1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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 reached
teammate
too deep
Figure 4. Breakdown of every cross and what the outcome was.
Figure 5. Possible runs to help support play.

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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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