Identifying improvable players

The job of a football coach, put simply, is to make players better.

At my level that is trying to remind them to use their feet not their hands to control the ball.

A bit higher up the pyramid it is to "STOP BUNCHING!" and spread out.

Higher still and it is positional play.

And right at the top it is specific patterns of attacking play with world class players.

But at every level we believe the coach is there to make the players better.

We can also see that the very best coaches seem to be able to take the highest potential players and make them even better.

John Stones and Raheem Sterling both attracted attention for poor decision making early in their careers. I remember an England youth game when Sterling was offside so often that the "no footballing brain" cliche was trotted out. To me the problem was the ball out to him not being played early enough. Now both those players are trusted by Pep Guardiola.

Likewise I have seen plenty of amazing dribblers at youth level who did seem to lack spatial awareness. Was it that they were incapable of developing those skills (is spatial awareness innate?) or were they not coached? Is it recoverable, can a player develop those skills later and go on to make a career as a professional?

Can data show us improvable players? Adama Traore went from a brilliant youth prospect, to a lost cause, to a £18m signing after a season working with Tony Pulis.

Pulis, and Darren Campbell apparently, taught him to use his pace more effectively, slowing down once the player was beaten to improve his final ball. Now this strikes me as blindingly obvious. How could a player have got through all his time at Barcelona and Aston Villa without a coach sitting down with him and giving some tips about taking your time? But just by explaining this basic concept a high potential player has improved.

You can't coach outright pace but you can coach decision making.

So what can and can't be coached? Do we know for sure? Does it vary with the individual?

As a lower league club you aren't going to get an Adama Traore, his potential, although unrealised up until now was obvious. But there are probably other players being released by Premier League clubs all the time, ones with the ability to have been retained through one or more expensive professional contracts but who were ultimately felt to lack something in their game.

Can these players be identified through data scouting or a few viewings?

In data scouting I'd look for spiky profiles. Players who have one standout stat. Are they an excellent dribbler with no end product? An excellent ball winner who does nothing with it? Could the other areas of their game be improved through coaching?

Then look at the team they play in and the style they play. Jamie Vardy offers very little in the way of build up play (10 passes a game at 60% accuracy) but is excellent on a team set up to play on the break. Is the player better than his team mates, making runs that aren't spotted, like Sterling in the game I saw? You can't pick that out of data.

And if they aren't playing you won't have any data anyway which means your eyes are the only option.

If I were advising a PL club I'd say unless you have a Rooney, physically and technically ready at 16, then aim to get them out on loan, to a suitable club as soon as possible to play competitive games. But have a plan. Loan them to a suitable club with a similar playing style.

In my days watching Cambridge United I've seen numerous loan players pass through over the years, players like Ryan Ledson (now at Preston) were obviously destined for a higher level as he was running midfields at 18, but I've seen plenty of "spiky profile" players like Jordan Slew. A £1m signing for Blackburn as a teenager from Sheffield United, he had everything you'd want from a striker physically but who offered no goal threat at all. He was crying out for someone to take time with him and trying to get him in better positions, but that time isn't available in lower league clubs with managers on short term deals.

I've heard Michael Calvin talking about the youth systems in football clubs being based on the concept of throwing a lot against a wall and seeing what sticks. Are clubs going to bother trying to "solve a problem like Jordan Slew" when they can just buy another 10 high potential youngsters and hope one works out.

But for lower league clubs the opportunity to improve players is there if they adopt longer term analytical thinking.