As a coach you have probably decided on a certain playing style and would like your team to adopt. Have you broken this down to developing some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for your team to achieve?

What is the value of KPIs?

Here are two videos answering this question:

The first from England manager Roy Hodgson, filmed when he was manager at West Bromwich Albion FC.

The second from Gavin Fleg the head of performance analyst for Manchester City FC.

There is also a very good article from the Soccer Journal (November/December 2010) on the value of performance evaluation here.

KPIs therefore measure aspects of your team’s performance. If you are a coach who puts emphasis on performance (as opposed, for example, to just achieving results), then you will want some assessment as to the question, "how well did we play?"

You, of course, have your subjective opinion but you may want to include some objective evaluation of your team’s performance. Objective evaluation helps you – and your players – see beyond the game result to assess performance.

What are commonly-used KPIs?

You may already have certain KPIs which you use to assess how you want your team to play. As far as all teams are concerned, research by performance analysts Prozone Sports into English Premier League games over a number of years indicated that the team which had the most strikes (shots and headers) on target won the game in more than 60 percent of the matches played

The usual events that lead to a strike on target would be:

- A dribble or turn
- A set-play
- A through pass to put the attacker past the defense with only the goalkeeper to beat
- A cross
- A wall pass or combination pass
- Regaining the ball directly from the opposition (e.g. poor clearance)

As an example, please see below the KPIs recorded by FC Lille when they won the French League and the French Cup in 2011:

- Total number of shots
- Number of shots on target
- Entries into the penalty area
- Entries into the attacking third
- Number of passes forward and/or completed
- Fouls won/conceded
- Goals scored from set plays (differentiate between corners and free kicks)
- Individual possession
- Individual duels won (aerial and ground)
- Offsides
- % possession in opponent's half
- % possession

They viewed these from both the attacking and defensive perspectives and broke them down for every 15 minutes of the game.

How could I establish these for my team?

Looking at the lists above the easiest way would be to ask yourself some simple questions about last season as suggested here:

- What were the major events which preceded the goals we scored and conceded?
- How did we score/concede the first goal in each game?
- How often did the team which scored first win the game?
- Who conceded the most free kicks in your team in the defending third?
- Who "won" most free kicks in your team in the attacking third?

How could I measure these KPIs?

You don’t need a sophisticated tracking system to record simple KPIs – you can do these with a paper and pencil or ask a colleague to do so.

The English League Managers Association (LMA) in 2012 launched an online education course in conjunction with Prozone Sports on ‘Performance Evaluation.’ Since this course was launched over 500 coaches and managers from across the world have enrolled.

Focusing on improving how coaches evaluate players and teams the course highlights good practice in English, French, Dutch and Turkish clubs with over 300 Video Interview clips from 15 respected experts including LMA Managers, Youth Academies Directors and respected Performance Analysts.

For more information about the course click here, and for details of the discount available to NSCAA members click here.

Relevant Courses and Articles

LMA School of Football Management e-learning courses

Soccer Diet: The Simplest Way to Improve Your Team’s Performance

Team management related articles in Resource Library

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