Liverpool's Head of Post-Match Analysis leaves after eight years
Kingston joined Liverpool in August 2012
Written by Simon Austin — November 5, 2020
LIVERPOOL’S Head of Post-Match Analysis, Harrison Kingston, has left the club after eight years to join the Moroccan Football Federation.
Kingston joined Liverpool in August 2012 from Burnley and became a key member of staff.
His job title with Morocco will be Director of Performance Analysis and Framework and Kingston told TGG: “I had eight amazing years at Liverpool and have nothing but positive feelings towards the club and the people who work there. The experiences will live with me forever.”
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation already has a strong British influence, with Welshman Osian Roberts, who hired Kingston, working for them as Technical Director, with his compatriot Adrian Tucker as Head of Goalkeeping.
As Kingston's job title at Liverpool suggested, he was responsible for analysing Liverpool’s performances, using mainly video.
In a 2018 clip, which you can watch at the bottom of the page, he explained his role during a visit by Reds legend Steve Gerrard.
“We're a part of the decision-making process,” Kingston said. “Our job really is to provide enough help, support and evidence – both from a team perspective and individuals – for the coaching staff to ultimately make a decision.
“One of the best thing about Jurgen and his staff is that they take this work and shorten it down into key messages to what the player can do to help them.”
Gerrard praised the work of Kingston and Post-Match Analyst Mark Leyland, which he had experienced first-hand during his time as a player at Anfield.
“They were always available, no matter what hour of day,” Gerrard explained. “I was one who had to adapt to analysis, because I didn’t have much of it in my early days.
Leyland, Gerrard and Kingston
"It was like a breath of fresh air, having a place where you could go on your own or with a unit and ask as many questions as you want and see the game back in all kinds of different angles.
“From a learning point of view it was absolutely invaluable.”
Kingston and Leyland were also an important conduit between the data science department, led by Dr Ian Graham, and Klopp and his coaches.
“Pre-match, there’s a set of reports that (pre-match analysts) James (French) and Greg (Mathieson) put together and then post-match there’s a similar thing that Harrison and Mark put together,” Graham explained.
“What we’ve built is a platform where the analysts can either look at the opposition analysis or post-match analysis from our point of view, so we’ve got expected goals models and expected possession value models that are linked to video to say: ‘This is what we thought was a dangerous situation.’
“We rarely work directly with the coaches, but the analysts’ department have got access to all of our stats resources and they use those in their reports and meetings.”
A number of backroom staff have departed Liverpool over the last two years, including assistant Zjelko Buvac, Head of Medical Andy Massey, and physios Christopher Rohrbeck, Richie Partridge and Ruben Pons.
Performance Manager Phil Jacobsen will also leave at the end of the 2020/21 season and is working the final year of his contract in Germany.
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