Let the Game be the Teacher

If a picture can paint a 1000 words, a video must be able to paint 100 000 pictures.

This is a topic that is close to my heart, and in the 7 years I have been coaching this is the one topic that has stuck with me the most.

Many coaches have to be seen and heard to be coaching. A lot of junior football coaches will pride themselves on the tracksuits with the initials in the corner and the whistle in hand. Who would be the better the coach? The coach who stands and shouts, blows his whistles and gives directions or the coach who stands with arms folded watching the game but not saying a word.

Many a coach could talk until they are blue in the face about the importance of being able to beat your man 1v1, about how overlaps can create space and how a ball into a strikers feet who has dropped into the hole can create space in behind for the 3^rd man run. How many of these words will a young child or player take in? If you asked a child to switch the play or play the ball out from the back, would they do it? Probably, but would they understand the reasoning behind why they have done it or what it has created. British players are in severe danger of becoming robots, playing without freedom or really knowing why they are doing what they are doing.

How long will a coach stay with one team? My reckoning is only a couple of years. The stresses and strains of junior football will take its toll after a couple of years and in Academies and CofE’s the coach will work in only one age group therefore introducing himself to a new bunch of players each year. If a player has been told what to do in a game, taken constant direction from one person, where will they be when that person is no longer there to give direction? Lost is my guess.

Young children just like playing games. Any coach will tell you that the most often question that they get asked is ‘When are we playing a match’ You can do this but still get across your methods and ideas to the players. Children as young as 4 or 5 will be able to understand that switching play can create space. They will be able to grasp the fact of playing triangles and playing the ball wide but they will also struggle to put those ideas into words and phrases. How do you expect them to understand a coach when he tells them this? Move into space or drop into the hole are fantastic phrases that a coach likes to use and a non-football person will think these sound great, but do the players understand that? My guess is again no.

There are literally 100s of games that allow The Game to be the Teacher. 4 Goal Game will encourage the players to switch play. Line Ball will encourage the players to attack 1v1. The Real Madrid Game will encourage passing in triangles. Coaches game will encourage playing the ball out from the back. Diagonal Game will encourage the players to pass in diagonal lines. Multi Ball Game will encourage awareness off the ball.

All of these games and many, many more will encourage a player to adapt and think their way out of a problem. It is a guarantee that if you create these games and let the players just play, they will surprise you with their decision making.

A good coach does not need to be seen or heard in order to be good.

I will leave you with this gem from one of the all-time great players.

Ferenc Puskas ‘I am grateful to my father for all the coaching he did not give me’

If in doubt, give it a clout!

How often are those little 7 words uttered on a Sunday morning? Far too many if you ask me and the lasting effect they will have on a young player is immense.  The art of an aimless long ball is something that is very close to my heart. Seeing anyone, be it a 5 year old playing in a church hall or a pro playing on a Saturday afternoon in front of 60 000 fans smash a long ball just kills me.

Take any one game and look at the Centre Backs. Guaranteed that within 60 seconds of focussing on a CB you will see a long, aimless ball. This is certainly the case when it comes to the British game and the English CBs that we have proudly developed. There are maybe two exceptions to this rule being John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. I swear that Michael Dawson just stands on one leg and volleys everything that comes his way right back where it came from. How he has made it to the national team and into Champions League football I will never know. How Joleon Lescott is worth £24 million baffles me with every game that I see. Asamoah Gyan showed how technically inept Lescott is in the recent international friendly between England and Ghana.

Football is a simple game that has been ruined time and time again by over analysis from couch potatoes on MOTD and by pundits on the Radio. Score more goals than your opponent and you win. You keep the ball and your opponent can not score, simples as the meerkat would say! The same concept can be related to youth development. If you want to be good at football, what do you need? A foot and what else? A ball. A simple question that we ask a child is if you want to be good with a Guitar, what do you need? A guitar. Would you give that guitar away if you want to be good? No. Well why do you give the ball away? Fear of losing or conceding a goal is mainly the case, a fear that is brought on by parents as I can’t remember any of the scores from my school days. Most of the kids can’t remember the score from 2 hours ago, but I bet their dad reminds them in the car on the way home!!!

This long ball tactic and the clearing of the ball is something of an epidemic, and I may be blind, but I don’t see how a player like Gary Cahill can be touted at prices of upto £25 million when a ball playing Vincent Kompany cost Man City £6 million. First of all I would want my defender to be able to defend, that’s a given. Secondly, and just as importantly, I would want him to be able to play football. After all, that’s what he is, a footballer.

