Meet Per Inge Jacobsen – the Indian football team's analyst. Jacobsen oversaw Indian team's preparations ahead of the quadrennial event, which also included friendly matches against China, Jordan and Oman.

For the Indian football team to play in the AFC Asian Cup is certainly a big deal. It isn't something that happens too often. In fact, apart from this year's edition, the team had qualified to the main tournament just three times.

By topping their group in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualification, India ensured their participation for the 2019 tournament in UAE. It's debatable if head coach Stephen Constantine has the quality in his ranks to make progression beyond the group stage of the tournament, but in terms of preparations, Constantine and his support staff are making sure the team is a finished product.

Meet Per Inge Jacobsen – the Indian football team's analyst. Hailing from Norway, 37-year-old Jacobsen was hired by Constantine just before India's participation in the SAFF Cup last year. Jacobsen oversaw Indian team's preparations ahead of the quadrennial event, which also included friendly matches against China, Jordan and Oman. Jacobsen spoke to Firstpost regarding his role withing the Indian national team, his career and the nitty-gritty of his job.

Let's start off with your introduction. Could you tell us something about yourself and your career?

I’m a 37-year-old football coach from a small Norwegian city called Haugesund, which is on the west coast of Norway. I have coached professionally since I joined the capital club Vaalerenga Football in 2005. With Vaalerenga we won the Norwegian league the same year and among others the Norwegian FA Cup in 2008.

In 2017, I was the manager for the women's club Avaldsnes. With Avaldsnes, we won the Norwegian FA Cup and were runners-up in the league.

After the successful year with Avaldsnes, and 12 years on the top level in Norway, my girlfriend and I decided to seek new challenges abroad. After receiving a phone call from Mr Constantine with an offer to work for the Indian national football team, I knew already this was the beginning of a new era, and already then, I didn’t think twice.

How did you get involved with the Indian football team?

I am one of the few lucky persons who work with my own hobby. Football has been my biggest interest since I was a young boy, and I follow up on football all around the world. I’ve known the head coach, Stephen Constantine, for some years. We have a similar mindset about football and I’m impressed about on the results he has achieved. I believe the main reason why I was a good candidate for the position in the Indian national team, is because of the combination of my background as a UEFA A-licensed coach, in addition to my knowledge of the software the Indian team uses for analysis – Interplay.

What is your role within the team? If you can explain in detail.

You can divide my job as an analyst into three main parts.

First of all, I start collecting as much information about the opponent as possible. The formation they use to play with, the weaknesses, the strengths, the players, the physical condition and the abilities they can use against us. Together with the rest of the coaching staff, we segregate all the information and select the most important and critical facts. This is very important as it will be used later in preparation with the players. In advance to every match, we usually have several meetings with the players, where this information is given in small parts.

Secondly, on the match day, my role is to follow and analyse the match from the best possible location, usually together with our video analyst. I try to get some good pictures that describe a special sequence. 45 minutes later under the break, I use it to easily explain to the players what to improve, and how to continue to beat the opponent.

After the match, I go through the game again several times to showcase collective and individual notes. The team pictures that I select are later given to the players on a meeting, the day after the match. The individual pictures I use to show to every single one of players on a private meeting.

So, your job also involves studying India's opponents and their tactics?

Absolutely, and on a big scale. Mostly I watch the six most recent games that every opponent has played. Out of those games I choose a few that I think are describing and interesting. I will then use the selected games under presentations and meeting with the team. As explained above, it is critical to collect as much information as possible about the opponent in advance. The more critical information we share with the players previous to the match, the best preparation for the game they will be.

India played China in preparation to the AFC Asian Cup. What kind of work you did specifically to that match?

For the match against China, we prepared the same as explained before. Information, analysis, meetings in a group and one by one, and a lot of focus on the match and the team.

Do you also work individually with players?

For sure, collective meetings are as important as one-on-one meetings. This is part of preparation previous to a game. After the game, we go through the involvements, the positives and negatives, and concentrate on how to get stronger and better for the next game.

Why do you think an analyst is important for a football team?

I think there are several reasons why every team should have a full-time analyst. The main focus of an analyst is to analyse players and matches. In reality, there are small details that will determine a match. Two teams in the same level may need to focus a lot on each other, a small mistake can be critical.

In this case, the analysis done as a background will play a huge role. You can say that a team is well prepared when nothing can take them by surprise, and they feel strong. Every professional and a big team in Europe, America and Asia have invested in analysts as results have shown to be very positives for a team. Football is all about development. Whether we can develop our playset, and one and every player to be better for tomorrow, we will with no doubt improve the results.

During a match, the focus on the ball is extremely high. By showing pictures to the players after the game, I help them understand the situation. Once they understand what the mistake was, they will be conscious about it. This process is done continuously and time after time will help the players and the team to be stronger the next game.

This is your first engagement with an Asian team and now you'll be at the Asian Cup. What are your thoughts on football in Asia?

I think Asian football has improved a lot in the last few seasons. Most of the countries are investing in football and acting more professional from academy level to national teams. I believe in the long run we will be seeing stronger players and better teams. I know of several players from the Indian national team with the potential to play in one of the better leagues in the world. If Asia could develop more players with the ability to take a step out of their native countries, to play with bigger teams, I am sure the level in Asia will be much higher.