Details are important
Monday, July 1, 2019
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Shakhtar performance analysis coach Jose Costa reflects on his role in the coaching staff, the first impressions of the team and his readiness for new challenges
- Jose, how did you get into football and why did you become an analyst coach?
- I have been in love with football since early childhood. I tried to play, but wasn’t a good football player, so I wanted to become at least a coach. It has always been very interesting for me to analyze the game from within, so at the age of 19 I got a job in the coaching staff of a club from the lower Portuguese league, where I shot and analysed the team’s games. It was rather strange because no one did that back then. Everything was going well, and they offered me to coach the U19 team at that club, then I headed Moreirense U17, then I worked at the second-league Aves for three years. In 2013, they invited me to Vitoria Guimaraes, where I initially worked just as an analyst, later offering the club to set up a research department, which I headed soon. I had six professional analysts and 15 assistants in my team.
- In modern football, the role of analyst coach is growing every year ...
- Yes, indeed, in recent years, the performance analysis has become very important. Nowadays, coaches are more attentive to details, and the video helps us not to miss anything - to adjust the players, to analyze all situations and make the guys more efficient. In the teams like Shakhtar, who play in the Champions League, attention to detail is an indispensable part of success.
- Does Luis Castro pay much attention to performance analysis?
- Yes, Mr Luis Castro is the coach who is very attentive to details. That’s why deep performance analysis is of great importance to him. He wants the players to improve all the time, he often watches videos in order to correct their actions, to pass them certain information. This applies to both individual work and teamwork.
- I have been in love with football since early childhood. I tried to play, but wasn’t a good football player, so I wanted to become at least a coach. It has always been very interesting for me to analyze the game from within, so at the age of 19 I got a job in the coaching staff of a club from the lower Portuguese league, where I shot and analysed the team’s games. It was rather strange because no one did that back then. Everything was going well, and they offered me to coach the U19 team at that club, then I headed Moreirense U17, then I worked at the second-league Aves for three years. In 2013, they invited me to Vitoria Guimaraes, where I initially worked just as an analyst, later offering the club to set up a research department, which I headed soon. I had six professional analysts and 15 assistants in my team.
- In modern football, the role of analyst coach is growing every year ...
- Yes, indeed, in recent years, the performance analysis has become very important. Nowadays, coaches are more attentive to details, and the video helps us not to miss anything - to adjust the players, to analyze all situations and make the guys more efficient. In the teams like Shakhtar, who play in the Champions League, attention to detail is an indispensable part of success.
- Does Luis Castro pay much attention to performance analysis?
- Yes, Mr Luis Castro is the coach who is very attentive to details. That’s why deep performance analysis is of great importance to him. He wants the players to improve all the time, he often watches videos in order to correct their actions, to pass them certain information. This applies to both individual work and teamwork.
The main duties include everything related to the analysis of our training sessions, matches in real time, so that we can revise the tactical performance indicators, along with full analysis of our opponents
- Tell us more about your daily routine?
- The main duties include everything related to the analysis of our training sessions, matches in real time, so that we can revise the tactical performance indicators, along with full analysis of our opponents. I am responsible for preparing full data for the players and for the coaching staff. This means collecting all data about our opponents, their strategy, the preparation of each player’s profile so that there are no surprises in the game, and that we knew the problems and solutions, being 100% ready for the match.
- You have spent your entire career in Portugal, and now you’ve moved to another country. Was it easy to decide?
- I made the decision easily because in football everything happens very quickly and you never have much time for thinking it over. I closely watched Shakhtar for many years, even before the first Portuguese coach appeared here, since the club won the UEFA Cup. I had a special interest in the Miners, and they are the team from Ukraine that I knew best of all. When I received the offer to work here, I was really delighted at the opportunity to become part of this club. Although, of course, it was unexpected - I never thought that I would work in Ukraine. Different language, different people - this is a kind of challenge that I accepted because I love to learn new things.
- What are your first impressions of working at Shakhtar?
- The most positive ones! Absolutely everyone received us excellently, Shakhtar is organised very professionally, they have every condition for both players and coaches to be successful. I feel wonderfully here and I’m happy to spend with the club 24 hours a day.
- What will success mean for your coaching staff in the first season?
- We want to dominate each game, to control each match and create multiple scoring chances. To display some really spectacular, quality attacking football, which fans will like. This will be our success. But we also want to win titles, trophies and prove ourselves in the Champions League.
- The main duties include everything related to the analysis of our training sessions, matches in real time, so that we can revise the tactical performance indicators, along with full analysis of our opponents. I am responsible for preparing full data for the players and for the coaching staff. This means collecting all data about our opponents, their strategy, the preparation of each player’s profile so that there are no surprises in the game, and that we knew the problems and solutions, being 100% ready for the match.
- You have spent your entire career in Portugal, and now you’ve moved to another country. Was it easy to decide?
- I made the decision easily because in football everything happens very quickly and you never have much time for thinking it over. I closely watched Shakhtar for many years, even before the first Portuguese coach appeared here, since the club won the UEFA Cup. I had a special interest in the Miners, and they are the team from Ukraine that I knew best of all. When I received the offer to work here, I was really delighted at the opportunity to become part of this club. Although, of course, it was unexpected - I never thought that I would work in Ukraine. Different language, different people - this is a kind of challenge that I accepted because I love to learn new things.
- What are your first impressions of working at Shakhtar?
- The most positive ones! Absolutely everyone received us excellently, Shakhtar is organised very professionally, they have every condition for both players and coaches to be successful. I feel wonderfully here and I’m happy to spend with the club 24 hours a day.
- What will success mean for your coaching staff in the first season?
- We want to dominate each game, to control each match and create multiple scoring chances. To display some really spectacular, quality attacking football, which fans will like. This will be our success. But we also want to win titles, trophies and prove ourselves in the Champions League.
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