The evolving role of performance analysis in football: integrating the observation of psychological behaviours

Ashdown, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4730-1439, Mulvenna, C, Nicholls, S, Partington, M, McKay, A, Oxenham, P, Cook, J, Kirkham, L, Cobb, N ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9038-3775, Saward, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9363-3410 and Sarkar, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8338-8500, 2026. The evolving role of performance analysis in football: integrating the observation of psychological behaviours. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching. ISSN 1747-9541

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Abstract

Despite evidence that psychological factors are highly valued by those involved in player development and assessment, performance analysis in football remains largely confined to technical and tactical metrics. This conceptual paper argues for an evolved role of performance analysis that incorporates psychological aspects of the game. We review literature demonstrating that various psychological constructs, including resilience and mental toughness, can be operationalised through observable on-pitch actions. Next, a framework for integrating performance analysis methods with the observation of psychological behaviours is proposed, including: 1. Agreeing on the psychological components of performance to be targeted; 2. Defining context-specific behavioural indicators of these psychological components; 3. Agreeing on any developmental or position-specific differences in behavioural indicators; 4. Establishing video-based tagging protocols; 5. Training observers and ensuring inter-observer agreement; and 6. Embedding behavioural data into individual development plans. We discuss implementation challenges, including role delineation between analysts and psychologists, resource constraints, and the tension between short-term performance objectives and long-term psychological development. By positioning analysis alongside psychology, the framework promotes a shared structure that can encourage multidisciplinary input into the psychological development of football players. We conclude that video-based analysis of psychological behaviours represents a novel opportunity to evolve development practices in football, but call for further applied research that both validates observational analysis of psychological behaviours and assesses long-term developmental impact.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching
Creators:	Ashdown, B., Mulvenna, C., Nicholls, S., Partington, M., McKay, A., Oxenham, P., Cook, J., Kirkham, L., Cobb, N., Saward, C. and Sarkar, M.
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date:	20 March 2026
ISSN:	1747-9541
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/17479541261431223 DOI 2597346 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	27 Mar 2026 11:12
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2026 11:12
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55478

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