Tactical analyst · Lisbon
Rui Barbosa
I take matches apart for a living. Eight years of it, three of them inside a Primeira Liga club's analysis department, and I still publish twice a week because the discipline of explaining it to strangers is what keeps the work honest.
Most analysis online is a clip with an arrow on it. What is missing is the reasoning — why the shape produced the moment, what the alternative was, and what a coach is supposed to do with it on Tuesday night. That is the only thing I am trying to add.
How I work
Watch it three times
Once for the ball, once for the far side, once for the moment before the moment. Almost everything interesting happens in the third pass.
Name the mechanism
Not 'they pressed well'. Which trigger, which player initiated, and what it cost them if it failed.
Say what you would do
An analysis that does not end in something coachable is entertainment. Every breakdown finishes with the session it implies.
What members say
★★★★★
I stopped buying courses. Two breakdowns a week that actually explain the why is worth more than any of them.
★★★★★
I use his clips in my own team meetings. That is the highest compliment I can give.
★★★★★
The opposition reports are the only ones our manager reads all the way through. That is the whole review.
★★★★★
I pay for four of these. His is the only one where I finish the article instead of skimming it.
Illustrative — see the banner at the top of the page.