Football language

by Adam Clark | Feb 11, 2022 | Coaching Blog

Communication in football is of the highest order, so how important is the language that we use?

Throughout our everyday lives, our brain filters through millions of stimuli that are received through different means of communication. This then enforces some kind of decision and then, execution can be made.
In football, there are lots of external stimuli that could effect a players decision. These include the weather, the referee, opponents and the pitch for example. All of these things aren’t within our control, but still have an effect on what we may do or how, in a certain situation.

One thing all of us do have an element of control over, is our voice. Sometimes we are provoked into a response, or even deliver information when requested to a respective recipient. Ultimately, we chose what we say and how we say it.

Now, within a football context, verbal information can be delivered from many departments, but today we’ll look at the relationship a coach could have with their players.

During a game, the coach will at some point give some verbal communication to his/her players. Whether this vocabulary is useful is another conversation, but the language this coach uses, could determine how the respective player understands the situation and then acts. So, the question is, what type of language should be used?

Language is a tool to express yourself in a certain situation. Whether you say what someone wants to hear (confirmation) or disagree (falsification), it is a very powerful method of communication, especially when instructing.

When you use verbal language, you are communicating and providing a stimuli for others. This stimuli is then interpreted by the receiver and they can then decide, on what response they give and how they do it.
This all sounds extremely simple, but by now, you should understand that it isn’t….

If a coach uses language that isn’t related to the game itself, we can call this non-contextual. Some examples of this could be, ‘sharpness’, ‘confidence’ or ‘work rate’. As you can see from these words, it doesn’t actually describe anything within a football context and could lead to confusion. If we zoom in further, ‘sharpness’, really doesn’t describe what is really meant.
“Our no.9 lacked sharpness today”…If you were told this comment, what would you think? The comment itself is too vague and will create areas of uncertainty. We can call these grey areas, where it could mean 1 thing, but could also mean something else.

To give this comment clarification, we could say; “Our no.9 wasn’t explosive, with his runs off of the ball today”. This now gives the receiver a much better idea of what the coach is describing, just by using different language.

A few small lessons we can learn here, are;

The clearer the language you use, the less uncertainty you create
By using ‘action’ language, the receiver can visualise what is being said
Using non-contextual words will create uncertainty
Say exactly, what you see

What you can now understand from this blog post, is that language can be the root cause of many problems, but can also be a tool to give you a higher chance of success. Look at other professions such as medical, military or aviation…how important is language to these professionals? We should be following suit in football and raising the bar with our communication.

To finish, reflect on what language you use and how effective it is?

Small sided games

by Adam Clark | Feb 4, 2022 | Coaching Blog

Throughout your coaching journey you will have come across the format of small sided games (SSG), whether it be in foundation age groups (5-11), or youth development age groups (12-16). Within the senior game SSG’s are also used for many different purposes, that will be highlighted below.

Foundation age groups

The match format widely used for these age groups is 5 vs 5 and 7 vs 7, including the goalkeepers. A 9 vs 9 format is used at the latter end of this process.

Youth Development age groups

The match format used for these age groups in 9 vs 9 and 11 vs 11, including the goalkeepers.

Senior age groups

The match format as we know, is 11 vs 11 including the goalkeepers.

A SSG can be defined as smaller format teams (3 vs 3, 4 vs 4) with different methods of scoring. This could be;
Goals
End lines
Gates

By having a directional practice and a reference point to score, you can then coach players within a context, that is seen closer to the match day. Without a goal at each end of the practice area, it will reduce the decisions a player can make and that of the realism, on the main stage.

Here are some benefits for using SSG;

More touches of the ball
Quicker turnovers
Higher speed of football actions
To overload players

By understanding the above 4 points (there are plenty more), you can see that there is an increase in demand, of what a player will have to do.

More touches of the ball – there are less players on each team, so a higher chance of getting ball contact
Quicker turnovers – the playing area will be smaller, thus enforcing less space and time
Higher speed of football actions – by having pressure applied quicker, it will enforce a decision to be made sooner
To overload players – fatigue will set in a lot quicker, so they player will have to control their thinking

The benefits that SSG are clear to see. But, if you don’t have a scoring system, you may fall into the trap of conditioning another type of behaviour.
Typically you could end up using a scoring system, based upon how many passes a team make. The issues with this, are that you’re conditioning the players to think that passing will score you a goal. Passing is just a tool to use in game play and doesn’t guarantee, that it will end up in creating a goalscoring opportunity.
In SSG there are many opportunities to pass the ball, most probably over shorter distances, so the success rate maybe higher. It could seem easy to reward this, but as a coach can you guide your players to use this tool, in order to create the goalscoring opportunities.

The next time you plan to use a SSG within your training session, consider the above points and see if it has any positive effects on your outcomes.

