scouting report of st

Scouting Report of St Etienne

“The complexities and dynamic nature of many sports means that observation and

measurement is needed to improve our understanding of performance”

(O'Donoghue, 2010). This is what has happened in this scouting report as analysis

has been undertaken through observations and measurements such as notational

analysis. The analysis that has been done has been on St Etienne FC and there

forward passing throughout the whole game against Milsami FC which took place on

1st August 2013. This scouting report will show how St Etienne created shooting

opportunities and scored goals through the way they passed the ball around and

kept possession but then used the key attacking principals in order to create their

chances. This report will also show how many passes St Etienne had prior to every

goal and goal attempts and also what the key assists were for each attempt. The

use of notational analysis was crucial in order to complete this report because

when doing notational analysis it is quick and easy to do which is essential when

watching a football game because it is always moving quickly, also it allows an

easy way to mark everything and count everything up at the end (Hughes & Franks,

2004). Another advantage of notational analysis is that it provides a factual record

which does not lie because as long as the methods of recording the data are

reliable then the stats will always be right for what is required by the coach

(Carling, Williams, & Reilly, 2007).

When looking at passing it is important to understand the attacking principals of

play set out in the FA’s Future Game book. These attacking principals are: Support

– making sure there is a passing outlet always on for the teammate with the ball in

order for ball retention. Movement – to create opportunities for a pass or to use

clever movement to dislodge defenders positions. Penetration – the ability to

break through the defensive line with accuracy, timing and deception of runs

and/or passes. Dispersal – being able as a team to create space for each other to

either pass or run with the ball. Improvisation – having the ability to do something

different or unexpected whether that as an individual or team to eliminate

opponents (FA, 2010). Throughout this report we will see how St Etienne applies

these attacking principals in their performance.

A very good attacking weapon for any team is a straight forward successful pass

and when analysing any team is good to look through the passing checklist and to

see where they need to work on or to see where they are dangerous when

attacking (Hughes C. , 1990). There are five possible types of passes to use, going

from the most lethal down, these are: Passes into space behind the defence – can

be a pass along the floor or in the air, this is a good pass to make as the defenders

are most vulnerable because they may be pushed up to high leaving plenty of

space in behind, also the defenders have got to turn around whereas the attacker

is just running forwards and a defender could lose concentration. The second most

effective pass is passing to feet – a pass to the feet of the most advanced forward

player, this is one of the most penetrative passes because it is played behind most

of the opposition meaning they have to turn back and retreat. Another pass on the

checklist is any other forward passes – this is good because you want to play the

ball past as many opponents as possible so you are eliminating each one and

getting an overload for your team (Hughes C. , 1990). Switching the play – when

space is tight over one side of the pitch, this usually means there will plenty of

space over the other side of the pitch, so switching the play will allow the chance

of a 1v1 situation or even better an attacking overload (Hughes C. , 1990). The last

resort on the passing checking is passing back – passing back should only be done

when there is no option of a forward pass and passing back will allow for the team

to retain the ball and that teammate will have a better option going forward

(Hughes C. , 1990).

When playing football you

cannot score a goal if you

are not in possession of the

football. This is where St

Etienne were really good

as they managed to keep

hold of the ball very well and did not lose possession easily and passed the ball

around with confidence and ease. As table 1 shows St Etienne had a pass success

rate of 88% which meant that the passes that were made found their teammate

successfully at a frequent rate which led to ball retention. By having ball retention

they were able to keep the pressure on their opponents which would eventually

lead to a shot at goal or a set play in a dangerous position. It also frustrated

Milsami FC and pushed them back which led to a sending off for one of their

players and also meant that whenever Milsami got the ball back and cleared it

none of their teammates were up the pitch in an attacking position so therefore St

Etienne could regain the ball easily and set up another attack on goal.

