Bruno Guimarães

[SUPERTOON]

 

[TBG]

Speaking in the past tense, worrying. 

[PauloGeordio]

When Bruno Guimaraes talks about his journey from the dusty streets of Rio de Janeiro to the stadiums of the Premier League, a few common themes tend to crop up.

One is the dedication of his parents, who ferried him around the city — and later beyond — in search of the opportunity they were convinced he merited. Another is the importance of futsal, which he credits with shaping and refining his technique before he even set foot on an 11-a-side pitch.

So far, so run-of-the-mill. Not many young Brazilian footballers make it without family support; nearly all serve their time on the futsal court.

Guimaraes, though, also cites a third factor behind his success. It is a more recent development, but he sees it as one of the pillars of his career. And no, it’s not criticism from fans with short memories on social media platforms.

“Football today is crazily intense,” he explained on Brazilian podcast Tres na Area last year. “You play Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. I want to know every little bit of information available.

“If I have a little more information than my opponent — even 10 per cent more — I have an advantage over him. That’s why I have my analysis guys.”

Since September 2021, the midfielder has worked closely with Performa Sports, a consultancy based in Rio that provides bespoke performance analysis. Its clients include clubs in Brazil but also 50 individual players — footballers who, like Guimaraes, are seeking an edge.

Guimaraes is Performa’s most high-profile client; he is also its most vocal cheerleader, having referenced Performa in numerous interviews over the last two years. He is not the only top-level footballer to employ a team of analysts, but few talk about the service quite so candidly.

“To succeed in football, you have to study as well as play,” Guimaraes said. “I want to have every possible head start over others. It’s part of my job and I really believe in it.”

Eduardo Barthem smiles when he recalls his first session with Guimaraes. “I think he had low expectations,” he says. “Maybe he thought it would just be another highlights video.”

Barthem, an analyst with a background in physical education, is Guimaraes’ main point of contact at the consultancy. He first came onto the player’s radar in 2018 when a video he posted on social media caught the eye of Guimaraes’ agent; when Barthem and another analyst, Rafael Marques, set up Performa in 2021, they pitched a more formal relationship.

“The agent liked our work, but he said it would depend on what Bruno thought,” says Barthem. “So we put together a presentation. I think it was completely different to what he expected, which was some kind of boring lecture.”

Barthem and Marques came to the meeting with something altogether more engaging. There were videos, sure, but they were sharp and incisive.

“We identify patterns and benchmarks,” Barthem explains. “They can be more complex or less complex. Depending on the player, it’s either a case of building on what they already have, or starting something from scratch and then going deeper.”

In Guimaraes’ case, they kept things simple, focusing on one particular area of his game that they felt required improvement.

“We had one strong perception with Bruno: that he had a lot of vices that came from futsal,” says Barthem. “He had played it for a long time — longer than most kids in Brazil — and you could tell.

“The main one was his first touch: every time he received the ball, he’d put his foot on it. Only then would he start to open up his body. You have to control the ball in a way that gives you time, allows you to make the most of the space that is there. We showed him a few clips that demonstrated this really clearly.”

Bruno Guimaraes wanted to play at a higher level than Lyon (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

They told Guimaraes that while his technique might have been adequate in Brazil, where there is less pressure on the player in possession, it would hold him back if he wanted to reach the very top level. Guimaraes was playing for Lyon by this point — nothing to be sniffed at — but he wanted more, starting with a place in Brazil’s World Cup squad the following year. He watched the video with wide eyes.

“It was a lightbulb moment for him,” says Barthem. “I think that’s when we got into his head. He understood that we were seeing something that he wasn’t. He immediately saw that we could help him.”

Since that day, Guimaraes and Performa have been in almost constant contact. There are weekly meetings — between 45 minutes and an hour, usually on a Thursday or Friday — and quick debriefs after matches at the weekend, although Barthem expects that rhythm to increase now that Newcastle are in the Champions League.

The content of those sessions can be broadly split into two categories: pre-game preparation and post-game analysis.

The former is a kind of opposition scouting tailored to a player’s position and profile.

“Club analysts will have video sessions and present the opposition, but in a collective sense,” explains Vicente Caldas, a partner at Performa. “It will be about the dynamic of the team. If they have one standout player, there may be a bit about him in particular. But if you’re Bruno and the opposition’s key man is the left winger, they’re never going to be next to each other on the pitch.

“We do that kind of work on an individual level. Who is the player you’ll be facing in your area of the pitch? What are his characteristics? What do you need to be careful of? What are his vulnerabilities, the things you can take advantage of? In Bruno’s case, what’s the overall dynamic of the opposition midfield? What spaces do they leave when they’re defending?

“Normally a player takes 10 or 15 minutes to understand everything that is going on. We want him to enter the pitch as prepared as possible, knowing who he is facing, what they do well and badly, what their team dynamic is, and how he can get the better of them.”

The post-game analysis tends to be where the really substantive work is done. It involves reflecting on a player’s performance, discussing how certain moments — good and bad — relate to broader patterns and objectives that the team have identified.

