Arthur - isn't that making things too complex...

Much of that you cannot teach. You can watch videos and point out a few things to players but at the end of the day much of that 1 v 1 is basic intelligence of the player. They either have it or they don't.

Its a bit like school teachers, public vs private debate and/or some of the experts working for the education ministers talking about different ways to teach and how complex everything is. 

At the end of the day the two biggest determinants whether a child will perform well at high school is 1. did the child grow up in a house with books and 2. what is the education level of the parents. No matter how important the teachers and schools think they are - they probably aren't...

I have a feeling the over intellectualisation of football strategy is the same. The biggest job is to help Forster an environment that producers free thinking smart players who can play a variety of styles with high technical aplomb. The rest although interesting is probably not as important as some want to believe.

oh k........

At Youth Level Possession Football is the only way to go.

The definition of possession football is as follows
Passes made in all directions, 360 degrees
Ball switched from side to side multiple times in each possession. Rhythm of possession.
Probing passes into feet & back again. Angled passes
Back line, defence and midfield play pivotal role in possession
Balls played wide to create space on opposite side, followed by switch
Keeper throws ball to build up from back. Few punts
Free kicks played to feet to keep possession
Throw-ins played to possess the ball often to backs or midfielders

As opposed to direct football
Players almost always pass forward
Many passes are long and vertical
Many passes played into areas – kick vs pass
Many passes are played into space behind opponents’ back line – foot races
Lots of fights for ‘second balls’
All goal kicks are punted long
All throw-ins are thrown long ‘down the line’
All free kicks in defensive and middle third are kicked long with everyone moving up for the kick

Many junior coaches in the local Football environment recruit fast big players and defenders who are strong and just bash the ball forward for the attackers to chase. They use “early physical developers” to win games and do a dis-service not only to the physically weaker players but also to the bigger boys as this style of play produces technically deficient players who will be learning nothing about how to play the game at a higher level.
Not only is it boring for the players, enforces results over fun and enjoyment and therefore arguably produces a larger dropout rate of youngsters, it is in fact also ineffective once the players mature and their physical strengths converge as adults.
Your child is in danger of becoming a boring and uninventive player and is most unlikely either truly to discover the joy of playing the ball, or to even excel in the game against other players who have spent a decade or more possessing the ball.

Sample of program I am putting together for a local Club's Miniroos program:

We play short passes, which requires players to support each other in attack and defence, and is harder to defend and anticipate
We play only longer balls in response to a movement by a team-mate not in the hope of one - to move and ask for the ball after which the pass is delivered;
Our Goal Keepers are discouraged from kicking the ball long unless there is no other option
Our Goalkeeper will roll the ball to a team-mate so the team can begin to play immediately from the back
If we have no option to find a team-mate we will always keep the ball. At no time should they be told to kick it away regardless of the position they play or where they are on the field
We encourage players to express themselves through their football and recognise that everyone is not the same and shouldn’t play so. Some play fast, others slow, some play simple, others read situations and find more complex solutions, and some have enough skill to individually dominate a game, while others can only dream of doing so, but all should be allowed to find their own game not forced to conform to a uniform way of playing;
We vary the speed of play during a game, which requires a team to hold the ball.
In this way good coaches can coach the key moments when in possession, the opponent in possession or the changeover, build awareness in the players to aid understanding and decision making, and allow the players to develop a feel for the game that comes only from thousands of hours playing it.

I like this article as far as articulating possession football;

1 Truth, 1 Fallacy, and 1 Solution for Coaching Possession Soccer

 By Gary Kleiban
A Truth
It can be successfully done across all levels of play.
The main reason it’s rarely seen, is that most coaches have not acquired the expertise to do it.
First and foremost, a coach must develop a possession-based philosophy (a vision … a taste … a feel for that type of football).
Then he must whole-heartedly commit to the process of having his teams reach it.
If those two requirements aren’t met, then chances of it happening are close to zero.
If however, we’ve got a green light on those, then what comes next is converging on a small and proper set of enabling activities to train players with.

