Creativity Through Structure

In my experience, top-level coaches leave nothing to chance. Allowing the players to make up something on their own in training or in games means that my vision for my team won't be executed to an acceptable standard during matches. Many of us are familiar with the phrase "scoring goals is the hardest thing in football." I see no reason why any coach at any level should leave chance creation and goal scoring purely up to individual brilliance and improvisation.

This video is of an attacking pattern the team has been working on. In keeping in line with my belief of using possession to disorganize the opponent, the pattern begins with a switch of play. This increases the likelihood we can create a good scoring opportunity, perhaps through a numbers up scenario, or by isolating one of our better dribbles 1v1 with an opponent. Because, in my experience, it's easier to create these scenarios out wide rather than centrally, the pattern concludes with a cross and finish. Of course the type of run, the timing of the run, and the distribution of players in and around the penalty area is choreographed as well.

A common criticism lobbed at this type of tactical choreography is that it produces 'robots', and robs players of their creativity. I have several arguments against this.

First, and in my opinion the most important, is that soccer is inherently a team sport. Players MUST be able to participate as part of a collective unit, and by coordinating them in training, we should be able to see improvements in team play during games. This goes for every phase of play: attacking, defending, transitions, and set pieces.

With regards to creativity and attacking play, rehearsing set patterns, if done properly, actually facilitates creative play. In this pattern for example, I never once coached the forward at the near post to lay the ball off to the center mid, or instructed the winger to take the ball all the way to the end line before crossing. Both were instinctive reactions occurring while the player on the ball was under pressure. However, even in the brief amount of time we've worked on this pattern, the players were aware of the positions of their teammates on the field, and this decreased the amount of information they had to process. Instead, they could focus on finding a solution to the unique problem the game threw at them.

Do you think Messi playing phenomenal cross-field balls to Alba and Neymar at the far post is something the players made up on the fly? Based upon the frequency and precision that it occurs during games, I sincerely doubt it.

A 'player's game'...?

One of the pieces of conventional wisdom regarding coaching soccer is that it is a "player's game." That events on the field are largely dictated by the level of player's, and that it is so free-flowing and random that it's not worth attempting to intervene, and some may even actively discourage any type of coaching from the sideline or during an exercise.

I am firmly opposed to this idea, and as a coach, I am very proactive and energetic during both trainings and games. I believe that a good coach should be able to read the events of a game, and relay appropriate instructions to players. During training, I believe it is the coach's responsibility to establish a style of play to provide the team with an identity, along with insuring performance standards are met.

In the first part of the following video, I stepped away during the team's warmup rondo to discuss an exercise with my assistant coach. This is not an uncommon occurrence at trainings of every level, from youth to pro. Predictably, the mood was very relaxed, and the quality was extremely low. Upon my return, and with an active presence, the level predictably rose.

Of course context is crucial when evaluating this scenario: with seasoned pros, or even a mid-level club team with the appropriate culture, the level may not differ in this type of exercise whether the coach is present or not.

The question coaches need to ask themselves is: what's happening when we aren't watching? What am I missing? And of course the next logical step in this line of questions... What do I want to see?

Sharing My Process

In the age of social media where I've been able to see teams and coaches from all over the United States and the world, I've been able to see teams of all levels and styles in both training and games. I've seen Diego Simeone run position-specific training for his outside backs, watched Development Academy teams slog through a passing pattern,  and U10 club teams boss possession and score beautiful team goals. Regardless of the team or level of play, I think each poster of these videos had a similar thought in mind when uploading these videos: this is something I've worked to create that I want to show off to other people, look what I've done!

Working with a U9/U10 boys club team, I have a different idea for the content I want to share: look what I'm doing. Being able to coach a group of players in their first experiences with serious soccer at a relatively young age is, I think, a great opportunity for me to document both my process as a coach, and the process of developing a team. The content I will be sharing isn't polished, isn't a final product, and will never be an attempt to fish for compliments or pats on the back. It will be a sincere attempt to document the progress of my team over the coming months, maybe years. The same exercises will be posted more than once, and hopefully you will be able to recognize the players' and the team's growth over time.

Below is a clip taken from training on August 4th, 2015. It's of a 4v1 rondo that I do at the start of almost every training session. The players are still working on mastering the basics, but over time the nuances of such a core exercise should begin to reveal itself when taught and executed properly.