Smith has written a good article about the use of the long ball in Australia.

I'm 11 000 kilometres away from Oz ATM and can only post via Ipad. I cannot cut and paste. Can anyone reading this post his recent article? He makes a few valid points.

http://www.thefootballcentre.com.au/blog/view/think-about-it-slowly

Think about it, slowly!

By Ron Smith | 13/05/2014 | 1 Comments


Think about it, slowly!

I am reading a book titled, Thinking Fast and Slow, by Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman. He explains how the brain works and how easily it will accept information and make a decision, if what you read or hear makes sense or fits with what you believe. The ‘Thinking Fast’ part of the brain happens first to helps us make quick decisions but the ‘Thinking Slow’ part of the brain is what we use when we need to take some time, that is when a quick decision isn’t forthcoming. It happens naturally.

I was thinking about this while I was reading through The Curriculum. Han Berger, the FFA Technical Director goes to great lengths to support the decision to adopt a ‘Possession-based’ style of play, while dismissing anything to do with ‘Direct Play, a style associated with long forward passing. The link between the successful teams at the World Cup (Spain, Holland & Germany) and the Possession-based style of play all makes sense, so the reader will decide this is the right decision fairly quickly. Here’s an extract.

“Having expressed Australia’s natural preference for ‘pro-active’ rather than ‘reactive’ football, we then had to decide which end of the above ‘pro-active spectrum’ would be the wisest choice for our national technical direction: ‘possession-based’ or ‘direct play’? ‘ (Page 12)

The following extract was included to describe what constitutes ‘Direct Play” and why Australia will not go down that pathway.

The English FA adopted a ‘Direct Play’ approach in the 80s and 90s, based on some statistics that showed most goals were scored following moves of 3 passes or less. If that was true, it was argued, then why bother with patient build-up and controlled possession? Why not simply launch continuous long passes towards the strikers, hope for ‘second ball’, and then score in 3 passes or less? (Page 13)

The description of ‘Direct Play’, whether it’s accurate or not, would turn anybody off long passing so the reader is already convinced without really knowing what constitutes ‘Direct Play’, because it’s all making sense.

Statistics to support the Football Philosophy
In ‘The Curriculum’ there are quotes from FIFA and UEFA technical reports about passing statistics to support the argument for adopting a ‘Possession-based’ style. Here’s another extract (Page 14).

• Detailed data shows also that ‘the trend is away from a long-passing game’ (a ‘long pass’ is defined as one of 30 metres or more; a ‘medium pass’ is between 10 and 30 metres and ‘short passes’ are those which cover less than 10 metres).

• Long passes by the finalists throughout the tournament: Spain 8%, Italy 11%

• Most long passes: Ukraine (equal bottom of their group) 18%, Republic of Ireland (bottom of group, 0 points) 19%

However, in Euro 2012, every team except Ireland averaged more than 450 passes, and Spain’s tournament high of 929 passes was not far short of double the record in 2008.

These figures made me ‘think’ slowly about what they meant because a quick decision wasn’t forthcoming. Spain and Italy, the 2010 World Cup finalists, used long passes 8% and 11% respectively, while the two worst teams in the competition, who used the ‘Direct Play’ style, Ukraine and Ireland, used long passes 18% and 19% of the time. One could be forgiven for ‘thinking’ that the two worst teams, who adopted the ’Direct Play’ style, just booted the ball forwards all the time and didn’t play a controlled passing game at all. However, the statistics show that neither Ukraine or Ireland could have been guilty of ‘launching continuous long passes to the strikers’ because both teams made medium and short passes for over 80% of the time. You might be starting to think slowly right about now.

Let’s explore that ‘thinking’ a bit further. If Spain averaged 800 passes per game (Spain made 900+ in some games) and 8% were long, that would equate to around 64 long passes during the game. If Ireland averaged 400 passes per game (they averaged less than 450 passes) they would have made around 76 long passes, 19%. Not a massive difference between two teams supposed to be exponents of two completely different and incompatible styles of play.

What the statistics don’t tell you is how many of the long passes by Spain or Ireland were made by choice to (a) switch the point of attack, play up to forwards or pass the ball into the space behind the defence, or (b) made when under pressure from opponents, the sort that many teams make from their back third or own half for fear of getting caught in possession, irrespective of preferred playing style.

Evidence
In the 1980’s the evidence to support the theory of Direct Play was irrefutable and more substantial than the description given in The Curriculum. The problem was that coaches applied the concept too often, to the exclusion of making shorter passes when it was on to do so. My concern is we will make the same mistake by forcing players to make short passes and not develop the techniques of long passing. I say this because in our development programs and clubs, young players are forced to play out from the back no matter what, even when it doesn’t make sense.

Model Sessions & Skill Acquisition
The Curriculum has detailed ‘Model sessions’ for the ‘Core Skills’ that will be taught as a priority. In the 'Striking the ball' component, there isn’t one example to encourage long passing and few that promote getting the ball in the air. We may well be in danger of developing a generation of players who can only pass the ball over a short distance (including goalkeepers) and when asked to make longer passes as they get older, will not have the technical ability to do it accurately or effectively. Don’t be fooled into thinking that anyone can hit long accurate passes, it’s actually much harder than passing the ball ten yards and requires a lot of practice.

