Analysis Tutorial 2.0: Telestration Specifics
Welcome everyone to part two of my football analysis tutorial. In this edition I will discuss some of the more nuanced pieces I have done: beginning from what I look out for when watching a game to some more detailed presentation methods. This may not be for everyone — it is simply how I analyse football and present the tactical facets I see. In case you missed part one, find it linked below.
Note: for the purpose of simplicity I will only explain the annotations used on Key Frame Sport. Metrica or even PowerPoint offer similar features.
Polygon Feature:
One feature of telestration that I enjoy to use is the polygon feature. I often use this with the purpose of highlighting zones or lanes.
As far as zones are concerned, typically the football pitch is broken down into 18 zones, although more generally it is convention to just describe the zones laterally: wide, half-space/channels, central. Zone 14 is the attacking team’s central zone directly in front of the opposing penalty area.
When analysing positional play, defensive structure or specific attacking combinations, it is often useful to highlight the relevant zone when analysing — particularly in the modern game when a zonal defensive structure is convention. Highlighting a weakness or a gap in the opposition’s structure often helps to show how the attacking team exploited such a weakness. Additionally, coaches frequently encourage players to enter certain zones in specific phases of a game: see Maguire in the left half space when United are in 2nd phase possession or De Bruyne often encouraged to enter right half space prior to crossing/creating. Below is an example of Pogba entering the right half space.
Adding the polygon telestration is relatively simple to do: try to align the zones with lateral pitch markings to help bed the telestration in to the pitch. It is worth noting that with ‘‘worse’’ camera angles, polgyons are harder to bed in to the pitch.
For the tactical board, create a rectangle/square for the section you are annotating. Set a appropriate colour, alter the transparency to approximately 30–60% (so it doesn’t make the board too hard to read) and send it to the back. Remove the outline if you already have zone markings.
My other primary use of the polgyon fucntion is to highlight (passing) lanes on the pitch. This is easier to show than explain so I will drop the example of N’Dombele below.
Simply create three (or more) polgyons originating from the player and taper the end points off so it creates a ‘‘curved’’ finish. I like to coordinate the colours and recipient players in order to make the presentation more visually appealing and easier to comprehend in an instance. I match this, on the PowerPoint tactical board, with the ‘‘partial circle’’ shape. Tinker with the dimensions of that shape until you create the desired angles/colours.
An additional use of the polygon feature is to annotate zones not by their names but by other perceived facets such as threat, or probability of the ball falling there. This is useful for discussing a team’s shape but generally ends up being quite simplified, so it has limited utility overall.
Linked Cursor Feature:
The linked cursor feature is great for highlighting the players’ nominal positions. In the example below, we can see where each player originated — or where they are meant to be playing (according to the team sheet). This is perhaps most prudent when analysing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, where positional rotation is rife. Players rarely remain in orthodox positions and the fluidity of the players can be confusing — the linked cursor helps the reader to digest where each player is and what their role is.
The linked cursor is also a great tool for showing a specific group of players linked in role. Examples of this are a forward line (such as in the 235 structure), a defensive line (and subsequently how this lie could be distorted by an attack), or a build-up structure (such as the box midfield). The latter is shown below.
It is often useful to link these players accordingly on the tactics board but I often stray away from doing this because I don’t like the slides getting too busy; there’s already a lot being presented in one slide. Particularly if your audience are players/staff at a club, make sure the visuals add to the point you are making, rather than auxiliary. Efficiency and message are the priorities in such a scenario.
To conclude this edition, I want to review the key take-home messages when it comes to adding these types of telestration:
- Ensure you use the correct type of visuals for what you are presenting
- Ensure any annotations/visuals add to the presentation
- Ensure you don’t overload the slide
- Get creative! There is no ‘‘right’’ way to present; simply make sure its relevant and portrays the facet being analysed
Thanks all for reading — I hope you found some value in this part of the series. As usual, feel free to reply in the comments/on Twitter or DM me if you have any further questions. Have fun analysing!
