At
Jobs4Football, we're always excited to catch up with our placed candidates and hear about their progress. Today, we're thrilled to bring you an update from
Luka Pauk, who joined
Derry City Football Club as a remote 1st team goalkeeper analyst over six months ago.
Luka's journey from Croatia to Ireland has been filled with innovation, dedication, and significant contributions to the club both on and off the field.
As he prepares to travel back for Irish Cup Final, let's hear from Luka himself about his experiences within the role:
"It's been over half a year now since I started working as a remote 1st team goalkeeper analyst for Derry City Football Club so it's time to share what I have been up to".
While we arranged my trip from Croatia to Ireland for the 1st month of the contract to meet everyone in person and see how things work at the club, I gathered the Hudl Statsbomb data on our starting goalkeeper and watched the last month of training and matches. Upon arrival, I shared the data and insights with my boss (Head Of Goalkeeping)
Michael Dougherty and the rest of the staff, where I was made extremely welcome.
Michael and I agreed that our priority was developing tools and techniques for measuring goalkeeper performance for matches and training. Video analysis (tagging and animations), goalkeeper-specific GPS units and statistical benchmarking were the first 3 objectives.
First, I developed a live tagging panel for training and matches (see image). We split all goalkeeper actions into 4 categories:
Passing:
Accurate pass own half
Accurate pass opp half
Backpass clearance
Incomplete pass own half
Incomplete pass opp half
Roll
Throw completed
Throw incomplete
Sidevolley complete
Sidevolley incomplete
Shots:
Body save
Dropped ball
Foot save
Goal conceded
Left parry
Parry both hands
Rebound goal
Right parry
Shot held
Shot off target
Interceptions:
Interception successful
Missed interception
Cross claim attempts:
Cross claimed
Cross punched
Unsuccessful Cross claim
I successfully continued analysing training sessions remotely since arriving back to Croatia and we continued to benchmark our goalkeepers among themselves as well as looking at their trends of improvement and highlighting areas of significant weakness or strength. After connecting the video with statistics, we looked at tactical and technical elements that had to be worked on. So, the training and development plans were adjusted accordingly.
Most of the work is done on training footage so we can focus on all 1st team goalkeepers, frequently including academy prospects. All actions are tagged, allowing us to analyse video by filtering a category or a player. Then, all tagged events are exported in an Excel file and the numbers are added up and analysed in the master sheet with total numbers.
It is important to point out that we separate isolated goalkeeper training from team training (including SSG and finishing training). Also, goalkeeper training by Michael Dougherty is done in 4 phases - the 1st one or two phases are with announced service as a warm-up, so those numbers are not accounted for. The goal of analysing training data is to replicate the game situations, and Michael does a brilliant job adjusting scenarios to what our goalkeepers need, as well as mimicking the next opponent's trends.
We benchmarked our goalkeeper's match performances with the rest of the league through
Wyscout but when it came to benchmarking our training data, we compared ourselves with English Premier League as that is the highest standard to aim for. This is where our
GPS units were useful to see how the training load should look on different days prior to and after the match. The research I found showed some minor discrepancies but we had to consider a different context whether there were 1 or 2 games being played weekly.
Seeing the impact of this approach in long-term development and short-term performances has been a joy and I wish this was done while I was still a goalkeeper. Having a young group of modern goalkeepers and coaches was the right fit for me as an analyst. Being a part of Derry City during their Europa Conference League matches and their league title challenge while awaiting an Irish Cup final as well, I am proud to have been a part of the project.
I am also thankful that people at DCFC trusted me to provide them with a club assessment as well as create an outline for the club strategy. From becoming a remote analyst to getting involved at all club levels, I really appreciate the opportunity that Jobs4football presented to me.
Luka Pauk's story is a testament to the impact that specialised roles can have on a football club's performance. This innovative approach to goalkeeper analysis, combining video technology, GPS data, and statistical benchmarking, has undoubtedly contributed to Derry City's run in the League of Ireland, Europa Conference League, and Irish Cup.
At Jobs4Football, we're proud to have facilitated this connection between Luka and Derry City, showcasing how the right talent in the right position can elevate a team's performance.
As Derry City continues its pursuit of silverware, we look forward to seeing how Luka's analytical insights will further shape the club's success as the relationship evolves.
