Nice article TJ Keeptheball blog is an excellent source of intersting articles.

I particularly like these comments;



and this;



So true!

We played a team last week whose coach just had them belting it long each and every time to their one good player, their striker. They ended up winning but barely kept the ball on the ground - how much will these kids improve in 3 years with a coach like that? Hardly, I'd think..

Not in my immediate plans, old mate.

Quite happy sniping from the sidelines......bringing some accountability where it is most needed. ;)

The vast majority and mean like 90% of kids playing (if not more)the game just want to enjoy the game and that means learning to pass, shoot and dribble. Play different positions on the field, play with their mates regardless of grading and team selection etc.
Without coaches screaming at them telling them what to do and a chorus of parents on the touch line joining in.

My point is why has the FFA not taken the next step and enforced these rules at junior levels perhaps starting at rep then integrating them into the other comps.

Im on the North coast and rep is where I've seen some of the worst parental behaviour, its just so much more serious I guess.

Posted on January 4, 2013
http://keeptheball.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/speed-kills/

SPEED KILLS

Our Highways Authority issued a driving warning that states — ‘SPEED KILLS’. This evocative statement was delivered to road users as deaths mounted on our roads due to excessive speed. Roads of varying types are designated with appropriate speed limits, but disregard of these warnings is often the cause of road fatalities.

Why have I written about traffic speed violations and the deaths that ensue from speeding in a football ‘blog’? Well, like the disastrous consequences too much speed has on the road, the over-emphasis given to speed in our football is a paramount cause of the ‘death of our game’ in this country.

Of course, safe driving does not necessarily mean slow driving; on Motorways there is a higher speed limit attached but this extra speed allowance must be used carefully and adjusted to suit traffic and road conditions. The game of football is no different; the correct use of speed is essential in producing the best results.

Our game is riddled with ‘SPEED MANIA’ – we have little conception of when to play slowly and when to quicken the tempo in games. The use of ‘Motorway – full-ahead speed’ irrespective of the circumstances at the time is a debilitating problem in our game. However, a strange thing is occurring in our game — some teams are playing slowly, some might say — too slowly! This about-turn in tactics by some clubs here should be applauded but questioned at the same time; changing such a prominent national game feature as game speed is not something that can be achieved overnight. The playing variations and decisions on changing from one playing speed to another is not fully understood by coaches and players and is often mis-applied.

Barcelona FC – the initiator of slower, preparatory, build-up play is the example that much of football is attempting to copy. Their brand of slower, possession football allied to quicker, penetrative movements is admired by many but poorly copied by all. Playing football a-la-Barcelona style requires high quality individual skills allied to superb levels of team and game understanding and these qualities take time to acquire. A Learner driver is not allowed onto Motorways because he/she does not have the skill or experience of driving at this level. Similarly, even an experienced driver would have great difficulty to sit behind the wheel of a Formula one racing car going at high speed. The promotion from Learner to Formula One driver takes time; the same situation must be accorded to footballers’ for in all walks of life, gainful experience is the ultimate requirement for improvement and success.

Our players have been brought up on a ‘maximum effort all the time’ playing culture. There has been scant concern with speed assessment in the game and a ‘crash-bang-wallop’ playing style has been seen as the way to play. Physical qualities, especially speed, are more common at all levels here than game skills. The constant demand for more and more speed to counteract the lack of talented players available is not only a disturbing feature of our game but something that can only lead to disaster. The game in this country is ‘hyped’ beyond recognition of its true status: We ‘import’ foreign skill as we can’t produce our own skilful players and we continue with coaching and development methods that have historically failed to produce both players and a suitable national game-style.

The faster one does something the more likelihood of mistakes and failure; the Learner driver trying to handle a racing car at high speed is no different than a footballer playing at a speed beyond his playing ability, each will be unable to cope with the demands set them thus leading to disaster — on the track and on the football field !

It's hard to blame junior coaches too with the media totally obsessed with one touch, possession football.
We want kids to have as many touches on the ball as possible yet we want to promote one touch football. It's really something the FFA coaching licenses are quite unclear about also.

Decentrics approach is what we need more of to give Particapatory Clubs a boost and better understanding of modern and adavanced methodology that can even short term effects on childrens level of play.
Open type sessions that educate the player and parent.

I 've sometimes wondered whether some social players want to work on their game to the extent I'm pushing them, or overloading them with information in technical or tactical detail.

I've found that to be a challenging aspect of coaching aswell but in my experiences if you put the time in one on one with a player they will do their best to consume that advice.

I've spent time with some who just don't want to put in the work to improve their game.

It is a difficult scenario. Some players in a team cannot be prepared to put in the work, individually, to help the team, some don't have the game sense to see where they are struggling ( insight) and some with sound game sense don't have the technique and confidence.

They are all united in wanting to win. However, one player bringing a few mates along, with little skill, can impede a team with a collective ambition to improve. I was disappointed in their disinterest in improving their game in the off season. Their regular coach was too, when he thought they had some great opportunities, but didn't take them.