If a team is to keep the ball, the player in possession needs at least 3 options every time. These options are usually at the side, in front and behind. If I give a ball to the defender, I want him to have three options and for him to use one of those options and not just ‘hoof’ it. The first football videos I watched as a child was of the old Wimbledon and when there were no such rule as the pass back. Since the rule was brought in, not much has changed. In the English game, the ball is played to the back where they will play a long ball pretty much aimlessly to a front man and then play off scraps & the second ball. What a way to play. I for one applaud the fact that when Arsenal were 1-0 at Liverpool they tried to play the ball instead of ‘hitting row z’ like the so called experts were calling for. Stan Collymore said, and I quote, ‘When you are 1-0 up, if you are Arsenal or playing at U11, you hit row z to be safe’ Well done Sir Stan, you back up what those dads say on a Sunday morning.

Playing the ball out from the back is not hard, it is not hard at all. During a recent u17s trial event for a GB team, I asked players to try and play it out from the back and was gobsmacked at the quality. The players were attached to clubs such as Chelsea, Watford and Everton and could not keep a goal kick for longer than 3 passes. FBs like to get the ball in the channel near the corner flag, CBs don’t look interested, CMs run away. I had to physically drag 17 year old players who were hoping for a professional contract into position. Two CBs on the corners of the box, FBs up on the half way line, one CM dropping between the CBs to receive if the pass wasn’t on for the CBs. A CB moving across the edge of the box dragging a striker with him to create space for the FB to receive.

Football is a simple game that is complicated by dads on a Sunday morning and Stan Collymores on the radio

No Ball Games Allowed - Balls To That

Are the ever growing amount of 'No ball Games' signs destroying the youth of today.

Nearly everyone over the age of 22 will have fond memories of playing on the street, playing on local fields or on a quarry in my case. Admittedly my generation maybe didn't have the opportunity to play out as much as previous generations, but it is a damn sight more than what kids have today.

The best way that a child can develop is to try things and fail. How did you learn to walk? By falling over time and time again. How did you learn to catch? By getting hit in the face with the ball a lot of times. Unstructured play allows many opportunities for abnormal things to happen, that you adapt to and progress through. Steven Gerrard was made to play football on a local quarry before being allowed to play on flat pitches. The uneven surface and questionable bounce would have increased his first touch, his balance and his agility. When playing on a flat surface, all the attributes would have been natural.
Malvern Primary in Huyton has banned all ball games at the school, here's a list of the Professional Players that attended the school;
Steven Gerrard
Steve McMahon
Peter Reid
Joey Barton
David Nugent
Tony Hibbert
Leon Osman
Craig Higgnett
Lee Trundle
Jay McEveley

I think that will be an absolute list now as not many other players will come out of that school. Local schools in my area have now resorted to this and in 5 years or so there will be a blanket ban on all ball games in schools. Try going into Sports Direct and picking up a ball and the first thing you will hear is 'Don't bounce that ball'

The world has gone PC mad, and England and the youth of England is taking the brunt of it.

I have said it before and I will say it again, England will not make the 2018 World Cup. Judging by the amount of 'No Ball Games' signs out and about, we won't ever make a World Cup again.

If Andy Carroll is worth £35 million, Messi must be worth £1 billion

Andy Carroll got his first taste of European football in the AXA Stadium against FC Braga and the style of football was a million miles away from the delights that Messi & Co treated us to on Tuesday night and was more akin to the Dog & Bull on the Rec on a Sunday morning.

Liverpool are a club that is steeped in tradition. They have always reminded the opposition of their impressive haul of trophies and they are still living off that memory to this day. Liverpool are also linked to the pass & move philosophy, something that they have shifted away form in recent times. The song, made famous by John Barnes et al, could not be further from the truth. How he must be spinning in his Mars Bars.

Kyrgiakos and Carragher, even the usually more stylish Reina, resorted to the long ball tactic that is so common in the English game. More technically able players such as Meireles and Cole were reduced to bystanders feeding off the scraps that Carroll gave them. The game changed into one that would look better on an American football field. Every ball that was fed into the strikers were aimed in the air. As was seen the night before at White Hart Lane, more stylish and comfortable CBs can deal with such pressures by leaning in or dropping off the striker and clearing up the knock downs. The Braga centre midfielders left the Liverpool midfield alone and looked more to Carroll as he flicked on and knocked down the 80m punts from the back.

Liverpool looked like a Stoke team that have struggled to score a goal from open play all season and increasingly look to set plays for them to score goals.

