The Debrief.

Debrief 02

Debrief 02: What goes into a match report

The inverted full-back, how a report turns it into a finding, a free template to build your own, plus what I’ve been up to this week.

By Harry Lowe · 7 min read

Debrief 01

Debrief 01: Welcome to The Debrief

The first issue: where to start in football analysis, how The Debrief works, and where everything else on the site lives.

By Harry Lowe · 3 min read

The work

What an analyst does at a tournament

Understanding the tactical strategies and trends of a tournament, across multiple teams and matches.

By Harry Lowe · 5 min read

Current trends

Inside our World Cup analysis report

The key tactical and technical themes of the World Cup, and the analysis and observations behind them.

By Harry Lowe · 4 min read

The work

Working at a 104-match World Cup

Video, data and football knowledge contribute to the same explanation.

By Harry Lowe · 3 min read

Analysis explained

What makes a useful analyst?

Judge the work: the question, evidence and explanation.

By Harry Lowe · 3 min read

Analysis explained

What? How? Why?

Not just identifying what happened, but explaining the mechanisms around how and why.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Analysis explained

What goes into a match report

What a report gives the staff, what goes inside it, and one mechanism taken from description to solution.

By Harry Lowe · 7 min read

The Club

Join The Club

Learn from the people doing the job, share your work, get feedback and build a portfolio that shows what you can do.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How To Spot A Tactical Change

A manager can change the plan without a substitution. It shows first in where the players stand.

By Harry Lowe · 5 min read · pilot draft

Football explained

How to read a team’s pressure

Who goes first, what sets them off, and where the ball goes next.

By Harry Lowe · 7 min read

Football explained

Why teams use width

How the players near the touchlines stretch a defence, and what that opens up inside.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

What happens when a team loses the ball

Counter-pressing: winning the ball back in the first seconds, before the opponent can get organised.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How teams play through the lines

Vertical progression: how a team moves the ball forward past each line of the defence.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How to read a team’s shape

Where the players stand, with and without the ball, and why the shape changes.

By Harry Lowe · 5 min read

Football explained

How teams force a turnover

Steering the ball into a trap, then winning it back where it hurts the opponent most.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

Why compact teams are hard to beat

Short distances between players and lines leave the opponent very little space to play through.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How to analyse a set piece

Set pieces, using the corner as the example: the delivery, the runs, the blocks and the players who stay back.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How teams build from the back

Playing out from the goalkeeper: the shape, the first pass and what to do when the press comes.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Football explained

How teams use the goalkeeper

The goalkeeper as an extra player: making the numbers, stepping up and passing the press.

By Harry Lowe · 6 min read

Media Diet

Media I consumed this October

Every pick from the October list: podcasts, books, a film and the match to rewatch.

By Harry Lowe · Media Diet

Media Diet

Media I consumed this September

Everything I listened to, read and watched in September, sorted by who it suits.

By Harry Lowe · Media Diet