Had that exact problem last season, the season before we had was brilliant and the kids went to school and obviously told their mates so this season we had from a squad of 13 to a squad of 18. None of the new players had played before and put a lot of pressure on the better players to carry the team which proved beyond them. They went from a very happy bunch of kids winning once every 2 or 3 games to not winnning all season and not enjoying themselves as much as the season before. Many of the new players have already told me they wont be playing next year.

http://tikitakafootballcoaching.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/systems-football-part-one/

AJAX / BARCELONA FC / FOOTBALL THEORY / TOTAL FOOTBALL
Systems Football: Part One
Posted on November 10, 2012 by TPIMBW2 4 Comments
First written and published on EPLindex.com by Jed C.Davies of TPiMBW

In your search in fathoming the secrets of how to coach or play ‘systems football’, you’ll need to not only question everything you read here but everything you already know about tactical approaches in football – never assume you know all there is to know. Forget formation, start from nothing and recreate the basic concepts in football to suit the qualities you have to work within, but understand that your concepts should still fit within a basic framework, a framework of systems football.

On a conveyor belt coaches turn up to Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper to watch Barcelona train; they come in their thousands with their notebooks, hoping to frantically scribble down hundreds of epiphany moments and come away with all of football’s answers. The formula for any successful systems approach will not be found in this way; it is a ‘whole-approach’ that needs to be experienced. Therefore, to simply mimic Barcelona’s approach entirely is in practice extremely difficult to do and in most cases impractical to do so.

The formula of successfully implementing systems football begins at ground zero; yes, you take the basic principles from the particular system you wish to mimic, but from there onwards, it’s a journey of self discovery – a journey of understanding not just yourself within the complexities of a system, but also those of your opponents and the field itself. The solutions and spatial relationships on a field are interminable and in a constant state of flux depending on who has the ball and where the opponents are positioned – in attack, in defence, unabridged.

The first element within the complex systems approach to football is technical possession:

“I like to control games. I like to be responsible for our own destiny. If you are better than your opponent with the ball you have a 79 per cent chance of winning the game” (Brendan Rodgers)

That much is now obvious – keep the possession (Re: Spain Euro 2012). However, where do you begin when you have a group of twelve year olds who only know how to play the long ball over the top for the quicker players to run on to? (still effective at youth level, but quickly becomes a redundant tactic as players progress). Grab yourself a futsal (a smaller ball that doesn’t lend itself to bouncing or ‘hoof ball‘), a decent playing surface and become obsessed with passing and pressing in triangles, not just in isolated groups of three, but eventually as an entire collective. Positional play is imperative:

“Lots of coaches devote their time to wondering how they can ensure that their players are able to do a lot of running during a match. Ajax trains its players to run as little as possible on the field. That is why positional games are always central” (Louis Van Gaal)

Given time, players will make a habit of learning how to play in partnership with one another – this type of football (futsal) forces it upon players and can be played at any of the younger age groups. Position play will come naturally through the shorter passing play that evolves from the triangular player relationships that you should encourage, at first allow them to play at a stable tempo they are comfortable with (this will be addressed later: the importance of differentiated tempo) – the importance here is on positional play and the spectrum passing technique and vision:

“perfect passing, the fact that all their players are comfortable on the ball, and their perfect technique. That must be a question of training, training and more training. Always with the ball” (Lothar Mattheus)

As a youth player, you come across one or two important pieces of advice that live with you forever. Jon Rudkin, a Leicester City Football Academy coach, once told me that I should be looking around every three to five seconds to know exactly where everyone (team mates, opponents and the space) were around me, with or without the ball – the idea is to give yourself at least three options that would be available at any moment, whether that be a pass to a team mate, the direction of a first touch or a move into space. This way I would be expecting the ball at any given moment and I would know exactly where the first touch should go to shield the ball from an opponent, or exactly where an available team mate would be to play a first touch pass out and then spin away into space. Jon may not have realised it, but the moment he gave the players this advice, an epiphany moment came to me as a young 13/14 year old – it’s stayed with me ever since, how I saw football changed forever. Jon may not remember saying that, or even remember me but as a coach you are a position of great importance and your choice of words are as important before a game and at half time as they are on the training pitch midweek.

“Think quickly, look for spaces. That’s what I do: look for spaces. All day. I’m always looking. All day, all day. Here? No. There? No. People who haven’t played don’t always realise how hard that is. Space, space, space. It’s like being on the PlayStation. I think shit, the defender’s here, play it there. I see the space and pass. That’s what I do.” (Xavi)

Charly Rexach, a Barcelona youth coach is famed for his ’a mig toc’ (half a touch) shout from the side lines at his youth team midfielders. By this he is referring to just how quickly he wants his players to take their first touch and/or pass and for the midfield this ties in almost perfect harmony with the advice Jon once gave me as a youth player.

The only way you can reach a level that is transferrable from a training field to conquering your opponents on match day is through practice, even Barcelona practice these two elements of possession football – over and over, and over:

“It’s all about rondos [an advanced version of piggy in the middle]. Rondo, rondo, rondo. Every. Single. Day. It’s the best exercise there is. You learn responsibility and not to lose the ball.” (Xavi)

EL RONDO

An advanced, quick paced version of the well known ‘piggy in the middle’. Begin in smaller groups (7 v 3, 4 v 2 or 3 v 1) and give them one ball and a 10x10m square (smaller as they progress, or larger dependant on the number of participants). The concept is that the middle players are to press and not tackle; they’ll learn to press in teams. Promoting partnerships is also an option available here whereby two players are a ‘rondo pressing team’ (Messi begged Guardiola to team up with Busquets during Busquets’ first training session with the first team)

The Rondo reduces those in possession to only one or two touches (or half a touch), and requires them to think about the space around them quickly. When the ball is won, either the single player who lost the ball replaces the ball winner in the middle (as in piggy in the middle) or you bring in a rule that the ball is to be won three times and then a new partnership comes into the middle.