As figure 1 shows the direction of

passes that St Etienne attempted

most throughout the match was

forward. This is good because if we

remember the passing checklist from

earlier then the most lethal passes

are the passes that are forward

(Hughes C. , 1990). However the

graph also shows that St Etienne

were not afraid to go backwards if it

meant that they were able to keep

possession and then build the attack up again from deep. Of the 299 attempted

forward passes 250 of them were successful which is a pass success rate of 83.6%

Attempted passes

Successful Passes

Unsuccessful Passes

Success Rate %

Overall passing

665 586 79 88

1st Half 342 300 42 87.7

2nd Half 323 286 37 88.5

Figure 1. The direction of passes attempted throughout the match.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

1st Half 2nd Half Whole Game

Forward Pass

Backward Pass

Sideways Pass

Table 1. Number of passes made by St Etienne.

so this shows that they like to play football and they try to get forward at every

occasion they can and they try to break down defences by playing balls behind

them whether that be through balls or lofted balls over the top. Obviously the

player cannot pass the ball forward without the support of his teammates (Charles,

1998 ), what St Etienne did very well was that there was constant movement and

with them playing a 4-3-3 formation it allowed a lot space in between the defence

and midfield especially with the striker playing on the last man and pushing the

defence back. The space available was exploited well by number 10 who was

Cohade who would pick up pockets of space in between the two lines and if he was

not there then sometimes one of the wingers would come in from his wing and pick

up this space which meant they always had a penetrative pass on beyond the

midfield and allowed that player to turn and run at the defence of Milsami or play

a ball forward to a more advanced teammate.

Throughout the whole game St

Etienne tried a variation of passes to

try and break down the Milsami

defence. St Etienne tried 17

cross field switches of play

throughout the whole game in order

to change the area of attack and to

try and exploit 1v1 situations because

they had their wingers in plenty on

space. Once the play was switch then

the wingers would either drive at the

full backs or would cut inside for a shot at goal. Both the centre backs Bayal and

Perrin switched the ball with ease and they did it on a regular occasion so when

playing St Etienne the team should press high allowing them less time on the ball

and giving them more pressure so they make mistakes. St Etienne attempted 66

long passes, which consisted of mainly lofted passes and cross field switches but

also driven passes along the floor, they had 49 which were successful leading to a

success rate of 74.2%. A strength of

St Etienne was the way in which they

were successful at switching the

point of attack and changing the side

they were attacking very quickly

which in fact led to the first goal. As

figure 3 shows we can see how

Milsami had set up with two banks of

four defending which were narrow

leaving plenty of space for the centre

half to run into with the ball which is

what happened here for the goal. The

centre half Bayal switched the ball to the

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1st Half 2nd Half Whole Game

Long Pass

Short Pass

Cross

Figure 2. The type of pass attempted by St Etienne.

Figure 3. Picture of the 1st goal.

winger who was in space due to the narrow defending this then allowed the winger

plenty of space to attack the defender and deliver a cross which gave the striker

an easy opportunity to score which he took.

Overall St Etienne attempted 50 crosses which include 9 corners and 5 free kicks

which were crossed into the box. Crossing the ball is a bit of a weakness for St

Etienne as they only had a success rate of 32%. Against a better defending team

then they that may have been lower and it is something that they could do with

working on so they become more of a threat in the air and can score more goals as

it would be a different aspect to their game. As we can see from figure 4 it gives

us an idea of the outcome to each

cross. 44% of the crosses delivered

were cleared by the defenders, this

shows us that the delivery was not

reaching its target but it can also

show us that St Etienne need to

work on getting their midfield

players up in support of the

attacker and to get more numbers

in the box to give the crosser more

of an option when crossing which would

leads to an increase in the crosses

reaching the desired target. Out of

the 16 crosses that were cleared (excluding corners and free kicks) 43.7% of the

time there was only one teammate in

the box to aim for and 50% of the time

there was two teammates to aim for.

When there were two players in the box

it was mainly the opposite winger

tucking in, so if St Etienne could work

on an extra midfielder bursting into the

box then they will have a higher success

rate as they will have extra bodies

attacking the ball. When we think of

the attacking principals then support is a

crucial principal so that the person on the ball always has an option and the team

can retain the ball (FA, 2010).

The number of passes prior to each goal scored is shown in figure 6. What the

graph shows about St Etienne is that they can be patient and pass the ball around

from back to front and wait for the right opportunity to score a goal. This is shown

10%

8%

44%

28%

8%

Crosses Blocked

Didn't beat 1st man

Cleared

Successfully reachedteammate

too deep

Figure 4. Breakdown of every cross and what the outcome was.

