Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: coaching, good coach bad coach, mourinho, styles, training
It is difficult evaluating your team and what you are achieving with your players. One way to do this is to see if your coaching has any affect on match days and on how individuals play – but how do you find out whether your training sessions are achieving what you hope?
When I think up coaching drills to be published in Better Soccer Coaching I’m constantly making sure they can relate to match days. If you cannot see a benefit during a match from using exercises in training, either in the individual or in the team, then they are not much use.
So here are my top ten things I look for during a match in each individual player:
1. Making forward passes through the opposition defence
2. Taking chances in the attacking third 3. Passing the ball and moving in support
4. Working hard to win the ball back
5. Communication – calling out names; asking for the ball
6. Making runs off the ball
7. Forgetting mistakes and getting on with the game – keeping their heads up
8. Enjoying the game; having fun
9. Playing until the final whistle – winning or losing
10. Knowing their position on the field (especially for defenders) so they can recover quickly if the team lose the ball
Watch a Real Madrid interview with Mourinho below:
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: figo, managing subs, Rooney, substitutes
Substitutes seem to be causing a lot of trouble to the coaches I have spoken to during our recent monthly meetings. What I hope to see is that every player starts a certain number of games and that it is not the same few players who start on the subs bench every match.
At my club we have worked it so that we have three teams in our age groups with one team playing friendlies and the other two teams matches. In this way we can spread players out and make sure everyone is starting matches to give each player a chance of developing during the season.
The problem is however much we try to make sure players are not always made sub there are still some players (and their parents) who do not like being substituted during the game.
This week we were playing on a heavy pitch and I wanted to change players as they got tired. So at half time I explain to one of our more advanced dribblers that I wanted him to sit out for the first five minutes of the second half and to watch how the defenders were sitting deep. I wanted him to work out for himself how he could exploit that situation.
“That’s a strange decision,” I heard his dad say. The player himself responding to his father’s sentiments threw himself to the floor in a big sulk. Not helping the team at all as the other players went over to see what was wrong. Players must realise from an early age that they must learn to accept substitutions with good spirit. So I kept him off for 10 minutes and explained to him and his father that the team is important and each individual player must help their team mates.
Managing substitutes is hard, and managing parents harder, but if you are fair with players over the course of a season then everyone should be more than happy.
If you go to my blog you can see an example of Wayne Rooney being taken off and his reaction to it. You can also see the substitution of Luis Figo when he played his last game for Inter Milan.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: Barcelona, benitez, chris hughton, creative play, goals, Inter Milan, Newcastle, Real Madrid
There will not be much New Year optimism around for the coaches of some clubs. While you and I look forward to the tussles ahead and the development of our young players coaches like Chris Hughton once of Newcastle United and Rafa Benitez at Inter Milan will likely be looking for new jobs.
In the run up to Christmas Benítez was described by Italian newspaper La Stampa as a man, “walking with a pistol at his temple”. I’m glad I don’t work under those conditions!
Everything a professional coach does is linked to a winning team. Lose and you’re out is basically the message for the top coaches around the world. How different then is this message to the one we preach for young teams and their coaches “winning doesn’t matter”. Everything I am focused on is the development of each young individual that comes my way.
And that should be at the heart of everything we do – playing the game the right way, and that goes hand in hand with winning. Jose Mourinho is seen as a winning coach, but his Real Madrid team got played off the pitch by a team that just passed the ball around them – Barcelona.
The message here is: play the right way and you’ll be a winner.
When I watch these professional games there are two things that stand out in winning teams – creative play and finishing moves.In an attacking sense creative play is vital to give attackers goalscoring chances. And finishing into the net makes the move complete.
Watch the two goals scored by Real Madrid in their match against Valencia. Both goals are excellent examples of playing the game the right way. The first one is a wonderful turn and finish and the second a great move and finish.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arsenal, arsenal youth, Emmanuel-Thomas, how to do skills, showing skills, skills
Some players respond to learning skills better than others. Some players will stop before they have even attempted the skill and say they can’t do it. One of the ways I put the confidence in my players to learn a skill is to do it myself in front of them.
This is easy when it’s an inside or outside turn or a single stepover but try some of the skills you see the academy teams doing or the professional players and it becomes much more difficult.
However you can practice yourself in the garden at home so when you go to training you can show the kids how it’s done. A friend of mine coaches rugby and he was showing a skill to a young team when he fell flat on his face – but up he got and the kids thought it was great. The players didn’t mind it if they see you fail because they realize it doesn’t matter if they then fail to do it. Get up and do it again.
There are however some skills I wouldn’t try. Watch this video of Arsenal’s young player Jay Emmanuel-Thomas use a fabulous bit of skill to get past defenders and score a goal. I can’t see myself showing the players this one:
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: central defender, defending, defensive shape, fast defender, Portsmouth, qpr
Twice my team broke clear of the defence at the weekend and twice a fast defender caught up and dispossed my attacker before he could shoot. Fast defenders are priceless in youth soccer, speed is something you cannot ignore when choosing the positions of your players in matches.
