How do you replace Jürgen Klopp? That was the question our Head of Content Alex Stewart was posed when he gave a recent interview to Michal Zachodny of Polish TV’s Viaplay for their Premier League Magazine show, broadcast earlier this week. Michal followed up the television interview with a long article for Goal.pl, which you can read here.
Using data from our Coach ID service, Alex explained how Analytics FC profiles coaches using a variety of metrics.
“We have many different indicators that make up our CoachID service, and this generates key points from the coach’s period of work, assessing the style of passing and pressing, where their teams keep possession of the ball, and how they defend. From all this information, we are able to assign style parameters to managers,”, explained Alex.
This information on how coaches get their teams playing is an invaluable tool for clubs looking to identify the next person in the dug-out.
Our Coach ID service also digs into other facets of coaching performance, including impact, substitute use, and set pieces, to provide an holistic, data-driven assessment of what a head coach could bring. We also assess squad management and development, player profile congruence, and benchmark performance against financial KPIs, including transfer ROI and performance vs budget expectation.
Of course, when replacing someone as influential and successful as Klopp, there are other factors. For one thing, Analytics FC can see how Klopp’s style has actually evolved during his time in the Premier League, providing crucial information about the side’s stylistic evolution under the German head coach.
“Jürgen Klopp is fascinating in terms of playing style because his team from the first season is completely different from the current one. After moving from Dortmund to Liverpool, he focused [even more] on intensity and pressing…in the following years the importance of possession of the ball increased and the role of direct play decreased. In his first season, Liverpool made 10-15 more long passes than this season. However, they are still one of the more vertical teams in the league,” Alex told Michal.
This level of detail can help club’s zone in on the facets of play that really matter, as well as helping with squad planning and continuity.
Of course, ultimately replacing someone of Klopp’s calibre will be a real challenge, as Alex explained:
“Jürgen Klopp had it all. He could influence and do everything we talk about, that’s why he was part of the world’s elite, and that’s why replacing him is incredibly difficult regardless of the method used.”
But data can certainly help, which is why clubs from leagues across the world are making use of Analytic FC’s Coach ID service. You can read more about the service here.
