Quick thoughts on Sundays Game vs Springvale (the game i coached).
Firstly i have to say that on the whole i was really pleased with the boys performance.
Perhaps for the first time this season i feel we did a lot more things right than wrong ( in regards to way we are trying to get us to play). There were a lot more moments that fitted into a systematic way of playing and a good combination of team work and individual ability [working for the term rather than independently from it]. It was good to see. I enjoyed watching our play most the time (i want to be entertained too and i was for most of the it). This improvement may have been a result of the opposition, who struggled to implement their game on us (which is always an achievement in it self i guess) - Or it may have been us rather than them. Difficult to say until we can repeat the performance.:
1. The games didn't start off easy we had to work our way into a dominant performance. Both games were 1-0 at half time i think.
2. The opposition were competitive at times against us and Dom's team
(Btw i am feeling each week that both our teams are becoming very competitive teams and getting closer and closer in level).
The standout thing for me today was the contrast between the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter.
The 3rd quarter was horrible - all our bad habits came back into the game. Players playing more for themselves rather than the team. Players doing nothing to change the space 'off the ball' and being lazy (let's say sub-consciously) in regards do getting good angles and opening bigger and better passing lines. Players doing nothing to stretch the game out and use the full depth, length and width of the pitch. Players just wanting to get closer and closer to the ball [like they were 8 years old again].
The chat at the break was - was 'TEAM FIRST' individual second. Work for the team, do the team thing and then let individual ability find a place within that. This process wins games, not individuals. Whenever individuals put themselves first - the team can forget about playing well. Putting the team first doesn't mean individuals can't still dominant. When we played well today we still had dominant individuals, but it was on a the back of a collective effort to play the right way. There is space for the team and for the individual. And if the balance is right, that is when the ability of the individual will have the biggest impact. I saw lots of moments today to suggest this message is getting through.
The second things is structure. 8 years ago i was all structure. I was learning what a massive impact it can have on a team and team performances. I am pretty confident that with the potential we have, we can dominate almost every game by setting up the system so that options just appear in front of players without any extraordinary effort on the players side (as happened today - although against harder teams it will not be quite as easy].
At this point, i recognize that a simple structure has huge benefits. Some players have really struggled with the difficulty of a more difficult and intuition based set up. Some players to this point have also refused to accept the easy option. [Either its too boring to take, or they have felt they haven't got enough out of their time on the ball (want to play on it a bit longer), or they still don't recognize the importance of simplicity and so don't see (or dont believe) the easy option as the best option]. Either way, the benefit of the structure (today was 1-3-2-2-1) is (1) to give players a little more help finding good positions and (2) to allow players, who otherwise might not hit the pass, when its on, to' get used to hitting the pass when its on.
However, I am on different path as a coach and my lofty goal is to develop an Intuitive intelligence in players. One that doesn't lean on the structure as much, but is more about adapting to the moment, the space, the movement, the rotations and even though the shapes remain the same, how the shapes