A Fallacy
Now, a fallacy that has been circulated for as long as I can remember:
“We can’t play a winning possession-based game, unless we have the technical players first.”
And it’s generally crap.
How ‘technical’ do they have to be?
Yeah … nobody seems to address that question. Instead, the blanket statement is thrown, everyone nods because there’s a logic to it; it’s taken as truth, and we’re all excused.
I’ll give you just one answer today:
The amount of space and time a player has, dictates how technical he must be.
The more space and time you’ve got, the lower the requirement on technique.
Right off the bat, this means that the lower the level your team is competing at, the lower the technical requirement on your players. Because intrinsic to the lower levels, is more space and time.
Even more important:
Time and space can be manipulated by player decisions.
And how is that achieved?
Tactically!
Solution
If you can train your players to create more space and time for themselves and teammates, you’ve just lowered the technical requirements.
Coaching baby, coaching.

The factor that makes or breaks implementing a successful possession style is chiefly tactical.
And I say all this not in theory, but from experience.
We’ve done it across levels of play.
So executing the possession-based game requires proper training. Proper tactical training! It’s about teaching decision-making on the field and choreography.
The point here being you do not need master class technical players to successfully implement winning possession-based soccer.
I’ll reiterate a comment (partially modified) I made last week:
“Doesn’t matter what level the team is. If it’s an ‘average Joe American’ team … well, you’re usually competing against other ‘average Joe American’ teams. So in time, you should be able to execute.”

hope this helps

https://www.thefa.com/bootroom/about/england-dna/the-future-england-player/age-phase-priorities

in posession

Stay on the ball, master the ball
Develop a mastery of the ball and the confidence to try new things.
Excite with the ball and seek creative solutions
Be exciting and positive in possession, playing with individuality and with elements of disguise and surprise.
Connect and combine creatively with others
Combine creatively and intelligently with others to create and score goals.

hope this helps

https://www.thefa.com/bootroom/about/england-dna/the-future-england-player/age-phase-priorities

in posession

Stay on the ball, master the ball
Develop a mastery of the ball and the confidence to try new things.
Excite with the ball and seek creative solutions
Be exciting and positive in possession, playing with individuality and with elements of disguise and surprise.
Connect and combine creatively with others
Combine creatively and intelligently with others to create and score goals.

There's a lot of nuances to playing a possession style game. For instance a 1v1 must still has purpose, dependent on the situation.
With the youth player when is the right time and place to use 1v1? 
Why doesn't 1v1 involve a bounce, then a 1-2 pass?
What body shape should you be in?
Where should your first touch go to get the advantage on your opponent?
In one v one situation is the player looking at the ball or has his head up?
What are his team mates reaction when the one v one situation occurs?
When you win the one v one what next?
If you lose the 1v1 what next?

Then there's the big picture. Why arent we producing the one v one player in quantity? Its probably societal, no street football, lack of good motorskills. Then cultural, parents without football knowledge unable to teach their kids what is good football and what is not.

When you see sessions based on these Style Rules you’ll be surprised how quickly the players pick up the possession game and how quickly they improve.
If you can pass pass
If you can’t pass hold onto the ball
No square balls
Players to have line of sight with the player on the ball
Second line of sight with the player n the ball
Action reaction (lose the ball get it back)

Dirk, it’s a nice sentiment and your hearts in the right place. But what does creativity look like?
How do we help the player become creative?
What is the measure of ball mastery?
How do we help the player develop ball mastery?
What does exciting and positive mean? What does it look like?
Elements of disguise and surprise, what is meant and how do you teach it?
i think you get what I mean, it’s similar to when coaches scream at 12 year olds to “concentrate” or “tighten up at the back”. What does that mean? How does the player interpret these instructions?
I hope you can see it’s not enough for kids aged 4-16 to effect improvement with these statements.