The key to retaining enjoyment from players is keeping the rondo competitive, being proud of a team’s tradition and using it to intimidate both new comers to the team and opponents during the warm up.

As the players understanding of partnership pressing develops, the ball players will need to improve further still to keep the ball.

CONCLUSION

Part one of this series was intended as a brief overview into the mindset of possession keeping systems football (such as the media branded Tiki-Taka and Totaal-Voetbal).

We have highlighted the importance of space, possession and how the individuals function perfectly in harmony as an integrated machine. Though these are concepts that many consider simplistic, mastering these basic components in football are elements of a wider masterpiece that is forever growing, there is no blueprint, no finished article.

Through the design of systems football that will be explained briefly over the series, the concepts of space as a defining element in football and that of ‘freedom by design’ will become clear.

However, first and foremost the foundations must be laid, the philosophy must be understood and trusted by the players, promoting going backwards with the ball to go forwards; that the strength of the team is that of the whole team and not any individual position or player.

“Más de un entrenador de fútbol” (more than a football coach) [a play on Barcelona's "Més que un club"]

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” (Richard Buckminster Fuller)

Systems Football: Part Two
Posted on November 10, 2012 by TPIMBW2 4 Comments
First written and published on EPLindex.com by Jed C.Davies of TPiMBW

There are several overarching themes found in the array of approaches to systems football: the concept of spatial zones, player duties, practical space creation, positional relations and flexibility

Brendan Rodgers explained that his approach uses eight different horizontal zones across the field and he thinks about space in this way; each space with different zonal expectancies (speed of play, pass direction tendencies etc)

It is imperative that the system of formation that you set out to implement is explained well enough so that ideas can be transferred without any information lost. More important, however, is the level of flexibility that a coach can design for; the ability to slip between a back four and a back three dependant on the number of forwards the opponents play and the changeover in ownership of possession. Whether a centre back becomes a deep-lying midfielder or a full back becomes a wide midfielder is down to personal preference and team ability strengths.

When detailing formation to a team, players often make presumptions about what duties and roles he is expected to play. The same player can play as two very different players in two different positions – an almost unrecognisable change in playing style is not uncommon. While systems football does encourage player duties and roles, it is more important to consider your duties and roles dependant on the location of possession, rather than labelling yourself as a right-winger and being set in a mindset of consistently sprinting into space and beating your opponent only.

Below is the typical Ajax system under Louis Van Gaal in the 90′s (you could view this as anything from a 4-5-1 to a 3-4-3, 3-3-4, 4-3-3, 4-4-2 etc by moving just two players [no. 4 and no. 10] into nearby positions):



The above diagram highlights that each position is not played in isolation when in possession; positional combinations carry a great weight of importance.

The circles in the diagram above are not suggestive that those players only have positional relationships with only those in the highlighted circle. The circles are merely to illustrate the ways in which basic level covering are related to one another.

Ruud Krol, Ajax left back in the 1970′s summarises this point perfectly:

“If I, as a left back (no. 3) , run 70 metres up the wing, it’s not good if I immediately have to run 70 metres back to my starting position. So if the left-midfield player (no. 6) takes my place, and the left-winger (no. 11) takes the midfield position, then it shortens the distances. If you run ten times seventy metres, thats a total of 1400 metres. If you change it so you must only run 1000 metres, you will be 400 metres fresher. That was the philosophy.” (Ruud Krol)

Therefore through player unity in perfect understanding Krol has worked to 71% of the usual.

The aim of this possession style of play is to increase the frequency at which your team has 3 V 2 situations – the extra man (triangles). To swing the ball from left to right and back again until a gap appears, a movement that aims to create a quality opportunity while in possession deep in the final third, in small and compact playing zones (re: el rondo in part one).

Therefore, beating a man in a confined space, overlapping and combination play are key areas for concentration. These areas of concentration are more relevant than repeatedly sprinting into space to receive the ball [note *combination play replaces this notion of individualistic attitude to receive the ball in space].

While 3 V 2 scenarios are encouraged during moments of keep ball, 1 V 1 scenarios are used effectively and sparingly to cause damage to the opponents defensive line. Usually the wingers in your team are capable of winning 1 V 1 scenarios, through pace or skill. Remember that in an action-reaction scenario, the player in control and making the action has the upper hand as the reactor has to react and therefore is always at a reaction-time deficit. Good defenders will attempt to gain control of the action-reaction scenario by forcing the forward into a position by offering space, this way the defender knows where the player with the ball is about to go and therefore the reaction time is cut significantly.

The same scenario is true of team movement through player combinations which can be explained and understood clearly through the following training session which encourages many of the concepts spoken about within these notes:

TRAINING SESSION 9 v 9

Objectives: high speed, fast ball, semi-rehearsed ball circulation; to improve the quality of the catalyst pass; to grasp the concept of differentiated zones; to create space where there is little; to rehearse off ball movement in expanding and concentrating space.

Organisation: three zones; play based on a positional system; in two-thirds it is two touch, in one-third it is one touch only.

