I don't think coaches working for A League clubs are coerced into playing any particular style. I think they are pretty autonomous and can say what they like about FFA.

The right wording to a question may elicit a suitable response from an experienced A League coach.

Eg: How have your training ground practices/methodology changed since the inception of the A League, if indeed they have changed at all?


I take your point though - that coaches on the A League payroll are going to be supportive of the current system.



A question for them might be:

What qualities do young players have now, having graduated through AIS/national FFA programmes, compared to players who had been through the system before 2002?

I like the idea of more spontaneity on here than the 442 mag interviews.


Fair points raised about spreading the questions out to the wider community through 442 with the intent of getting more participation here, Dave.
ATM there hasn't been the interest I thought the topic would have generated. It may not be a goer at all.

My personal belief is that a better and less risky approach would be to simply have the journalist arrange an interview with the coach and write about it in the mag, in the same Q&A format that 442 have on a regular basis with stars like Cantona, Rooney, Suarez, etc and past players.

Not only does this remove the trolling risk but it also pushes 'performance' questions/topics out to the wider 442 readership to stir a bit of debate and hopefully reflect in increased interest here. If 442 advertise for questions one or two issues in advance in the magazine they will also get a wider range of questions (and questioners?) than just five questions from Decentric, 2 from Arthur, 2 from me, etc.

It is also a useless concept if all coaches interviewed are currently on the FFA payroll / working for an A-League club, as they will naturally be biased towards the new methodolgies - why would you insult your current credentials? There needs to be a mix of new and old so that no one agenda comes through.

I think Arthur Papas would be a great coach to interview as opposed to a lot of coaches he hasn't come from a professional playing background. Plus his AIS background could give a great insight in how our "elite" youth are being trained.

And I'd be also interested in talking to any coach.

Good that you are interested, Reedy.

Some interesting questions too.

We just need about 10 others to commit.

I would certainly be interested in talking to any coach in Australia. Not only the technical side of their coaching but also their story, how they got involved/their inspiration etc.
My main question would be: How much do you apply your football philosophy to a team vs how much do you adapt your football philosophy to the players you have at your disposal?
Also: How important is it to be proactive in your tactics vs how important is it to consider the oppositions tactics and how much that should factor to your own gameplan?
(To be honest I'm interested in hearing 442'ers opinions on these questions as well)

To Australian coaches:

How has the coaching course content now mandated in FFA coaching courses, designed by TDs Han Berger and Rob Baan, changed your training ground practice?

To long term A League and Australian coaches:

How has the A League changed during your tenure? What training ground practice do you use now that you didn't in previous years?

When Pim Verbeek was national coach of Australia he stated that one difference between Australian and Asian coaching programmes, was that the Asians place much greater emphasis on creating two footed players. To what extent does your coaching practice address this issue, even at senior level?

Which sources/resources do you use to design your coaching programme?

What are your coaching qualifications and which was the most invaluable course you've undertaken? Why?

One question which can be addressed to Australian coaches:

1-4-3-3 is now a mandated formation for development teams in Australia. Do you use it/not use it? Why? If you use it in which scenarios is it most successful?

Do you have a preferred formation? Why?

Arsene Wenger wants all his players to have four qualities, not in any specific order:

1. Physical strength.
2. Technically good.
3. Speed.
4. Intelligence on the football field.

I think with Petr Metersacker he relaxed one of his criteria - speed. Wenger desperately needed an experienced and successful CB at a high level.


One question I've seen asked is:

Which qualities do you look for in a young/youth player?


This can also be:

Which qualities do you look for in a senior player?









Edited by Decentric: 12/2/2012 10:58:41 PM

The last few weeks has seen this section return to what the original purpose of this section was conceived for - constructive discussion about football performance. Trolling, baiting, insults, etc, have disappeared. Someone has been given an 'enforced holiday' for two weeks.

I've run this idea past a couple of other 442 members and one involved with the running of the forum. Occasionally a few Australian players have taken part in a discussion with 442 members. Ljubo Milicevic and Dylan McAllister are two names who spring to mind.

What I propose is that some professional coaches appear regularly in Performance section to answer 442 members' questions who post here about football performance. Amongst other 442 members, 442 mods, people I know off forum and myself, we know, or have been coached by, a number of well-known coaches in the Australian/international football community.

Raul Blanco, Les Scheinflug, Steve Heighway, Miron Bleiberg, Rale Rasic, Ian Ferguson, Ron Smith, Arthur Papas and Steve Darby come to mind.

One suggestion has been that one of the 442 journalists, such as Aidan Ormond, interview one of the aforementioned coaches. Then put a question and answer session in Performance at a specific time for about an hour or two.

There have been concerns about trashing, derailing of topics and insults directed to coaches. A permanent ban from 442 is a possibility. There may be a mechanism to permanently exclude any aberrant member from the Performance section of the forum.

For this to go ahead it might be useful to work out a number of generic questions we can all use for different coaches, if one is stuck for specific questions for the particular coach.


If there is little active response to this idea, then this thread will be the last time the topic is raised. It will reflect poorly on the forum and be a waste of the coach's time if only one or two members of the forum take part in a discussion with a particular coach.

For this concept to proceed I want to hear that at least ten 442 members state they will actively participate in discussion with the aforementioned coaches and others. If you think is is a bad idea please state it and why.

I will start to post some generic questions after this post. Please feel free to add others and constructively comment on some of other generic questions.

Also, register your response to the concept.

Thanks.
















Edited by Decentric: 12/2/2012 11:38:07 PM