If this is the way that Liverpool are going to play with Carroll in the side then players such as Meireles and the ever impressive Suarez will be wasted. Surely Andy Carroll must see himself as more than a player just to knock the ball on. At the moment he looks more like a poor man's Alan Shearer, elbows and all! No doubt the British media will continue to buidl him up, rubbing their hands with anticipation that they will knock him down in a few months time.

Arsenal closer to Orient than Barcelona

Arsenal are billed as the English Barcelona. They are seen as one of the few teams in the world that is similar in it's style of play to Barcelona. Arsenal looked closer to Leyton Orient last night rather than Barcelona.

Lionel Messi scored two goals last night at the Nou Camp to take him to a record breaking 33 Champions League goals for Barcelona, that is 2 more than Rivaldo despite only being 23 (6 months younger than me). Barcelona completed 724 passes whilst Arsenal completed 199. Two similar teams?!
Barcelona had 21 attempts on goal, 12 on target. Arsenal had zilch, their goal coming from the head of Sergio Busquets
7 Barcelona players are in the top ten of attempted passes in the Champs League, Arsenla have Jack Wilshere..............in 17th place

The stats go to show the alarming gulf between the two European clubs. Arsenal like to play a pretty game, keeping the ball and probing the opposition defence. That is all well and good against Blackburn and Stoke, Barcelona pose a complete different threat.

Arsene Wenger sold out somewhat last night. Using Rosicky over Arshavin or Bendtner showed that he was attempting to defend more than attack. Clichy and Sagna never attempted to cross the half way line and only once in the 1st half did Arsenal venture forward with any purpose. Many teams have attempted to douse the fire that Barcelona try to light, not many try fight fire with fire. Arsenal lost the game last night, but they also lost dignity. They did not go down fighting, rather with a whimper.

Many fans will look towards the inexplicable sending off of Van Persie. Yet again Arsenal, and the English public will look to hide behind an embarrassing fact that the English game is light years behind the Spanish game. Dani Alves was the outlet for Barcelona from the 1st kick of the game, had he made better choices in the final 3rd, Barca really could have had 6 or 7. Pedro played a lot without the ball, drifting in off the right wing and dragging Clichy inside, allowing Alves to overlap and leave Nasri in his wake. Wilshere and Diaby could not live with the dazzling feet of Iniesta who once again lit up the world with his trickery. Fabregas was as much a bystander as Valdes was throughout the match and would not have enjoyed his homecoming one bit.

I for one am a little more gung-ho and would have liked to have seen two Arsenal strikers on the pitch, maybe 3 with a more conservative outlook later in the game. Mascherano sitting in front of Abidal and Sergio were not tested enough and maybe a three pronged attack of Chamakh, Van Persie and Bendtner would have been more effective.

Ah, Arsenal and Arsene, what could have been!

Jack Wilshere is 2nd rate

Without saying it in as many words, Pep Guardiola had a sly dig at the talent that the English game brings through and also the lack of trophies that Arsenal have won.

"Wilshere is a top player, he is an excellent player, not just Arsenal, but also for the national team. He is lucky because we have many players in the second team like him but he plays because there is no pressure at his club to win titles"

Pep Guardiola is a man that knows his football and also knows his footballers. Would Jack Wilshere make it into his starting XI, not a chance, would they even find room for Cesc Fabregas?!
Barcelona have a vast array of talent to call upon, and looking through their squad, it is hard to find space for a teenage player that was outshone by Christian Eriksen on the international stage. However, Arsenal have found a place for him in their team, and what a player he is proving to be. Calm on the ball at the back with a joyous lack of the 'hoof it' mentality that many English players have, he is also composed on the ball further down the field with the ability to thread the ball through unthinkable gaps in the opposing defence. With players such as Van Persie and Nasri making runs in front of him, it is easy to link the game up.

Whilst playing in the England shirt the quality was lacking. Being overawed by the situation would not have been a factor as it was a low key affair in Denmark. The ability of the player around him was more than likely the downfall to his game, as well as playing in a restricted role. Fabio Capello in all his infinite wisdom decided to deploy Jack in an unfamiliar defensive midfielder role where his only options to pass were to the wide players from his own half. Wilshere is a player that comes into his own around the opposition's penalty area, playing in front of the defence is not his forte.

Pep Guardiola may see Jack as being a threat to him tonight. If he can get into the positions that Arsenal allow him to get, he will be able to provide opportunities for the fit again Van Persie. If Jack can rise to the occasion, Arsenal may just sneak this.
On the other hand, with the unbelievable talent that Barcelona have at their disposal, it will be a very, very long night.