Long passing isn’t mentioned in ‘The Curriculum’ until page 254, when it is used in a practice for ‘defending to win second balls’. It’s a major concern, in my opinion, that nowhere in The Curriculum does it mention the importance of playing the ball behind the opposing back line. My PhD research has proven that it is the most effective method of scoring goals. It isn’t hitting hopeful long balls up to strikers; it is the skill of being able to pass the ball accurately over any distance, to the space behind the defence for a player making a forward run.

Potential Effect
If coaches do not develop the techniques of long passing in players or encourage them to look for opportunities to pass the ball long, it could be counter-productive. Players develop heading skills by dealing with high balls and crosses. Chipping the ball is a delicate technique, used with precision by many players to create scoring opportunities. We need to develop players who are able and who look for opportunities to use all passing techniques. David Beckham became famous for his ability to pass the ball accurately over long distance, something he practised in ‘isolation’, which is a methodology FFA deem to be counter productive to skill development, but that’s another story.

Playing Styles
It’s a concern that FFA view football as being played one way or the other, ....‘we then had to decide which end of the above ‘pro-active spectrum’ would be the wisest choice for our national technical direction: ‘possession-based’ or ‘direct play’? ‘ Surely, a sensible strategy in football is a wise combination of both, at the right time. The difference between successful and unsuccessful teams isn’t playing style or the system of play it’s the ability of the players to make the right decisions and have the technical expertise to execute them.

Have a ‘think’ about it, slowly.

Young players should only ever play out from the back. Young players should learn to pass out of trouble. The instep 15m pass is the most important part of our game and young players should learn to do it perfectly I mean perfectly. No keeper should ever lump it forward.

I like the 433 formation and tika taka football is the one I want to watch and therefore coach.

But it is definitely not the only style or the most effective or the only pleasing style Ron is totally correct.
Ofcourse all young players should learn to accurately pass over a 30m lofted pass again totally agree with Ron.
Solo training is the only way to improve and perfect a lot of skills and technic I agree.

Don't agree with everything Ron said but I totally agree and admire him for having the courage to voice his opinion in a climate of total submission.=d> =d> c=d>

I'm with Krones3 on this one!

The problem with the long ball game is that is it deceptively easy to play. All you have to do is boot it up front and hope for the best. I've seen this happen in junior football too many times in this country. An inexperienced coach shouts to his players to "get rid of it" and so they do! One big stupid kick forward. Then parents join in and praise the child. It then spreads like a virus through team. Everybody starts lumping it forward. This becomes the only reinforced behaviour the children learn. Then, when the team comes across a good opponent they have no other tools for breaking that opponent down. They have no other way of dealing with the situation in fronts of them - except "boot it". They keep doing the same thing over and end up losing possession and not creating anything.

However, when kids are taught to hold the ball, look for combinations, play little possession games within the larger game, use smart movement off the ball, then a whole world of opportunities start to open up for the kids as individuals and for the team. They grow in confidence and start thinking more about what they're doing. It's not easy but the results are fantastic. The games become entertaining and exciting and I'd rather watch our kids play attractive possession football than pay $25 to watch a professional do it :d

I think the long ball can be integrated into a "possession based style" and used as another tool that is taught to kids. Use it in the right situation - well timed through balls, good chips, good crosses - and I don't see a problem.

In my experience Ron Smith is correct in every respect. The need to coach a possession based style of play and to encourage playing out through the midfield is of course correct however it is when the players get older that they are lacking an understanding of when and when not to, this is because they do not understand the purpose of playing out and havnt been shown alternatives. Our best jnrs have been schooled to continually looking to play feet of the 9 especially but also 7 and 11 but have little understanding of how and when to play in behind, this is why our elite youth teams consistently have good possession but lack penetration.
There are other technical problems that are now emerging at youth level that are a direct result of the curriculum, the inability to hit a long pass or deliver a good set play and poor heading ability are clearly evident in most of our elite youth squads.
The curriculum has in my opinion taken our best young players forward to a higher level but the faults need to be recognised and corrected.

At what age group do you think the longer ball and set plays for heading should be introduced?



Edited by justafan: 1/6/2014 09:18:32 AM

This is a good question. I was coaching at the lower echelons of FFA rep system last year and was unaware of the minimisation of heading in the FFA NC!

The point with Smith's article, is that I agree the long ball needs to be received in terms of first touch. It is far harder to control a ball over distance.

The other issue Smith raises, is it is important to equip players to head these long balls offensively and defensively. If one's opponents are playing long balls, one needs to deal with them.

Ron Smith has posted a few comments in this 442 section too.

There is no doubt the new NC is producing a better calibre of player, technically and through improved game sense.

However, these failures to incorporate heading and playing diagonal switch balls, are certainly a divergence from Dutch KNVB methodology, as I understand it. I'm not sure if the Spanish, German or French advocate this?

Here lies the major flaw of structured football, basing everything on Calander age and for some even gender.
its about your [size=9]ability[/size]