“We’re not working on the fundamentals,” says Caldas. “We’re not working on his technique. We don’t tell Bruno how to pass, for instance. It’s more, ‘Turn your neck, scan what’s around you, keep looking. Make sure you map out what’s in front of you so you know what to do when the ball arrives, and control it with an open body’.

“If he does that, the possibilities are greater: he can play more forward passes, more passes between the centre-back and full-back that lead to chances. It’s not the pass we are working on, it’s the decision-making. The details we work on end up unlocking other things.”

Case in point: the number of touches Guimaraes used to take before deciding on a pass. Putting his foot on the ball in the futsal style was only part of the problem; even at Lyon, the analysts thought, he would delay too much in possession.

“It meant that he would miss out on certain passing windows, opportunities to play the ball,” says Marques, who shows The Athletic a clip of a Ligue 1 game against Reims in December 2021. In it, Guimaraes receives a pass from one of his centre-backs.

There is a pass on out to the right flank, but he takes two, three, four touches and the gap closes…

“Today, he does things more quickly, with the priority being to take fewer touches,” says Marques. “He now does things with one or two touches. The faster control allows him to access more passes into central areas, going through the opposition lines.”

It also allows him to see different — and better — passing angles. Marques cites an example against Tottenham Hotspur last season. Guimaraes is stationed in the centre circle when Pedro Porro shanks a clearance towards him.

Guimaraes and Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp both move towards the ball, and it briefly looks like a 50-50…

But then, without touching the ball, Guimaraes swivels to the right, opening up his body and his field of vision.

This allows him to spot a huge space on the right flank. He hits an elegant first-time volley that coaxes Kieran Trippierforward and puts Newcastle on the front foot.

“He succeeds with the action without even touching the ball before the pass,” says Marques. “That accelerates the game.”

Another area Guimaraes has worked on with Performa is his shooting — or, to be more precise, his willingness to shoot. In one session, just before the midfielder joined Newcastle, Barthem asked him why he didn’t have more shots at goal. Guimaraes’ reply took him by surprise.

“He told me that he didn’t have the confidence,” recalls Barthem. “He said, ‘Edu, I’m not good at shooting. My shots are bad’. He said he always preferred to look for a pass.”

Barthem and his colleagues analysed the footage and came up with a plan. Part of it was adjusting Guimaraes’ body position when he took his first touch, so that it opened up more space to shoot. There was also guidance on finding the right pockets of space on the edge of the box, plus some good, old-fashioned encouragement.

“We would tell him, ‘Bruno, the space is going to appear here, the ball will arrive. It doesn’t matter if you think you shoot badly. If you get the chance, shoot, shoot, shoot’.”

It worked. In his final half-season in Ligue 1, Guimaraes averaged a shot every 149 minutes; in his first half-season in the Premier League, it was one every 45 minutes (per FBref). “It was a huge leap,” says Barthem.

Two questions naturally arise here. The first is how individual instructions like this fit into a broader team dynamic. In seeking to improve one player’s performance, might analysts risk interfering with a coach’s plans?

Barthem thinks not. “The team’s model of play is sovereign,” he says. “Everything has to fit in with what Eddie Howe wants from Bruno. Our work does not change anything that happens at Newcastle. We consider our jobs to be complementary.

“All the points we bring to Bruno are strictly for him, relating to his individual behaviour. The foot on the ball, for example, was an individual thing, independent of whether he was at Newcastle or Lyon, or playing for the national team.”

Bruno Guimaraes celebrates scoring against Brentford in 2022 (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The second question relates to interpersonal dynamics. It is not hard to imagine a professional footballer — who is, by definition, extremely good at his or her sport — resisting external guidance of the sort Performa is offering. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, taking criticism personally.

“It’s an exchange,” says Barthem. “There is no conflict. It’s not that we have absolute truth on our side; it’s all a question of perception. We’re working together to look for improvements. We always try to arrive at common ground and to bring the player with us.”

Barthem says that Guimaraes in particular is a pleasure to work with.

“He is always open to discussion and debate,” he says. “He’s not one of those guys who thinks everything is marvellous when he’s in form and ends up stagnating. He always wants more. He absorbs information really quickly, and he’s genuinely interested in the details. He wants to go deep.

“He is also immersed in the football world. Some players just want to train and play, and that’s enough football for them. Bruno is the opposite: he follows everything. He’s interested in what other teams are doing, what other coaches are doing, how different players are performing.

“When he speaks to us, he comes with a lot of information — things he’s seen, things he’s researched. He’s addicted to football. And so are we, so that helps.”

Performa has four other clients in the Premier League: Matheus Cunha of Wolves, Burnley defender Vitinho, Sheffield United’s Vinicius Souza and Igor Julio, who has just joined Brighton. They are not the only company providing this kind of service. Others will continue to spring up as more and more players — and agents — get wise to the potential benefits.

“We sit down with each player once per week, and from our experience, not even the biggest clubs in European football provide that kind of individual guidance,” says Barthem. “There’s more and more interest because people are realising that they can have a forum to talk about all of these things and have a personalised plan for improvement.”

