Last week in training we worked on the principles of possession ( without a specific emphasis) and intuitive intelligence (intelligent use of space and team-mates) as our ability to keep position is the best at the moment.
We do have some players who have very good individual technique, but at the moment this is not translating into good technical team play and challenge is to work out why, and then bring it out.
I will talk about the team i coached and Dom will add anything specific to his team if necessary. If he doesn't add anything then i am also talking about his team.
In very simple terms we are struggling to keep possession for any length of time. We have patches of good play but it is not enough to say it is systematic.
In terms of working out why this is.
It may just be the small pitch. The small pitch favors teams that develop pressing systems along side a pragmatic style and a solid and simple structure. Average players can do well doing this and good technique (over and above average basics) becomes superfluous to some degree. Hats off to teams that do this to us, and congratulations if they win but i don't see this as a long term development approach. We could work hard at doing the same thing, but this wouldn't meet my developmental objectives for any developing player and would get players ahead in what i believe is the most critical area : That is ; Football Intelligence.
Its ironic that the small pitch was introduced to develop more technical players, and it may well do that, but it is also a great equalizer of ability and allows average players the opportunity to deny technical players the time and space they need to develop their talent. It's no secret that if you know you are playing a team that are very good in possession, then you play them on as small a pitch as possible.
The big pitch next year and beyond changes everything for highly technical teams and players, and eventually, if all that players (and teams) have learnt to do is press, then their moments of glory will soon be long gone.
We must persevere. If a team denies us time and space then we must increase our speed of play (that is: speed of thought, speed of movement and speed of technique) to compensate. They set the challenge. We have to beat it. If we are good players it will show eventually. If we are flattering ourselves, it will also show.
The problem however, may also be structural. We are setting up with an advanced 11-a-side model in mind. We are not playing a bog standard 9-a-side system where players are locked in positions and thought and intelligence are minimized. A bog standard system may make playing easier now, but it also means that next year it is not a smooth transition in to 11-a-side, and more importantly say good bye to highly intelligent players. Intelligence is something that needs to be nurtured. The longer it takes to introduce, the harder it becomes to adopt.
In our current system only 3 players actually start in fixed positions. Everyone else must rotate in and out of 2, 3 or more positions based on the whats happening in the game. Players are currently not doing this as well as they potentially will (this is expected, as it is hard to do well - most adults couldn't do it) and it currently creates huge issues in our games. We also don't play with a forward line (players need to rotate into forward positions) so scoring goals at the moment will always be hard.
So the dilemma Dom, Arthur and I face is do we fully simplify the process now, for a short term gain, only to struggle advancing the players intelligence later or do we start with an advance system and persevere and accept it will take time and reap the rewards (individually and as a team) down the track (which might be 3 or 4 years down the track) or do we take a temporary step back now for a short period and then go again with the advanced system after a short break.
The coaching team believe the long term goal must be to develop intelligence with 11-a-side in mind and sacrifice some results (but not all: we will certainly have our fair share of wins i think) now for a longer term gain. We may however tweak the structure for a little while to see if we can get closer to the playing style we want, and that suits the current player level, before advancing the structure again.
The second issue is the application of the principles in possession under pressure. We cant do it under pressure in games. To be fair i have focused on bigger picture things up to now, under the assumption that we had the technical tools to play under pressure. But we are finding out that we don't. Players who like to hold onto the ball are getting into trouble by over doing their footwork (taking too many unnecessary touches or focusing on the 1v1s rather than seeing the bigger picture), and the players who do not have good footwork are struggling on the ball in general.
Breaking the basic principles of possession down:
Firstly awareness ahead the ball is a critical factor. The ability to see the next (and correct) pass early is essential . The ability to recognize the problem and possible solution early is essential. All this happens before the ball is received. We don't do this well.
After this, a good first touch that is done to maximize the moment is essential. Again under pressure our first touch deteriorates and we get into immediate trouble, usually straight after the first pass and loose possession soon after.
This is important to note.
The game is about the pass ( or more accurately the release...as it could be a shot etc) and the pass must come first in the thought process.
A good First touch and essential and necessary footwork only occur so that a player can get to the pass they want.
But we are often playing the other way round. We use footwork first and only think about the pass after attempting to win a 1v1 moment. Or we take a first touch without thinking about the pass we want to hit.
I don't want to be the coach who plays restricted touch football in training but unfortunately we have to for a while. We need to change our general mindset and the speed of our thought processes (Players need to think quicker and start thinking earlier and use extra touches only as a means to an end).
Finally, there has to be brave movement off the ball. Players have to want the ball. If players knowingly or unknowingly fail to make them selves available, there will always be a problem. Especially on the small pitch. We do have this problem and today it was very evident at times.
The above is long term process. It certainly cant be fixed in a session, a month or even a season and some players will never get there unfortunately.
So the question is do we (the coaching team) make the above a priority now due to its long term requirements or do we continue to coach in a more big picture style ensuring everything gets attention but we never get ahead of the pack in any area and at any time?
We are struggling in other areas. We could press better (which is a big project in itself). We could take better corners ( and work on intelligent short corner options) and also defend them better. We could continue to work on playing out / playing wide and the rotations that go with this - again a huge topic.
But all of these take a lot of time away from the basics ( thinking ahead of the ball, first touch, adjustment touches, release, position) and so sometimes the time spent on the non basics isn't worth the effort when the real problem is about dealing with the ball in general play. Our throws are a good example. Despite going through the process of throws a number of times, the boys are not able to apply the theory into practice. Some lessons, not matter how simple, do not stick ( due to player maturity) despite lots of time and effort spent on them - and if this is the case for some things, then there is little point doing them now - it is better to wait until they are more mature and just add them on then. Yes we may concede a few goals and loose games in the process, but the question is always do you worry about results now or later?
So back to this week.
During the week we could do 2 sessions on possession and 1 on something else but this means that the players who do 2 sessions only, will miss out on something.......so this isn't an option. We cant go to matches with some players not having all the info they need.
So for the foreseeable future, all we will focus on is 1 and 2 touch play at training, in the hope that this improves game awareness, thinking ahead of the ball, speed of thought and emphasizes the importance of the pass. Hopefully this transfers to better team play and combination play in games......but it will take time, as we have a lot of players at moment playing in a way that makes good team play hard.
As a consequence, players will have to do their footwork outside training.
As for Northcote, i didnt see a huge difference between them and Langwarren other than a bit more power moving forward and maybe a few slightly better players.
We lost today but the gap isn't significant (certainly between my team and their teams). I think we are developing players, where as pressing teams are focused on winning games.
All we can do is keep working hard and look forward to the next match. As for the rematch later in the season, lets hope that there is a visible difference in our performance.
As a final note, never get too affected by the result of a match. There is always far more to a game than the result.