I think you'd be quite amazed with the number of players that are bought based on video material alone.
It doesn't happen the other way around: players (in the top leagues) are never bought based on live scouting only. Scouts will prepare reports & videos for the club's decision makers, and then they will decide to buy yes or no.
Scouts from top teams will usually not sit in the stands either, they will often be (if possible accomodation wise) to be in an isolated box high up the stadium to have a view as clear as possible and not be influenced by fans opinions around them.
Reason I know this is that I am acquainted with a former Chelsea scout (eighties and nineties) who now lives in Belgium for a number of years already and likes telling story about those days. I don't want to brag about that or anything but just thought it 'd be relevant to make my point.
I do agree that live watching is perfectly suited to see general patterns and get a general feeling of who performed well and if the team is playing bad or good. In depth analysis however is not for live watching and it simply cannot be argued.
Yeh it would make sense that scouts watch from Directors boxes, I can't remember suggesting differently? It was you that mentioned atmosphere and fans "breathing on your neck" that was never a point I raised.
The point I raised is that you can get a much better appreciation of the game and an individual performance from being at the ground. That's based on the view you have of the whole pitch and movement off the ball, nothing to do with atmosphere.
"In depth analysis" is a completely subjective term. Of course there are some things you can appreciate from video with multiple replays that you can't appreciate at the game. But as you have just said yourself, pattern of play, movement off the ball etc you can appreciate much better in person.
That's why your point about Dax's analysis being "good" is incorrect and incompatible with your post above. My analysis of De Bruyne and Silva in the Newcastle game is based on movement, pattern of play. As you have confirmed yourself, video analysis is in no way comparable in analysing this than being at the game.
I'm sure lots of players have been bought via video analysis alone, and a lot of them are lousy. We had a player called Giorgios Samaras who was bought based off a video and he was an unmitigated disaster.
There's a reason City have the largest network of scouts in the world. Over 300 spanning Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. They are not all sat in the office all week doing video analysis. Of course they will do a fair bit of that, but the reason they are based all over the globe is so they can attend as many games as possible, actually "scout" players and analyse them properly. Just like your friend at Chelsea did from the directors box.