I was reminded of the Portsmouth v QPR game last month in the English Championship when Portsmouth should have taken all three points.
When the speedy John Utaka broke free at the end of the game the QPR fans must have been thinking that it was all over. 1-0 down in the 87th minute QPR’s unbeaten run was about to come to an end.
In an entertaining game the QPR defence were a man down after the dismissal of Matthew Connolly who conceded the penalty which had put Portsmouth ahead. Neil Warnock the QPR manager had thrown on all three substitutes in an attempt to save the game – the team had to keep their defensive shape though because Portsmouth were quick on the break.
On this occasion the defence was undone by a through ball from Liam Lawrence. Utaka ran past a turning Kyle Walker, a young defender onloan from Tottenham HOtspur. But Walker turned and accelerated, catching a surprised Utaka, and won the ball off the striker then played a lovely pass to a midfielder up the pitch.
It was a brilliant bit of defending and one which changed the game because QPR scored a late, late penalty to draw the game. Without that fantastic defensive run QPR would have tasted their first defeat of the season. Warnock’s team has been outstanding in defence with 10 clean sheets already this season and Walker is one of the reasons for that.
Filed under: Better Soccer Coaching Blog Guests, Uncategorized | Tags: ball control, running with the ball, walcott
There is no finer sight whether you’re watching junior soccer or professionals to see a player running at with the ball under control and destroying the other team.
This is why you shouldn’t tell your players to always pass the ball when they have created space. If they run into that space they are threatening the opposition causing them to react in a different way. Running at a back four means the defenders are caught between going to the runner with the ball and the other attackers moving into dangerous positions.
If they are pressed and can’t beat the player then they can pass and the result will be another player running into space.
Very difficult to defend against. It’s running with the ball and facing 1v1 decisions on the way to goal. I they can run with the ball the whole way they will have split the opposition defence open and have a good chance of scoring.
Give your players the freedom to run with the ball and don’t tell them off if they lose it!
Watch Theo Walcott do it below:
Filed under: Uncategorized
I found this video very interesting. Former NFL Running Back J.R. Redmond gives tips on how to run a fast 40 yard dash. Not sure if it will give your players that kick they need to run in fast bursts but it’s worth a try.
You can make a game of it with your players, timing them and seeing if they can beat the time they set. You can cut the distance for smaller children or you can set different distances for your fast and slower runners.
Not every player is going to be able to beat their times, but it makes a good five minutes of fitness at your next training session.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Skills, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: Barcelona, Bojan, cross, dani alves
I’ve been working my team on good crossing this week, and the work was put to the test at the weekend. The players were much more positive in crossing and attacking the cross. It resulted in the team scoring two goals. You can use the exercise in today’s issue of Better Soccer Coaching from West Ham Academy director Tony Carr to get your team crossing with purpose.
I also have a clip of Barcelona’s Dani Alves crossing for Bojan to score. Look at how the cross goes into the danger area between the penalty spot and the six yard box. Perfect.
Key soccer coaching tips for crossing skills
•Low, powerful crosses are hard to defend.
•A good, accurate, low cross into the penalty area is one of the hardest balls young defenders will have to face.
•High, looping crosses are hard enough but at least you can see those.
•Balls coming in at an angle just behind the defenders are almost impossible to control and often any touch by a defender will result in an own goal.
How to do it
The technique players should use is the swerve pass using the inside of the foot.
The technique
•Non-kicking foot should be slightly behind, and to the side of the ball. Use the inside of the foot to kick across the ball.
•Tell player to keep his head steady, eyes looking at the ball at the moment of contact.
•His body should be slightly forward to keep the ball low.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Skills, Soccer Training, Uncategorized | Tags: both feet, Chelsea, joe cole, left footed, Manchester United
If you can get your players used to playing with both feet, even though they cannot get power with both feet, when it comes to reaction shots close to goal they will be able to direct the ball on target with either foot.
How often have you seen your players go into contorted angles to try and wrap one of their feet around the ball only to see it dragged wide with the goal at their mercy?
In these cases a simple deflection can make all the difference. So when you practice this don’t worry if they cannot strike the ball with any pace, if they can use both feet to direct the ball that can be the difference between winning or losing.
Watch this clip of right footed Joe Cole, the Chelsea midfielder, directing a hard cross with his left foot to score against Manchester United for an important 1-0 victory which basically won them the Premier League title.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer News, Uncategorized | Tags: Adidas, jabulani, Kalou, World Cup, World Cup football
The World Cup ball for South Africa is called Jabulani,which means Be Happy, but there’s more to it than that as Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou points out…
