I'm sure I remember reading that this was invented by an ex premiership player ?, anyone know if I am correct and could confirm who it was ?......I've been asked to insure the company to do it and am looking at it now and I can't find out who it was anywhere on the net.
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Interestingly, this was Pardew's thoughts on Pro Zone back in Oct 05:
It was two and a half years ago, when I was managing Reading, that I became a ProZone convert. The system is not cheap but we managed to book it for the play-off matches against Wolves. The first leg finished 2-1 to Wolves and when I began going through the match on ProZone ahead of the second game we noticed this connection between Lee Naylor, at left-back, and Nathan Blake in attack which we had not dealt with. I remember we thought "we must block that in the second game". I could remember it happening in the first game but had not noticed to that extent. It does throw up things like that now and again. I remember thinking "the first club I get to which can afford it, I'll get it".
For scouting the opposition and analysing your team it gives you a wealth of information you cannot get with the naked eye, like those passing patterns. It is a supplement to your judgement. I don't make decisions on players just on it. Sometimes you look at the stats and think "there's no way I can play him, he looks that poor", but you have to look at the game, how it evolved and how much involvement he had in it. It is not a system you could base the club on but it reinforces some things and opens your eyes to others.
It also tracks the movement of your own team. A manager might say "you should all move together" and you can see if you are or you aren't. If you have a breakaway and you are still camped on the edge of your box it is not what you want to see. It can highlight those things.
We use it for an opposition report ahead of all matches and in a defensive meeting on what happened in the last game. I like to use it to cite the positive. It would be easy to just point errors out. It is not there to be smartarse, it is there to show the strength of your performance and it can be as good at showing positives as negatives. It's a more sophisticated version of video. Some of the better managers I had would compile a tape showing the good things you'd done in a game: in my case, it might be about three and half minutes long.
The scouting value varies. It's obviously good for set-plays but can also highlight general play. We played Man City recently and ProZone showed the discipline in their team, the fact they do not move much out of their holes and are very solid. It showed when they attack you they do so in a certain manner and they have an out ball, [Antoine] Sibierski on the right-hand side. If they are in trouble and can't play through you they hit him: you have to be aware of that. But most of that we would have scouted anyway.
Arsenal was more interesting because we worked out a way that might work better for us in terms of how they played. It worked for us on the day [West Ham drew 1-1]. I'm not telling anyone what it was, though. We have to play them again this season.
Obviously, we know other teams will be using it to work us out. That means we have to evolve, but a team does that anyway. The team that starts a season never ends it.
How The Pros Use ProZone
by Mervyn Day - 05/10/2006
ProZone basically gives you the opportunity to see every touch, every run and every movement of all the players on the pitch, either as an individual, linked with other players, or as the whole team.
It also allows you to contrast your team with your opponents on each of the analysis opportunities. With regard to your team’s physical performance, it will measure and time each run and give you a series of tables detailing a whole catalogue of physical data which can be used in many ways, such as planning your team’s fitness programme, deciding which players need a rest, and so on.
In my time at Charlton with Alan Curbishley we used our post-match analysis system for the following :
1 To review the previous game
2 As an individual player analysis tool
3 As a sectional analysis tool, eg. Looking at the back four
4 As a physical analysis tool
Reviewing the previous game
This takes place as soon as possible, normally a version is available the next day after 3pm kick offs and 2 days after a night game. If in a hurry, either Alan or myself would take a video of the game home with us to watch and then confirm our thoughts after watching the game again with the 2D animation. In a normal week with no midweek match we would review the game paying attention to the following points :
a) Watch the whole game in 2D animation with the video in picture as well.
b) Highlight all the goals, analyse why and how they were scored, both for and against.
c) Highlight all Set Plays for and against, check what was successful and what wasn’t.
d) Look at individual errors, examining why they happened and considering how can they be eradicated.
e) Look at the overall shape in each department.
f) Analyse whether both the team and the individual players carried out pre-match instructions, and did they have an effect on the result and performance?
g) Review the passing and technical tables - who did what?
h) Review the physical table - who did the most work? Who did the most sprints?
Individual player analysis tool
ProZone can be used for individual players; this is normally done at the beginning of the week, maybe as a reaction to a weekend performance or in the case of a younger player as an aid to his football education. We used it in the following ways:
a) Younger players will have their performances from the reserve games transferred into ProZone, giving the coaching staff a chance to help them improve by video education.
b) If players have hit a bad patch, it is possible to go back over a number of games and compare to see if they are doing anything different. If they are making the same mistake time after time, it is easy to highlight and try to correct. It is also aids us when giving more detailed instruction to a player, rather than relying on the players’ recollection of an incident.
c) As an individual player you may be given detailed instructions on how the manager wants you to play and what your duties are, such as man-to-man marking. With ProZone it’s easy to see if an individual has done his job.
A sectional analysis tool
When one the team’ departments is not functioning well, it is very useful to be able to break the team down into its component parts and see how each is performing as a unit. You then analyse how each part of the team can start to help each others to rectify the problem. When you begin to analyse each department you would consider some of the following:
a) Defence – Depending on which shape you were playing, back four, five or three, you would look at the width, how deep you played, how well full-backs covering positions, defending as a unit (e.g. always being in touch with your nearest fellow defender) holding the line for offsides, how quickly you cleared the box.
b) Midfield – Again, depending on what shape is being played, whether a winger is playing… width would be examined, as would support play, availability to passes, angles, and forward runs into the box. If a striker comes short, is a midfielder making a run beyond him, do they protect the back players defensively, do they make a tackle, can they get box to box?
c) Front Players – You would look at their movement, availability, the timing and angle of their runs, their ability to hold the ball up and bring the midfield into the game, their ability to play up front on their own or as a pair or in a three, depending which system is being used.
d) Team Shape – Compactness when defending, being difficult to play through. Open out when attacking, make the pitch as big as possible to give room to pass and move.
In conclusion, ProZone is all things to all men - it depends what you want out of it. Championship Manager has replicated a lot of the key elements and the information available is immense. If used correctly with the training programme it can have a significant impact on your team’s performance.
Enjoy,
Mervyn Day