Figure 5. Possible runs to help support play.

by the fact that for two of the

goals there was 10 passes made

prior to the goal. However it

also shows that St Etienne

can catch opponents out with

quick play as for their other goal it

only took one pass for them to break

through and score. So when playing

St Etienne it is important not to switch off as they can score by keeping possession

for long periods or they can score by quick sharp play. When looking at the second

goal we can also see where the attacking principals are used as Brandao the striker

had to use improvisation in order to make the assist as he had to chest the ball and

kick it back over his head for the supporting teammate (FA, 2010).

We can also look at the number of passes

made prior to every attempt on goal

for St Etienne and what it shows is a

popular trend to the goals scored.

The number of passes prior to each

goal attempt are fairly well spread

out ranging from 0 passes to13 but

there are two numbers which occur

the most and these are goal attempts

with only one pass and goal attempts

that had 8 passes made

beforehand. This once again

shows that St Etienne can

either be patient and keep the ball while waiting for the right opportunity to have

a strike on goal or they can create chances by one pass which catches teams out

because they do not expect the ball to be played so early and quickly. “If teams

have the skill to sustain possession, they have a greater chance of creating a

shooting opportunity” (Hughes & Franks, 2005)

The area of the pitch where

possession was regained

leading to goals and goal

attempts are shown in Figure 8.

“Once possession of the ball

has been lost, the players

immediately seek to rebuild

defensively and perform

coordinated group actions

aimed at recovering the ball

from the rival” (BURACZEWSKI,

0

2

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Number of passes prior to each Goal Scored

Goals scored

0

1

2

3

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Goal Attempts

Goal Attempts

Figure 7. The number of passes prior to each Goal attempt.

Figure 8. The Zones where the ball was regained for Goals (in

blue) and Goals attempts (in red)

Figure 6. The number of passes made prior to each goal

scored

2013) 8 of the goal attempts came from

possession which was regained in the

opposition half and so did two of the goals.

This shows that St Etienne like to press high

and regain the ball as quick as they can after

losing the ball. By doing this they are putting

a lot of pressure on the opponents which

leads them to clearing the ball and then

they can regain the ball in their own

half. As the example at figure 9 shows, we see

how the team press from the front and do not

allow the opposition to play out from the

back and everyone is ready to press even if

he manages to find a pass out from the back.

Due to the high pressing of this certain

example the ball was just cleared up the

pitch and St Etienne could just regain the ball

and start the attack up straight again. This

next example (figure 10) shows how the team

react as soon as they lose the ball and it

clearly shows how they all hunt for the ball and

want to regain possession as quickly as they can. It proves how it is all a team

effort as well with the centre midfielders ready to press the ball if the ball gets

through and not to let them have an easy way out.

Looking through the whole game we can pick out certain strengths and weaknesses

of St Etienne. Some of the strengths are that they switch the side of attack very

well and they find their man most of the time when doing cross field switches. The

advantage that a cross field switch has is that the ball can be played over a

considerable distance quickly which gives defenders little time to react (Charles,

1998 ). Another strength of St Etienne is how when out of possession they press

high and quickly in order to regain possession as soon as possible. By pressing high

and quickly then the opposition are more likely to make mistakes in attacking

positions or give the ball back straight away. The centre defensive midfielder (19

Guilavogul) looks very comfortable on the ball and all the play seems to go through

him to set up attacks. He is happy to drop back in between the centre backs when

they split and receive the ball from there. Both of the wingers for St Etienne like

to attack the opposition full back and get into crossing areas to cross the ball.

They are also both happy to switch sides and become inverted wingers and cutting

inside which either leads to an inswinging cross or a shot. When cutting in it leaves

plenty of space for a teammate to make an overlapping run and get in around the

back of the defence.

Figure 9. Example of how St Etienne press.

Figure 10. Another example of St Etienne pressing.

Some weaknesses of St Etienne are that they their crosses fail to reach a

teammate on a regular basis so they need to work on crossing and getting the right

delivery into the box as well as more supporting players. Throughout the match St

Etienne struggled to make a penetrative pass in the final third of the pitch to

really trouble Milsami, most of their chances came from either crosses or the

wingers cutting inside and shooting. They should work on through balls behind the

defenders and penetrating the defence to get in behind and have a better chance

of a 1v1 against the goalkeeper and scoring. One more weakness is that they were

quite slow on the counter attack especially in the second when the game became

more stretched and Milsami had a man sent off. If they could become quicker on

the counter by playing quick sharp passes and running with the ball then they will

have a better chance of scoring and picking teams apart especially teams with

more quality.

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