I am just looking forward to seeing a game without a long ball merchant stealing a living!

Why are English players so technically inept?

The technical ability of players in foreign countries such as Spain, France and Germany is so apparent, yet is it solely down to the coaching?
"It takes 10 000 hours of quality practice to become elite" Malcolm Gladwell

I have repeated this to many a young player throughout my coaching life, breaking it down to tell a young player that if they start to play football at the age of 5, to gain 10 000 hours of practice, they will need 666 (an omen) hours a year, nearly 13 hours a week which is nearly two hours per day. How many young players play quality football 2 hours a day? Many do claim to, but standing opposite your friend and passing the ball back and forth is not quality. Playing football in school PE is far from quality, which will usually consist of lines upon lines of children bored waiting until it is their chance to shoot and then playing 15 a side games. Those that play for a local team will have it even worse, where coaches' egos come into play and it all becomes the long smash forward to the big lad to score.
What about those that get into an Academy, where the 'quality coaching' takes place. Do they get their 13 hours a week?
In Spain, a young player will have 4880 hours coaching at and Academy between the ages of 9 and 21. Players such as Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa would have enjoyed over 400 hours a year, in France they enjoy nearly 500 hours and Germany 480 hours. What do the English players get?? They get just over 300 hours.

Under the FA's Charter for Quality, a player in an English Academy is permitted 3 hours contact time per week with their club aged 9-11. Dennis Bergkamp has labelled these years the 'Golden Years of Learning' In England, when you are aged 12-16 you can train 5 hours per week, in Dennis' Holland, this is 10-12.

The Premier League will look to change this when they categorize clubs into four categories. The top clubs will have access to a larger pool of players and will be able to treble their contact time with the players. This must only be a good thing, but if you have ever spent any time in an Academy or witnessed the coaching that takes part, it may be best that the player plays on the street!

Barcelona will have up to 7 home grown players in their starting 11, Arsenal will be lucky to have only 2 in their starting 18. So, this tells a story in itself about the standard of the English player coming through. Is it Arsene Wengers fault that not enough English players are coming through the system? Not a chance, if they are good enough he will play them such has been the case with Gibbs and Wilshire, if they are not good enough, he will look to buy the player and nurture them.

The FA and the Premier League need to look at the amount of hours a young player is allowed inside an Academy or Centre of Excellence, but a club needs to also look at the standard of coaching they receive whilst they are there. Man Utd have over 120 players playing in the English game on any given Saturday that have come through their system, yet no club will follow the plans they have put in place. English people always try to be radical and the trend setters, they will learn a lot by copying the best. 

State of the modern game

Why is the English football system so far behind in terms of development? I'll tell you why, it's down to people like me - coaches.

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics" Mark Twain 1904
However, I still intend to use them;

UEFA A, UEFA B and UEFA Pro Licence Coaches
England - 2769   Spain - 23 995   Italy - 29 420   Germany - 34 970   France 17 568
UEFA qualified coach to registered player
England 1:182   Spain 1:17   Italy 1:48   Germany 1:150   France 1:150

England
2006: 1430 UEFA B Coaches, 397 UEFA A Coaches and 45 Pro Licence Coaches
2009: 1759 UEFA B Coaches, 895 UEFA A Coaches, 115 Pro Licence Coaches

At this rate it would take England 123 years to match Spain

These are just stats tho, and as Mark Twain said, probably lies. How about the criteria to sit a UEFA B qualification in Spain - played 8 season in the Spanish 1st Division or 5 games for the national team or represented Spain in the Olympics. In England you need just a Level 2. To pass the UEFA B in Spain you have to pass a basic numeracy test, a literacy test, a fitness test and study for 450 hours (150 practical) in England it is 90 hours (12 practical). The UEFA A is 550 hours (220 practical) in Spain and in England it is 240 hours (180 practical). The Pro Licence is even further apart, 245 theory hours in England whilst Spain has 750 hours (200 practical)

You can look at those stats and realise that the reason England can only produce players such as Martin Taylor at Birmingham and Carlton Cole at West Ham whilst Spanish clubs can let players such as Ignasi Miquel go who then play first team football in England.

If we are ever going to create high quality footballers again, the culture of this country has to take a massive shift. Coaches will have to get out there and gain qualifications and education, the FA will have to provide quality courses and children will have to want to play football, because not enough do.