11 Questions with @ReportPosh

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 @ReportPosh:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first role in football was as a goalkeeping coach for Stirling University Ladies FC in the Women's SPL. Like many jobs in football it came from knowing the right person. At the time there was a real shortage of qualified goalkeeping coaches and I was drafted in to fill a void.

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

As a coach we spend >90% of our time watching, however what we rarely spend time doing is focusing on how we watch football. That's what attracted me to football analysis as a way of improving the way that I watch football. Numbers and analytics is now a huge part of that and can be very informative. I still see it as informing/guiding what the eye saw however not the other way around.

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

Observation and the skill of watching football. I am constantly working on my active watching skills and have two checklists of both what and how to watch. The thing I have discovered though is that 'space' is the most important concept in football, and another which is often overlooked as people become distracted by noise (e.g. the way formations are written numerically).

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

The answer to those questions has to be both, development is a holistic process and to view it any other way would to be a disservice. Clubs must ensure they have the right mechanisms, guidance and structures in place to help maximise player development but at some point players have to take ownership of their development. 

I believe personality testing should and will become more prominent in youth recruitment/development as a growth mindset, desire to learn and improve as well as resilience to bounce back from set backs/failure is just as, if not more important, than a player's tactical, technical and physical skill set.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

As a coach helping a player I coach get into the Scottish U21s. As a fan I've twice seen Peterborough United get promoted in the playoffs, it's hard to top that.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Has to be Klopp and Guardiola. They have revolutionised coaching by trying to minimise randomness, being strongly philosophy driven and in the level of detail/planning in their tactical plans. From an analytics point of view, Lee Scott, Michael Cox and Jay (@bladeanalytics) were all big reasons I started writing and publishing online. 

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

Watch, write and read, a lot. The key to analytics is getting down to the cusp of the matter. Why did one team win/lose/draw. What was the key parts of their game plan. What were the key battlegrounds? And remember space is king.

In terms of more practical advise:

Work by a rule of 3, if the same things happens 3 times in a match (run, pattern, passing move) it's probably pre-planned, if not it could well just be a random event/emerged because of a specific game state/action

Cycle your attention when watching football. What's happening on the ball? What's happening around the ball? What's happening away from the ball (bigger picture, tactics, shape etc)

Watch actively, make notes, log them and refer back to them. Try to compare them to more experienced individuals write ups of that game or what the stats tell you? are they similar or different? If different, why?

Create a set of guidelines when watching football. I tend to break it down into sections: In possession, out of possession & transitions. Look at team shape, animations, patterns of play, structure. What spaces are teams trying to exploit and where are their weaknesses. Which individuals are particularly dangerous? Are any players potential weak spots? Keep cycling your attention between big picture/small picture. Team/individual etc. etc. Football is fluid and things changed quickly and regularly.

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

Some awesome free stat providers. Whoscored, infogol, sofascore, understat, fbref, soccerstats are all great resources.

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

You can learn loads from watching other team sports and they can be great innovators e.g. basketball inspiring England's love train corner routine. Hockey and basketball are my two favourites to learn from from a tactical innovation point of view, although NFL and baseball for their use of date.