eliteserien season, he suddenly matured very quickly and the flaws that I saw in him before was no longer there. He became a much more confident, composed, and intelligent player, who makes smart decisions and has excellent awareness of his surroundings. This proves that player development can be a bit unpredictable and I learned a lot from scouting him and seeing his development.

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

This is something that I definitely should have learned more in the past, but I’m glad I can learn about it recently and hopefully I can learn more in the future. Goalkeeping and analysing/scouting goalkeepers.

You can find a lot of people talking about and analysing defenders, midfielders, and strikers, but not a lot about goalkeepers. It’s because they’re rather unique. The key performance indicators that we should look at when scouting goalkeepers are different than outfield players. Judging reflexes, timing, reaction time, handling, decision making, ball-playing ability, distribution with hands or feet and many more. It turns out that this is actually very interesting.

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

Definitely coding and programming. When I was a kid, I never though those two skills can prove extremely valuable in the football world. It turns out, nowadays, those two skills are used a lot in analysis. When those two skills are combined with great analytical brain as well as “good eyes” then it will make an amazing scout/analyst.

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

Player development is a bit of an art and science, but I’d say it’s a bit heavy on the art side. There are players that are just born talented and thrive in pretty much any team and in any system. Some others need to to work much harder to reach very high level need to maintain that hard-work until the end of his career to stay on that level. There are also some who look very talented at young age but ultimately never reached “his potential” (assuming he actually has a high ceiling). While, there are some others who we never thought would reach very high level, but surprised everybody with his late development. Science definitely helps development as well, but I’d say this helps more in the talent identification side.

Development is both on the club and the players. The club are responsible for providing proper facilities, proper environment, and proper support for the players. But then it’s all about the players. With hard-work and right attitude, there’s a better chance that they can reach a high level.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

Definitely Lille’s double in 2010/11 season. One goal that got stuck in my mind is that Ludovic Obraniak long-range free-kick goal late in the game in the final of Coupe de France against PSG that sealed the win for Lille. I didn’t watch the game as I don’t have the channel that broadcasted the game but once I saw Lille won it in the morning, I was ecstatic!

Last year I also watched a local match in my hometown, PSS Sleman vs PSM Makassar where the home team came back from trailing 0-2 to win the game 3-2 and I can feel how amazing it is to see your local team win an important game in such a fantastic way. Though I’m not a supporter of the club, it still felt absolutely amazing when that third goal crossed the line and once the referee blew the final whistle.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Eden Hazard and Lille in 2010/11 is what got me extremely interested in football. It started from me picking a ‘mid-table side’ namely Lille in Football Manager 2009. I then started following them in real life and I just suddenly become a fan of the side. I realise that they were mostly known for being a mid-table side but their performance under Rudi Garcia throughout 2010/11 was magical and I was very interested to see how they managed to do that. Since then I’ve been a big fan of Lille and followed French football very closely. This is why when I was a kid I always wanted to find ‘new Eden Hazards’ whenever I played Football Manager. However, I don’t follow Hazard a lot since his move to Chelsea and recently to Real Madrid, but back then Hazard and Lille were absolutely amazing.

Marcelo Bielsa is the coach that inspires me the most. I was already familiar with his past work but when he managed Lille, I decided to dig deeper and pay more attention to his coaching. Though he didn’t really succeed at Lille, his philosophy and tactics were very intriguing and the team actually played very interesting football. Even now he brings his love and passion for football to Leeds and he’s loved and adored by many, including me.

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

Learn as much as possible. Enrich yourself by reading others’ work as much as possible. Read everything, from tactical analyses, scout reports, coaching analyses, team analyses, statistical analyses, and other football-related stuff. Watch as much football as possible either from the comfort of your own home or go to local matches. Try to take notes of what you find interesting tactically. Write a lot as well.

Create a blog, pour your thoughts in it, ask people for advice and feedbacks. Those are the way you can improve the quality of your work and develop your analytical thinking. I’d also definitely suggest building a network in football, which you can start by doing voluntary scouting/analysis work and connecting with fellow scouts/analysts when attending matches or making friends on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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

InStat is definitely something that I like to use very much. I’d use Wyscout as well occasionally, but mostly I’d prefer using InStat when doing my research or just for fun. There are still room for improvements in terms of user interface but at least it is still a bit easier to use and pleasing in the eye when compared to Wyscout in my opinion. Twitter and LinkedIn are also two apps that I access the most. There are a lot of info on opportunities and a lot of ways you can make connections with other football people on those two social medias. You can also learn a lot about football from there.

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

In my free time, I like watching videos or highlights of other sports. I recently started watching a lot of rugby videos and I’m intrigued by the athleticism of Rugby players. They’re big and bulky but very flexible and agile at the same time. I like watching Basketball highlights as well. But mostly, I’d spent most of my free time playing Football Manager, PES, or FIFA. I like applying things I’ve already learnt into the game and I also like experimenting new things and see how they work out. Not sure if those things directly help improve my work as an analyst, but they certainly can cure me from boredom!