Job Title: Technical Analyst

Date of Birth: 05^th August 1955

Birthplace: Liverpool - England

Nationality: English

Joined: Since 1997

 

Dave McDonough is head of opponent analysis at Melwood.

The UEFA A Licence coach is charged with compiling detailed reports on future opponents for Rafa Benitez. His findings help shape pre-match training, team talks and match strategy.

As well as undertaking scouting missions himself, Dave oversees a team of scouts whose job is to watch opponents.

A secondary role sees him analyse members of Rafa Benitez's squad in liaison with colleague Angel Vales. The pair use player tracking technology such as AMISCO in carrying out this task.

A lifelong Red with 20 years' coaching experience, Dave has worked for the club since 1997. He began at the Academy where he combined coaching and scouting. Since 2005 he has worked with Rafa and the first team at Melwood.

"I do the reports for the boss on how the opposition plays," says Dave. "We have scouts whose job it is to watch opponents, and sometimes I go to the games as well. I then write a detailed report on how the opposition plays and compile video evidence to back up the report.

"These go to the boss a few days before the game and from there a match strategy will be formed. This will impact upon the training and also the team talk.

"You look at individual players but also the squad and how they play collectively. We go into as much detail as we possibly can about strengths and weaknesses. Prior to every game - even if we've already played them twice in a season - we will watch a team three or four times and compile a report."