This training method encapsulates many of the concepts involved in systems football, from those listed in the objectives to 1 V 1 in the final third and 3 V 2 elsewhere. Naturally space and tempo will be thought about in a more practical way than usual and pressing becoming clear when out of possession.

“Every player has to understand the whole geometry of the whole pitch” (Gerard van der Lem)



Commentary:

In the above scenario, the desired ‘found-space’ is in front of the right back. The right back is the third man, the intended player to be in possession when the centre back is on the ball. Think of the space in front of the right back, as the space teammates want to expand when the centre back is in possession. The ball is played forward into a tight space to draw away the opponents and then laid off into the desired space. Immediately after the ball finds the right back in this space, the appropriate players then compact the region to encourage keep ball in a more advanced position of the field. I call this the plug and drain method – one where the off ball movement is as important as the initial catalyst pass from the central defender

Players will begin to understand the concept of creating space and then compacting it effectively. One moment the pitch is crowded and narrow, then next the space opens up for the right back and then in an instance the field is compact and possession is kept further up field.

The team in possession has this play rehearsed, they are two passes ahead of the opposition and therefore able to play the next four or five passes at great speeds with few touches

This play is all about adjusting the lenses of off ball movement. It shouldn’t be as linear as to move into space to receive the ball selfishly. Selfless movement is as important.

Thinking about the space in front of the right back as an opening and clenching fist or as a living, breathing and beating heartbeat is key to this exercise.

< END OF SESSION >

Systems football is, among other things, a conceptual revolution based on the idea that the size of any football field is flexible and can be altered by the team playing on it. In possession, the formation should intend on creating space and therefore making the pitch as big as possible.

As players know the passing movement that is about to take place, player movement and formation changes take place to compact particular regions of the field: the 4-1-3 formation in the diagram above, very quickly becomes a 3-4-1 as players rotate accordingly.

Control is in the positional movement and relationships encouraged throughout the zonal concept of formation:

“the English don’t think until they have the ball at their feet…we don’t think about the first man. We think of the third man, the one who has to run. If I get the ball, the third man can run immediately because he knows I will pass to the second man, and he will give it to him. If I delay, the third man has to delay his run and the moment is over. It is that special moment, that special pass.” (Arnold Muhren)

KEY CONCEPTS TO CONSIDER

> Zonal attitudes and not positional attitude;

> shared player duties;
> thinking three/four passes ahead (third man movement) and catalyst passes;
> understanding (players and team) – the cogs;
> the covering;
> the movement;
> the zonal expectancies, positioning – with possession can be rehearsed to a certain extent;
> 3v2′s and 1v1′s;
> expanding and compacting space;
> formation with and without possession changes.

NOTE: sign up to http://www.thepathismadebywalking.com’s free newsletter to be the first to be the first to know when the Tiki-Taka Handbook is to be released: a coaching handbook accompanied with explanatory purpose designed training sessions (all versions: ebook etc) and 11 diagrammatic player handbooks (hard copy only)

Part III of V, Defending In A Systems Approch of Football

P
art three of this series promised an illustrative insight into the defensive components that make up a successful systems football approach. In truth, each part of this series of articles are overlapping and interlinked since the pertinent approach is one that advocates an approach of 'oneness' and 'wholeness'. It would therefore be both difficult and impractical to isolate the component of defending in a systems approach without linking defending with each and every aspect of the system.

In both approaches of totaal-voetball and tiki-taka, it is likely that the possession statistics will be balanced in your favour; therefore, the way in which you think about defending needs to be altered.

This article will cover three aspects of defensive thinking in a system's approach: movement, pressing and compaction. At the end of the article will be some general advice from the professionals (Ashley Cole, Michael Carrick...) about how to deal with your opponents.

It is important to remember that whilst systems football is an approach that finds the middle ground between science and art, the components when broken down are not alien to us as knowledgeable football analysts. But, it is the way they are packaged and formed together as one single approach that intrigues us. As always it would be impossible to cover everything concerning defending in a systems approach; however, this article has picked out three of the most important aspects of defending in a systems approach

Please find part's one and two at the end of this post if you are yet to read them

DEFENSIVE MOVEMENT

In the Ajax model and formation from week two a flexible formation was presented to you (3-4-3/4-3-3 and so on) just by moving two players. However, in the Barcelona model it is not the centre back who becomes a midfielder, but the contrary as a midfielder becomes a libero and the full backs become midfielders in the change over of possession. The model aims that your team is to have more possession (65%+ in most cases), therefore players roaming forward is not nearly as risky as it would be in a more balanced match of possession, even so - the roaming forward must be a calculated and controlled one. Never reckless.


[youtube]wWXSXcAfXqY[/youtube]

Commentary:

In week two we covered how formations are both possession-based and zonal dependant. The above animation shows the importance of movement by the defensive line; as possession changes over the team's formation alters:

The defensive midfielder drops back and becomes a central defender, the free man who is able to act as a covering and ball playing defender. The two existing central defenders are the marking conscious defenders.

The full backs push on into the space created as the inside forwards move inside, taking their markers with them (re: week two's concept of off ball movement to create space).

This of course is all theoretical and in practice the controlled surge forward will be a purposeful and concentrated one (down the left or right).

