In the latest instalment of interviews with club staff, the Luton Town Supporters' Trust talk to senior first team analyst Ben Cirne.

Ben arrived at Kenilworth Road from Wycombe Wanderers as part of Matt Bloomfield's staff along with coaches Richard Thomas and Lee Harrison. As senior first team analyst, Ben heads up a team responsible for delivering data and video analysis to the manager, with support from Simon Dunn and Chloe Golding. You'll see Ben on the bench during games, receiving video data from Simon and Chloe and feeding it to to Matt, Richard and Lee.

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Ben, we’d like to hear what analysis is all about and why it’s an important part of the modern game – but first, tell us a bit about yourself, please.

I’ve worked in football analysis for around 10 years, and I also have a background and experience in coaching. While working towards my sports studies degree, I was also volunteering with Southend United as an academy analyst. Subsequently I’ve completed a Master’s Degree in Performance Analysis and UEFA B coaching licence course. I worked with Millwall and Shrewsbury Town before linking up with Matt, firstly at Colchester, then with Wycombe. We’ve worked together for close on three years now.

What’s it been like working with different clubs and managers?

It’s given me a great range of experience as each manager has their own approach to how they want their team to play football and how they use analysis to support their aims and communicate to the players. At Southend, for instance, Phil Brown was very data driven, whereas his successor Chris Powell mainly used video.

Over the years my role has evolved from manually counting data to analysing the tactical elements of the game: looking at formations, watching the opposition and our own performance and training, through video and in-depth data analysis. My area of expertise is providing insights to the coaches and to the players in a way that is more video based but backed heavily by data.

The technology around video has gone through the roof in recent years. It has become a powerful and accessible learning tool, and with Matt and the team we use a combination of data and video clips throughout a four-part analysis process – which is a constant cycle of how we deliver our support.

Talk us through that process please – what does it consist of?

Pre-match analysis, training analysis, match day processes and post-match analysis.

So a week in advance, we’ll be looking at the opposition for not the coming game but the one after. We watch their last five or six games to identify patterns and weaknesses, focusing on games that are relevant in terms of formation and playing style, and their attacking strategies and defensive set ups. My team provide in depth ‘data packs’ that look at Key Performance Indicators across a wide range of elements in terms of teams and individuals: how often a player gets dispossessed, tackled, how many passes they complete under pressure, for instance.

We filter out key video clips to create a pre-match presentation, backed up with data packs, which enables coaches to prepare our approach to the game. We like to highlight weaknesses in the opposition that match our strengths so our main focus during the pre-match prep is on ourselves and how we hurt them, as opposed to worrying about the opposition.

One of the great things about working with Matt, Richard and Lee is that we’ve formed a really strong bond. So I know what they’re looking for in terms of insight and information and they trust and respect what we’re providing.

That translates into how we work during the match, too – Chloe is up on the gantry filming, to provide a high view of the game, and both her and Simon are feeding real-time information to me, including tracking data, to assess our own shape and where we have been efficient. I can then feed this to the coaches verbally – or on their iPads, which they also use to watch back and assess key moments. We’re able to highlight whether our game plan is working and identify any changes in the expected opposition tactics, which enables Matt to make tactical adjustments if required during the game. At half-time key clips are shown to the players to reinforce the game plan, implement anything the manager thinks needs changing for the second half and maintain focus – not just for the players who start the game, but for those who finish it.

Post-match analysis consists of reviewing and ‘coding’ (translating stats into information) every aspect and nuance of the performance, and we prepare 55-60-minute game video footage for the coaches to review. Findings from our post-match analysis are presented to the players a day or two after the game, highlighting what was done well and areas that need to be better. It’s part of a loop of continuous improvement. This has been a big part of our work since we came to the club.

It’s essential that the players – as a team and as individuals know why, what, how, where and when we want to do things. Matt has a clear ethos and philosophy, and clarity of purpose is essential to fulfil it.

There are lots of ways we work on this. We decide how, as a coaching and analysis team, we help present information to the players. We use video to ‘paint pictures’ and highlight our messages, including on a screen in the canteen so the players see – and talk about – it while they’re having breakfast and lunch. We also have an app that each player has with their own personal video, and we prepare short videos for the coaches to use to present post-match analysis to the players, using all the tech and techniques you’ll see, for instance, on MOTD or Sky analysis. There’s a lot to get across, and my job is to deliver that clarity which makes it easier for the coaches to convey the messages.

We’ve heard you have a new drone camera at The Brache?

Yes and it’s great – it enables us to give the coaches and players a completely different viewpoint on training. We film and analyse every training session and the drone is a fantastic asset. We fly it slightly behind our defenders during practice matches, for instance, so when the players and coaches watch the footage they have a bird’s eye view of where there might be space in front of or to the side of them. Getting an overview is great for that.

Finally, how are you finding life at Luton?

I’m loving it, and the challenges we’re addressing – obviously we’ve come in at a difficult time, and change doesn’t happen overnight. But Gary and the board are immensely supportive and Simon and Chloe, my colleagues, are absolute diamonds. They’re brilliant at what they do, and they’ve enabled me to hit the ground running. Then there’s the fans. I’d been to Kenilworth Road many times with opposing teams and let me tell you this is an incredibly passionate, noisy and intimidating place to come to as a visitor. So I’m very happy to be on the home side now!

Thanks for those fascinating insights, Ben – it’s brilliant for us fans to get an idea of what football analytics are all about.