Marques echoes that view: “A few years ago, it wasn’t common for a footballer to have his own fitness coach. Today, every player has one. The same will happen with individual performance analysts. In five or 10 years, it will be the norm.”

For now, though, Guimaraes thinks that it can be a differential.

“A player who sees the profession as a whole can gain an advantage,” he told Brazilian newspaper O Globo in November. “Working with the consultancy is part of my preparation for playing at the highest level.”

[Cronky]

Players shouldn't react to stuff on social media, and it's probably not wise to even read it. Taking on supporters is a bad move, and hopefully, as Eddie said, Bruno will have learned a lesson.

 

His point about short memories and it being easy to support a team when it's doing well is valid though. It brings to mind the quote - 'past success is only briefly a glad memory - it quickly becomes an accusing finger'. That's what happened with Sir Bob and getting rid of him was a very costly mistake.

 

Incidentally, that quote comes from Arthur Hopcraft's 'The Football Man', published in 1968, and still the most intelligent and absorbing book on football that I've come across. Easily available still on Amazon.

[Hovagod]

Bruno is brill. Fun, magnetic, full of energy and intelligence and loves us. Whatever the argument is I’m on his side, so they can fuck off. 

[PauloGeordio]

10 minutes ago, Hovagod said:

Bruno is brill. Fun, magnetic, full of energy and intelligence and loves us. Whatever the argument is I’m on his side, so they can fuck off. 

[madras]

4 hours ago, Cronky said:

Players shouldn't react to stuff on social media, and it's probably not wise to even read it. Taking on supporters is a bad move, and hopefully, as Eddie said, Bruno will have learned a lesson.

 

His point about short memories and it being easy to support a team when it's doing well is valid though. It brings to mind the quote - 'past success is only briefly a glad memory - it quickly becomes an accusing finger'. That's what happened with Sir Bob and getting rid of him was a very costly mistake.

 

Incidentally, that quote comes from Arthur Hopcraft's 'The Football Man', published in 1968, and still the most intelligent and absorbing book on football that I've come across. Easily available still on Amazon.

Getting rid of Sir Bob wasn't the mistake, his replacement was the mistake.

[Wandy]

5 minutes ago, madras said:

Getting rid of Sir Bob wasn't the mistake, his replacement was the mistake.

 

Yep, should have been Mourinho. No chance of that though as the Gullit experience had scared Shepherd off the idea of going with another foreigner.

[Holloway]

Quite telling in that piece that his dithering in possession was quickly identified as a weakness, it's been worked on but maybe the pace of the league has brought further scrutiny

[mattypnufc]

Scoring on Sunday. Mark my words. 

[Erikse]

Seems like he has taken a break from "X" after that reaction of his. Hasn't been posting anything after. Worrying.

[huss9]

2 hours ago, madras said:

Getting rid of Sir Bob wasn't the mistake, his replacement was the mistake.

and the timing.

should have let him go at the end of the previous sason or let him see the season out.

[Aiston]

That's another goal he's cost us.

 

Has to cut out these mistakes.

[1892er]

Needs dropped imo. Love him but it's just not working at the minute.

[Yorkie]

I thought he was brilliant today. 

 

Then he went and did that. Staggeringly stupid attempt at a pass.

 

Finding it hard not to be absolutely fucking raging at him like. ?

[Flip]

Regressed back to his Villa performance. Quite poor, should’ve helped the team settle and control the midfield better.

[Myleftboot]

Should have been him off for Longstaff not Tonali.

[aussiemag]

He does lack athleticism and his passing has been way off. Can’t be relying on him defending as a 6 against a counter attack. 

[Flip]

Just now, Myleftboot said:

Should have been him off for Longstaff not Tonali.

Dont think anyone should’ve gone off there. We were finally controlling the game. Those subs killed the momentum completely.

[Viana]

Honestly, think he was put in a tactical quagmire today. 

 

You can't have him play six and attempt to take risks against a team that counters as well as Liverpool. Either drop Joelinton in there to screen and shift Bruno up or have Tonali do it. 

 

If I have one criticism of him it's that he's desperately trying to make them 1-2s happen and they just aren't. I also feel like I see three or four instances a game where he's asking for the ball in space and not getting it. 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Viana

[Aiston]

1 minute ago, Myleftboot said:

Should have been him off for Longstaff not Tonali.

 

Shouldn't really have been either. Longstaff isn't good enough for games against the likes of Liverpool. We need to control the ball...despite Bruno's fuck up, he helps with that mostly and far more than Longstaff.

[Pilko]

Never mind a new contract, he needs to remember how to play a whole good game of football before he deserves one.

 

I'm furious with that late error. Wake up Bruno for fucks sake.

[Miggys First Goal]

He can't put a through-ball with any accuracy.

[The Butcher]

Been poor by his standards all year.

 

Really needs to do better. Way off his 2022 form.

[Miggys First Goal]

Going to be miserable in the Guimarães house tonight.