Week two's training exercise illustrated how third-man running is imperative to quick and precise passing. The concept of 'found-space' is easily created for full backs to run into and is one that Barcelona capitalise on time and time again

In the Ajax model Rijkaard played as a centre back turned defensive midfielder when possession was won. However, Barcelona's model is exactly as shown in the animation. Busquets drops into the centre of defence, while Puyol and Pique spread into wide positions while Barcelona are in possession, often right out onto the touchlines to create space for themselves and give the oppositions attackers the headache of either pressing out of position on the wing or allowing them the space. The two full backs are then fully covered and enabled to drive forward into the found space and compacts the play higher up the field.

The full back is a position that truly developed in Brazil in the 1950's and after the 1994 World Cup, Jack Charlton came forward and stated that he believed the full back to be the most important player in attacking movement. However, this rationalised truth has been present throughout footballing history:

Carlos Alberto (1970) for Brazil was given the freedom to roam forward as Everaldo, on the opposite flank, tucked in and became the third centre back. But in more recent years it has not been uncommon for both full backs to take a Carlos Alberto stance on attacking movement. Jorginho and Branco, Thuram and Lizarazu, Cafu and Roberto Carlos, Zambrotta and Grosso, Anyukov and Zhirkov and so on.

"a full-back who creates is an important part of winning" Arsène Wenger (2012)

Dani Alves has completed 63 assists for Barcelona from 2008/09 - 11/12, this only highlights the significance in the importance of the attacking full back. (An assist compilation as good as any goal compilation is available below:

[youtube]QnmfoFccN20[/youtube]


At Euro 2012, there was one particular match whereby an attacking full back made a significant influence on the outcome of the game. In the Italy v Croatia group C match, full back Ivan Strinic was clearly given half time instructions by manager Bilic to push forward and get crosses into the box. Strinic attempted 10 crosses (37% of all Croatia's crosses) and the tactical change was successful as the assist for Mario Mandzukic's goal came from a Strinic cross. (Italy v Croatia Match Report)

PRESSING

"The purpose of pressurising is to decrease both the time and the space which an attacking player has in which to make his pass or his dribble." (Charles Hughes)

A study in 1988 of 16 international matches showed that possession was won 13% of the time in the attacking third. A staggering 66% of goals scored were from this 13%

"You win the ball back when there are thirty metres to their goal not eighty" (Guardiola 2009)

The art of pressing was a concept widely recognised after Valeriy Lobanovskyi's book 'The Methodological Basis of the Development of Training Models'. In his study Lobanovskyi recognised that there were three different types of pressing in football: full-pressing, half-pressing and false-pressing. However, successful sides coordinate and utilise all three. Full-pressing is the most widely recognised aspect of pressing, whereby the opponents are under pressure and aggressively hunted deep in their own half. Half-pressing only comes into practice when the opponents cross the half way line and false-pressing is when a team pretends to press. To pretend to press is to have one player close down the player in possession, while the others sit off. The theory behind this is that the mistakes are still caused despite not full-pressing.

Lobanovskyi would often instruct his team to work in phrases of all three. To full-press early on and then completely switch to false-pressing to throw the opponents and still induce the key error.

"the first thing we have in mind is to strive for new courses of action that will not allow the opponent to adapt to our style of play. If an opponent has adjusted himself to our style of play and found a counterplay, then we need to find new a new strategy. That is the dialectic of the game. You have to go forward in such a way and with such a range of attacking options that it will force the opponent to make a mistake. In other words, it's necessary to force the opponent into the condition you want them to be in. One of the most important means of doing that is to vary the size of the playing area." (Lobanovskyi)

Through compacting the play whilst in possession, a defensive ploy is intertwined with an attacking strategy. As the team move forward in possession and compact into a 'rondo-style' (week one) zonal approach to possession, the players are already in place in the event to lose the ball to act quickly and immediately press in these same dangerous zones. On winning the ball back, the players are already in perfect position to begin the process of picking at the lock once again.

"Do you know how Barcelona win the ball back so quickly? It's because they don't have to run back more than 10 metres as they never pass the ball more than 10 metres." (Johan Cryuff)



In the diagram above the two world's of attacking and defending merge together. The theoretical scenario shows that in such an approach, a 'whole' systems approach, you simply cannot attack without thinking about defending; just as the defensive forward movement shows you cannot defend without thinking about attacking.

As the play is compacted into the right wing zone, players are playing in a rondo-like manner, one which will have been well practiced in training and therefore, an uncomfortable scenario that is made comfortable to the team in possession. In the event the ball is lost (to the oppositions left back in the scenario), as stated already, the players are already perfectly placed to press and force an immediate error. The left back is left with kicking the ball out of play and playing the ball back to a keeper; in which case the forward is awaiting for the predicted pass, to pounce and press. The keeper will then have no time to pick out a pass and usually will resort to kicking the ball out of play or a long ball played forward; the striker is then out numbered by the defenders left around him.

Simply, in the scenario the opponents win the ball back, the aim is then to give the opponents no space and to force an immediate error and an immediate return of possession. Of course, you can argue that this is theoretical; However, with play consistently being forced into the same zones time and time again, you learn to understand the space around you in these zones and this scenario in particular is one that Barcelona see frequently because of this. By understanding the compacted zones you can then work on team unity in pressing:

"You cannot go (press) on your own...You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can't and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can't run about like a madman." Brendan Rodgers

Rodgers, like Guardiola implements a six second rule whereby the opponents are most vulnerable in possession. Six seconds to force an error and win the ball back. A six second hunt to smother the ball.