Getting back to Farina’s comments, personally I see nothing wrong with the National Curriculum, and the coaching course are a great resource.
i have made comment directly to Sean Douglas and Erik Abrams, that the coaching course in many cases have had little effect in changing a persons methods and understanding of the game from when they went in to when they went out.
Ive also been very lucky to have had an insight into Barcelona methodology through Valkanis via Gombau and Amor. At a workshop with Gombau he states these are the style rules of Barcelona.
They keep it very simple, their are six style rules.
If you can pass pass
If you can’t pass hold onto the ball
No square balls
Players to have line of sight with the player on the ball
Second line of sight with the player n the ball
Action reaction (lose the ball get it back)

When you see sessions based on these Style Rules you’ll be surprised how quickly the players pick up the possession game and how quickly they improve.
And yes they will use repetition skill moves.

Ive seen the same at PEC Zwolle where I was last year, great club great people, implementing the same style rules.

If you can pass pass
If you can’t pass hold onto the ball
No square balls
Players to have line of sight with the player on the ball
Second line of sight with the player n the ball
Action reaction (lose the ball get it back)

When you see sessions based on these Style Rules you’ll be surprised how quickly the players pick up the possession game and how quickly they improve.

Bang - See how simple it is....

Thanks for posting

What does it mean "Second line of sight with the player n the ball"?

Im not sure 

Im guessing the more advanced players have the ability to play different range of passes - so maybe over the top?

Dirk, it’s a nice sentiment and your hearts in the right place. But what does creativity look like?
How do we help the player become creative?
What is the measure of ball mastery?
How do we help the player develop ball mastery?
What does exciting and positive mean? What does it look like?
Elements of disguise and surprise, what is meant and how do you teach it?
i think you get what I mean, it’s similar to when coaches scream at 12 year olds to “concentrate” or “tighten up at the back”. What does that mean? How does the player interpret these instructions?
I hope you can see it’s not enough for kids aged 4-16 to effect improvement with these statements.

Getting back to Farina’s comments, personally I see nothing wrong with the National Curriculum, and the coaching course are a great resource.
i have made comment directly to Sean Douglas and Erik Abrams, that the coaching course in many cases have had little effect in changing a persons methods and understanding of the game from when they went in to when they went out.
Ive also been very lucky to have had an insight into Barcelona methodology through Valkanis via Gombau and Amor. At a workshop with Gombau he states these are the style rules of Barcelona.
They keep it very simple, their are six style rules.
If you can pass pass
If you can’t pass hold onto the ball
No square balls
Players to have line of sight with the player on the ball
Second line of sight with the player n the ball
Action reaction (lose the ball get it back)

When you see sessions based on these Style Rules you’ll be surprised how quickly the players pick up the possession game and how quickly they improve.
And yes they will use repetition skill moves.

Ive seen the same at PEC Zwolle where I was last year, great club great people, implementing the same style rules.

There's a lot of nuances to playing a possession style game. For instance a 1v1 must still has purpose, dependent on the situation.
With the youth player when is the right time and place to use 1v1? 
Why doesn't 1v1 involve a bounce, then a 1-2 pass?
What body shape should you be in?
Where should your first touch go to get the advantage on your opponent?
In one v one situation is the player looking at the ball or has his head up?
What are his team mates reaction when the one v one situation occurs?
When you win the one v one what next?
If you lose the 1v1 what next?

Then there's the big picture. Why arent we producing the one v one player in quantity? Its probably societal, no street football, lack of good motorskills. Then cultural, parents without football knowledge unable to teach their kids what is good football and what is not.

What does it mean "Second line of sight with the player n the ball"?

Very well put. I think that set of questions is crucial. However, I do think certain distinctions need to be drawn. I think (youth) footballers need to be mindful of all of these questions in match situations so that they don't needlessly forfeit possession, especially without defensive cover. Imo, the distinction is that these questions don't all need to considered in different phases of practice. Otherwise, there's a risk that players will be too reluctant to go with the 1 vs 1 route at all.

So in the "skill practice" phase, in small-sided games and even in "phases of play" practice (to an extent), it's crucial that footballers have licence to try 1 vs 1 without fear of getting ticked off. They still need to be mindful of body shape, head position and direction. But I think they need to be free to do silly and selfish things.