Formations

by Adam Clark | Jan 27, 2022 | Coaching Blog

The exciting moment comes at the end of a training week and you wish to pick your team, ready for the game ahead.
Before we discuss the formation, we really need to understand what it actually is? Traditionally the formation is the arrangement of players that will take the field in that given game. The ‘shape’ is announced and with it, players given a specific position to fulfil this ‘structure’.

From previous experience (coaching, management and an avid watcher of games), I’ve witnessed the following, that could be falsified;

The formation is often announced without a goalkeeper – “Today we’re playing 4-3-3”
It’s only mentioned in 1 moment of the game, usually in what it would look like while attacking
The formation has been picked before the players are considered. Thus ‘forcing’ a player into a certain position
Using a rigid format can take decision making away from players, as they may feel that they have to stay in a certain part of the field
There isn’t much emphasis of when the team, doesn’t have the ball

While all the above isn’t exclusive to a certain team, or a full accurate measurement of every coach, formations could be somewhat misunderstood.

When selecting a formation to use in your game, it could be wise to consider the following first;

The playing ability of your squad and that of the starting eleven – Understanding what your players are/are not capable of, should be analysed first. This then gives you a firmer starting point and an idea for what’s next….
Team intentions – This is the application of your team and how they will try to do something. This is their ‘intention’, when they’re defending, attacking or transitioning. By doing this, you can narrow down the decisions of the players – thus meaning a higher chance of getting one correct – and it can allow your team to be more predictable (better communication)

After this, the formation can be introduced to the team….

The formation is a tool in order to help the team intentions come to life. If you had a team intention of depth before width, more specifically – passing the ball long into the no.9, who is only 5ft 4”, while playing a deep 1-4-5-1, you may struggle to gain success. So, firstly you need to ensure that the team intentions align with the playing personnel that you have at your disposal, followed by a formation that could allow more chance of this happening.

During match play, it is safe to say that the formation will change almost, immediately. This could be due to both attacking and defending intentions of the team, as well as the position of the ball. So why are formations given a higher element of focus?

When selecting the team, coaches could be concerned of what spaces will need defending and which ones will need exploiting, when attacking. Or, it could be the fact that ‘choosing’ a formation is easy and used with a subjective starting point. Taking into consideration of what spaces will need attention is important, but it shouldn’t be treated as an objective in itself.
The overall objective of the game is to score at least 1 more goal than the opponent and take victory, so the formation is only a tool, in order to help you in achieving this.

To conclude maybe consider the following when you’re preparing for your next game;

Player abilities > tactical intentions > team formation.

Set pieces

by Adam Clark | Jan 21, 2022 | Coaching Blog

An area that can be used as a massive marginal game if executed properly, but why don’t more take it seriously, in preparation?
After recently talking to a coach at a well known professional club, he highlighted to me that out of the last 4 managers he has worked with, there was only 1 who practised these religiously. The reward? Their conversion rate in both offence and defensive moments of the game changed dramatically and this propelled the team into a position, not previously seen.

In my previous management role, set pieces were given time on the training ground and the attention before kick off. I highlighted our intentions regularly, for attacking and defending corners, throw ins and free kicks, which allowed us to be more predictable, in the hope of gaining an advantage. These rewards were seen and before the season was stopped due to COVID, we had scored 12 of our 28 goals from attacking corners. We also had a centre back in 2nd place of the scoring charts, with a further 2 other defenders in the top 5. Is this relevant information to all? No it isn’t, but what it does prove, is that if you give time to this part of the game (it should really be equal to everything else, as it still part of the GAME!), you could see some positive outcomes.

The intentions were the key part to this process and using the right players, to individually apply their own decisions, made this work even successfully. I took the following into consideration (a few points);

Attacking corners
In swinging or out swinging?
The area of the penalty box to exploit?
Creating space for the best ‘headers’ of the ball
Counter attack prevention

Defending corners
Using a mixed scheme of man marking and zonal coverage
Awareness of the best ‘headers’ on the opposition team
Counter attack exploitation

Attacking throw ins
Creation of space
Creating overloads

Defending throw ins
Making the attack predictable
Keeping the opposition in one part of the field

Attacking free kicks
Convert an opportunity
Create an opportunity, to then convert

Defending free kicks
What type of wall do we need?
Can we exploit them on a counter attack?

While this list isn’t exclusive, there were many other decisions that were taken into consideration and after 6/7 games, the players showed competencies that allowed us to progress further.
We could then add a 2nd different plan to our attacking corners for example or revaluate the progress with our throw in’s.

In the professional game, you can now see set piece coaches that are working full time and taking this area of the game seriously. It does beg the question, why all clubs aren’t doing this and maximising every opportunity to get better? Learning of managers and coaches that don’t consider this in their match preparation, leaves a void within their responsibilities!