If the ball is not won back within this time zone and it is no longer appropriate to use this approach, the team must fall back and perform a controlled press as a singular unit.

There are then triggers for when to press, so the team knows when to do this together, as one. Devastatingly coordinated. A coalition between eleven players.

One of these triggers is highlighted in the scenario given, a player wins the ball and then turns back to goal. In doing this, the defender has narrowed down his options to only pass the ball back as the players immediately are in place to not allow the defender the opportunity to turn.

The second is when the opponents takes a bad touch, an uncontrolled one. The opponent will then need to look down to relocate the ball; thus losing sight of the field around him for those few seconds. It's those first few seconds that matter most, in your survival of the perfect full-pressing approach.

COMPACTION

I warned you didn't I, of the overlap in trying to isolate the details of a systems approach. Through the defensive movement forward into selected areas, the rondo-like approach in small zones and the possibility of an aggressive immediate press many of the benefits of player compaction has been made obvious in how to both defend and attack, since they are simply 'almost' the same thing.

However, to highlight the importance in compacting a deep defensive line closer to the midfield two juxtaposing diagrams has been provided below.


By pressing high you have reduced the amount of space available to the target man. The long ball is often played to play out of high pressure situations or to try and find a winner in the dying minutes of the game. If the defence sits deep, then the vast amount of space available to the forward, should he win the ball and gain control, enables the forward to hold up the ball and play in a midfielder driving forward.

The positioning of each and every player while in possession is set out to be perfect whilst in possession and in the event of losing possession at any given moment. Or as Graham Taylor says:

"The defensive positions you should actually concentrate on when your team has possession of the ball. Good defenders always assume that the ball is going to be lost and that puts you into good positions" (http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/tactics/how-to-defend-when-youve-got-the-ball)

This may well be true, but Guardiola, Lobanovskyi, Michels et al. clearly believe that every player on the team is a defender and every player on the team is an outlet when in possession.

GENERAL ADVICE FROM THE PROFESSIONALS ABOUT DEFENDING

Michael Carrick: "Force the opposition to play the ball where you want. Do this by stepping off the player you are marking and drawing them into a pass, then trying to intercept it."

This ties in nicely with the concept of being in control of the situation despite not being in possession. You cut the action-reaction time by doing just as Carrick suggests; but allowing the opponent to see the space that you know he is about to go into and be confident that you are quick enough to beat him to the ball in this space. It is also true that teams often force opponents down the flanks as crossing rates are normally around the 20% mark in terms of their success rates; a far lower success rate than that of a through ball in a dangerous central position. The logic is simple.

Ashley Cole is arguably one of the world's best left backs and any advice from him (on football related issues only) is invaluable. Here is Cole's advice on how to deal with different types of opponents: [note - the following is not my work and has been directly taken from the excellent advice section at http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/]

" The trickster

"Get out tight to him, and get on his first touch as quickly as you can. Show him inside to your centre-back or midfielder. When he puts his head down to take another touch or cross the ball, he doesn't know where you are – that's when you put your foot in and make the tackle. And when you make the first tackle, make sure it's a strong one so he knows he can't keep doing all the tricks all the time."

The speedster

"Don't get too tight because a fast winger will just knock it past you and run. Back off a little bit, let him have two or three touches then make the tackle. Against a tricky winger you let them have one touch and get tight, but against someone quick you want to drop off a little more so you can bide your time and wait until the moment is right to make the tackle. Show him down the line to block the cross. If he does manage to get past you, you've got a chance to stop the cross."

The killer crosser

"Playing against somebody like David Beckham – a player who wants to get an early cross in – you need to stay right on his feet. If a player has a quality delivery, as soon as they get it out of their feet they will just cross the ball so you want to man-to-man mark them, near enough. You stay on his touch, don't let him take two touches – make him play the ball backwards to his full-back or inside to one of his midfielders."

The targetman

"You've got to mix it up. Someone like Kevin Davies is going to be bigger and stronger than you so when the ball is in the air you nudge them slightly because it makes them think I'll be standing right on them next time, but then I'll jump early and try and get elevation off him to win the ball. Or just try and win the second ball – step off him, let him flick it on and then intercept it. It doesn't matter how big and tall the opponent is, if you make your presence known at the right time – just as you're jumping – it's going to put them off their game."

The sledger

"If the winger is trying to wind you up, do the same to them. Try as much as you can to put them off and get in their head; get them thinking about something else. You can be friends off the pitch, but when you're on the pitch, you want to win. If you kick someone, say sorry, help them up and explain it wasn't meant."

The flying full-back

"If you're playing against an attacking full-back you have to make sure he keeps having to defend. If the full-back pushes on he's going to leave a space in behind him, so as soon as your team gets the ball, sprint into that space and he will have to chase you. You do have to battle one vs one sometimes – if you go, he's going to go; and if he goes, I'm going to go. But you have to have a good relationship with your winger, because sometimes he'll have to track him. The key is to fight fire with fire and back yourself to come out on top." "

NOTE: sign up to www.thepathismadebywalking.com's free newsletter to be the first to be the first to know when the Tiki-Taka Handbook is to be released: a coaching handbook accompanied with explanatory purpose designed training sessions (all versions: ebook etc) and 11 diagrammatic player handbooks (hard copy only).

http://www.ecaeurope.com/Global/Research/ECA%20Report%20on%20Youth%20Academies.pdf

Found this. Not sure if it has been posted but I'm sure some here would like the read.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2013/01/22/jurgen-klinsmann-us-mens-national-soccer-team-sounds-off/

January 22, 2013, 6:46 PM ET

Jurgen Klinsmann Sounds OffByMatthew Futterman

Getty Images
Jurgen Klinsmann looks on during the U.S. men’s soccer team training session at the Home Depot Center last week in Carson, Calif.