Massimo Luongo made some comment along the lines that Daniel Arzani hasn't had the 1 vs 1 aggressiveness coached out of him. I don't know Arzani. But I'm willing to bet that, growing up, he wasn't being careful to ensure that every 1 vs 1 duel he made in a training situation (probably match situations, too) was perfectly safe and measured. There needs to be a bit of freedom to try things. I think that it's easier to build the skill and then to refine the tactics around it than to learn to execute a skill (from scratch) with perfect tactical awareness.

Let's assume my guess is good. Daniel Arzani is now probably very grateful that he was a free spirit, even if he didn't dot every "i" and cross every "t".



Agreed. It would also help if Australia had a bigger player pool. But in street football, there are fewer rules and less adherence to tactical awareness (what happens if I lose the ball? etc.). Given that there's a lot less street football these days, is it possible we need to compensate for this opportunity to play freely in training? It just looks to me as if that reinforces the need to give footballers licence to be creative and a bit selfish with the ball at various points in training.

Even in street football if you want to dribble one two or three players you better beat the opponents cause if you don’t the dribblers team mates will give him hell for not looking up to see the opportunities to score a simple goal.

The best place to start is with ourselves

What prejudice do we hold about certain players or styles of play. 

The most common thing I hear these days, mostly from people who know very little, is 'he hold on to the ball too long'.......and then people look at each other knowingly like they know the key to football success...

So as Moembarts says - lets celebrate the creative, lets celebrate the individuals.....not just talk in hushed tones about 'not being a team player'...

RESPECT THE INDIVIDUAL.....

The problem is that the coach's ego is at stake.....as well as other players who aren't as creative or talented....

So the talented individual is in a tough place unless they receive support

I don't think that's always the case, though. I was in the Netherlands for 3-4 months in 2018. Kids played street football and cage football for hours after school and on weekends.

Often, kids just have fun with the ball at their feet and try out different things. If they attempt to dribble a couple of opponents, now and then, their teammates won't (or shouldn't) have a tantrum if they lose the ball. Sure, there are also more competitive street football games in which teammates might get a bit fed up if another teammate ALWAYS tries to take everyone on and often loses the ball. But it's really a question of balance.

How do we learn to do something well? We learn by failure. For 99.99% of people, we try and fail. We keep trying until we succeed. True mastery is the person trying until they basically can't fail.

If you want to try to take on an opponent, 1 vs 1, chances are you'll fail in the early days. Same with if you progress to trying to take on two or three opponents. But it's necessary to experience that failure and to learn how to do it. To that end, we need to allow failure. Now and then, a footballer like Daniel Arzani comes along and it makes everybody sit up. Do you really think guys like that had tactical awareness at the back of their mind (let alone the forefront of their mind) for every single 1 vs 1 duel they attempted as kids?

Is it more feasible to allow an Arzani type footballer to develop their individual skills with freedom and then to encourage them to refine their 1 vs 1 with greater consideration of situational awareness?  Or, from Day 1, to try to get an Arzani-type footballer to ensure that they are only attempting a 1 vs 1 in exclusively tactically-suitable scenarios?

Does Australian football need more Arzani-type footballers? Or more midfielders who can pass well, can execute a plan but who lack that x-factor?

Australia needs improvement in every position at the very level. Technically and tactically.

Agreed. But some positions more than others. Case in point, how the NT played against France.

Defensively very solid and midfield did well. But what of the final third? Appalling. Toothless in terms of individual ability and innocuous finishing. What's missing more than anything is the Arzani-type of footballer.

Australian football is very bottom-heavy. Nevertheless, I agree with you that Australia needs improvement everywhere and in all facets.

To develop better individual technique, creativity and strong 1v1 play get every kid that is playing football from the ages of 5-12 whether it’s grassroots or SAP into futsal and watch the improvement.

The modern successor to street football is futsal but it’s under utilised in Australia, the likes of Rogic, Arzani were big components of it when they were young. 

Unfortunately (imo) Futsall is not the answer and, to a certain extent, is contributing to the problems in player quality that we have.