Jurgen Klinsmann, the former German star who now coaches the U.S. men’s national soccer team, is a man of strong opinions, especially when the subject is just what it takes to reach the pinnacle of his sport. Klinsmann has done it all in during his career. He’s won a Wolrd Cup as a player and coached a resurgent German side to the 2006 semifinal, in addition to starring for some of the most hallowed clubs in the game, including Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

Now he is trying to lift the U. S. men’s team into the game’s top tier, a task he says requires a shift that is equal parts, cultural, physical and tactical. In a rare lengthy interview, Klinsmann, whose second and third languages are better than some peoples’ native tongues, expounded upon his experiences and the task at hand.

Excerpts:

On the difference between coaching Germany and the U.S. and the need for a January camp for MLS players:

It is different, but at the same time it’s something that you want to be part of to improve certain things in what we are doing here. It is necessary because the off-season is way too long for the professional players here. In order to catch up with the rest of the world you need to have an 11-month calendar full of training and games if you want to get used to play on a very high intensity level throughout the entire year.

On whether it’s strange that someone used to playing in the game’s palaces is now competing in places like Jamaica and Antigua:
I always loved the variety of what the game has given me. In Europe you have games in Albania and Moldova, in very, very poor eastern European countries. The game gives you the opportunity to travel to places where probably as a normal tourist you never would have gone. We played Iran years ago, where the whole city of Tehran freaked out. 120,000 people. Yeah, we won the game but it was actually not about the game anymore, it was about what you lived through socially.

Now when you go through Concacaf to Antigua or Jamaica, or now you go to Honduras and Costa Rica, I see that as a huge learning opportunity. Inhale it, whatever the opportunity gives to you. If the field is bad as a player, there are always two teams on the field. If the conditions are bad, it’s the conditions for both teams. As a really good player you always find ways to solve it.

On whether he identifies as an American or a German after living in the U.S. for 15 years:
I certainly feel part of the American lifestyle. I adopted a lot of components. I have the advantage that I can compare a lot of things without bad-mouthing the other side. I can see a lot of ups in Europe and I can see a lot of ups that you have in America without putting down the other side, because every place is unique. Every place has its pro and cons. This country for us as a family and also where it is right now with soccer, it’s a really exciting time, because it has the biggest potential to grow in this country compared with all the other sports.

On the differences between an American and European player:

We would say it would be great if our 18- or 19- or 20-year-olds would have an environment where they get pushed every day, where they are accountable every day, where they understand what it means to be a pro, where they have 11 months of training, games, training games, where they have a chance to build their stamina to build their systems so you can really take in the game as a leading component, not just seven or eight months and then I go on vacation.

On whether talented American teens need to move to Europe:

You can’t answer that because I was not ready to go abroad until I was 24. Why would you send an 18-year old over in that situation? Maybe he has the talent, but maybe he is not ready, the support is not there, the family is not there, and you break his neck because he goes too early. But maybe another 18-year-old is able to do it. He is focused and more mature. [U.S. defender] Michael Bradley is a good example. He was more mature.

On the importance of attitude:

There is a difference between arrogance and confidence. And if you have three or four players on a 23- or 24-man roster that thinks it’s going to be easy you are done. And so [the German team] threw away a quarterfinal against Bulgaria (in 1994). We thought we won it already. It was 1-nil up, we scored a second goal, it was disallowed. It was a clear goal we thought at Giants Stadium, and suddenly they hit you with a free kick and a header and within a few minutes the game was over. And you stand on the field and you say, ‘Hold on a second. Rewind. What just happened? We are the better team.’

On what makes Spain so good:

They have that approach to the game that carries them from title to title, because they never get content they never get settled with the last success and they want to continue to play on a very high level. So it’s the team to beat in world football and also it’s the team to look at and to learn [from]. Last year I was in Brazil for a coaching seminar and the Brazilians, they have so many doubts now because they think, “How come we can’t catch up with Spain?” and it kills them because they are five-time world champions.

On the connection between a culture and the play on the field:

If you play a way on the field that is not what the people want to see, then you are going to fail anyway because there is not an energy connection between the people in the stands and what they see, and it is not only results-based. It is what they see, the body language of the players, the excitement, how they identify with their roles now.

[In Germany before the 2006 World Cup] it was a two-year process that was very different than what the people had experienced before. It was the government that asked for it, the media that asked for it. Everybody was in the same boat. We said the only way was we got to attack we got to go forward, maybe it’s in our DNA, maybe it was wrongfully in our DNA in two world wars. Who knows that? I don’t know; I was not even born yet. But I just said we Germans, we can’t take just defending, just sitting back, and waiting and countering. We’re not good at that. We need to take things into our own hands. We are a hard-working nation, we are doers. We can’t react to whatever happens. The Italians, they react, they sit back, they relax, they have a nice espresso and they say, “O.K., now, once you make your wrong move, [we] are going to counter-break and kill you.”

On his impact on the U.S. style:

I can’t come with my German approach and say this is how I want to do it in the U.S., because in the U.S., it would fail. I have certain experiences in different countries, I can understand many connections there, but I have to do it the way it is best for the players here, not how I would like to have it if I were somewhere else.

On the U.S. team’s mental approach:

We made some progress in terms of having the confidence to challenge the big nations, with a thought in mind to say we want to beat you here if we go to Italy or to Mexico. If we lose, so be it, maybe you were the better team and then we give you a compliment, but until the game is over we are going to give you a real fight.

On his players’ fitness:

The transition that you are trying to go through from reactive to proactive is also a transition on the physical side, because you have to do far more to play this type of a game than if you react to the game. That’s why Italians work two hours on the field on tactics and they barely move. They just walk. They know to perfection how to play in certain spaces, and they only need two chances to win the game. That is their way of doing it. I don’t think we are made for that here. People are for more. They say, “We want to attack, we want to create chances, we want to score as soon as possible.” But if you get into that aggressive-minded game, then you have to become even fitter than you ever were before.

On the importance of peer pressure for U.S. players:

This learning process, more and more they will understand it, that it is important that you know what you eat, that it is important that you know what sleep does to you. It is important that you know what alcohol will do to you if you consume it. The environment didn’t teach them those things before.

You play in Italy, your environment will teach you that. You go out to a restaurant they will watch you carefully what you eat and what you drink and if you drink more than two glasses of wine you get the looks from people. You understand by the looks–am I doing the right thing or the wrong thing? If you are in Europe or in South America, you are right away accountable for your actions. The soccer player is not bothered here at 3 o’clock in a night club, but if you would do that in Italy or Germany you are on the front page the next day or in England on the back page.

On Landon Donovan’s future:

Landon wanted his time off. He made certain decisions throughout the last couple of years that are his decisions. I watch that. I evaluate that. I could have evaluated him a few times when he was with us, not that many times, but a few times. I will make the call at the end of the day if he fits into my plans or not. I told him in December he’s not part of the January camp, and I told him in December he’s not part of the Honduras game. From his perspective, he’s still on his break.

On what’s missing in U.S. Soccer:

It’s not the accountability environment that we have in these other soccer-driven countries. [Players in the U.S.] settle very early because they don’t get the peer pressure. If a player makes it to MLS when he is 18- or 19-years old, he thinks he made it. This is the problem we have because we are not socially so connected so deeply to soccer in the daily life. They think, you get a tryout in Europe with West Ham, this is huge, you made it. No, you haven’t even made it if you have the contract with West Ham. And even if you play there and if you become a starter, which would make us happy, that still doesn’t mean that you made it.

[size=6]My whole talk to Clint Dempsey for 18 months was [about how] he hasn’t made s—. You play for Fulham? Yeah, so? Show me you play for a Champions League team, and then you start on a Champions League team and that you may end up winning the Champions League. There is always another level. If you one day reach the highest level then you’ve got to confirm it, every year. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi. Confirm it to me. Show me that every year you deserve to play for Real Madrid, for Bayern Munich, for Manchester United. Show it to me.[/size]

On the best moments he has seen the past 18 months:

You saw sequences in almost all of the games but certainly in the World Cup qualifiers at home against Jamaica, against Guatemala, where they completely outplayed both teams. It could have been three- or four-nil. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. It would have looked nicer. It was great to see how they took the pace to another level. The passing pace, the movement off the ball, playing out of the back with confidence. You didn’t see it for 90 minutes but you see it more and more and more, and this excites us. To play in Italy and to play with them, to challenge, boom-boom-boom, suddenly, there was moments where on the sidelines you say, “It’s working.” Even if it’s not enough time yet, but they are developing that sense.

On the worst of what he has seen:

The inconsistency. You got to prove it in a bad environment as well as in a good environment. You got to prove it on a bad field the same way as on a nice field. You can’t play the passing game, but give the same energy, the same determination, the same confidence. Give the signals to the opponent that we are not here to get beaten. Just adjust to wherever you are. We didn’t adjust to the physicality of Jamaica in Jamaica and then we gave away two or three stupid fouls.

On representing Germany:

You understood you are here to get a job done, because if you don’t get a job done you will hear it all over the place tomorrow. You had that pride and that confidence that you will get the job done. A confidence of a team to win many trophies over many decades, it’s a long-term evolution in the whole society. It’s not something that is only done on the soccer field. The U.S. has the confidence and the drive to say in basketball we will beat any team in the world. That has been built over decades because your system outclasses every other system in the world. So you say, “If we do our job properly, if we go to an Olympics we are going to win.” Brazil has that sense or maybe Spain right now. Germany had it a few years ago, though maybe we are lacking some element now to beat Spain, so it’s a path, a long-term path you have to follow.

Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Hi All,

Just made a small change to the Topic heading to reflect some of the data posted.

New Title "Articles Links Research & Papers on player development"

Old Title "Junior DevelopmentArticles"

Feel free to post information such as articles, links, youtube etc. here, I think it can develop into a resource so information is not lost and easily retrievable.

Cheers,
Arthur