Roger I was a liscenced soccer coach and my club only competed in college showcase tournaments. Our club director was signed at 16 years old to play division 1 professional soccer in Europe playing until age 30. He went back every year to attend FIFA professional coaching seminars with his old professianal club sitting with all the technical coaches from the EPL, La Liga, etc. He came back with hundreds of pages of strategy and technical concepts that we incortorated into what we termed "simple soccer" which stressed alot of movement without the ball to create space and much more passing in the attack. It took us two years to teach the "European" game to our kids in the USA because we had difficulty breaking the old habits of over-dribbling and not passing and had to spend much more time on better "first touch". In the end it was worth it as my kids looked similar to the above video and the parents had never seen kids play like that.
Here is what the top club teaches kids about soccer in Boulder:
"We love "Ball Hogs" and we want every player to become one. At this age players should be dribbling constantly. Our players should be encouraged to dribble as often as possible. Instructing players to "kick the ball" or to "pass the ball" is counter-productive. "
I played two games a week, one old guys, one young guys. There was another common player about 25. He claimed the young ones were much better. I was flabbergasted.
The game has changed. I admired individual skill / dribbling etc. Now it's a team game with 11 players and no passengers and no prima donnas. The Germans are the future.
I like prima donnas, even if they smoke, drink, ingest drugs and take rests during the game. Wayne Rooney smokes and also Federico Macheda. Could be more at MU
Roger look at the video again and see how many players touch the ball more than twice with their feet. Also do you see any player that is faster than the ball? A passing team will decimate a dribbling team every time because the passing team plays at a faster pace which is the speed of the ball.
In my practices I incorporated drills using 3v3 4v4 5v5 and ramping down touches from 3max to 2max to one touch. In "simple" or one touch soccer the player receiving the pass has to develop their mind to recognize at least two options before the ball gets to him. When the instinct is to "ball hog" a player never learns to be aware of any other option and this leads to a significant narrowing of field awareness, slow reaction time and poor decision making. You can't get kids to develop their mind to think three steps ahead if their default mode is to dribble. You can't believe how difficult this is and how frustrated the kids were at first because they had never been forced to expand their field awareness when I introduced these challenges. One of the other detriments of ball hogging is that the rest of the team becomes ball gazers and don't learn to move without the ball to be a passing option. I will close with the mention of Zidane as someone who could accomplish in one touch what others took three touches to do. He is a genius who is able to take the game to its simplest level and produce beauty! Simple soccer. :<) (I have a big nose)
Watched it again Twenty two of the passes (near the half way line) were irrelevant, unless they mesmerised Newcastle into making a horrible mistake. Arsenal were 3-1 up and holding the ball.
I'm not saying it wasn't impressive and very skillful, but it was possession, not attack. Hence the Spanish Oles from the crowd.
Well..let's wait till 10/3 before we start raving about the Gunners too much. Defense has always been the question mark for me and they have yet to be tested on offense against top defenses (1-1 v. Pool was not exactly a vindication!).
On to training...I'm with nanodots...precision passing and quick releases and vision are where the training needs to focus. Speed,size and athleticism and fitness can provide advantage as well...but it won't beat skill. WHERE is an American top 10 forward or middie? We have little problem producing top keepers...but we don't develop the top skills needed on the field as a TEAM player.
In ice hockey, the tactic shown in teh video is called puck support. It is the responsibility of other players to become open to be able receive a pass from the puck carrier.
This leads to the first question that sprung to my mind when I saw the video. Why was the blue team not challenging the ball carrier (or whatever the player is called in soccer). They just stood off the ball carrier and watched him pass. In ice hockey, no player would be allowed to carry the puck for so long without being challenged. That is why it is necessary for other players to offer adequate puck support so that the player can pass the puck when challenged.
As well the red team had the ball without being challenged. In ice hockey this would trigger an immediate drive for the net ( a rush). This either succeeds in a shot on net or forces a challenge by the opposing team which pones the opportunity to take the challenging player out of the play by passing the puck beyond him
I know these are different games but the contrast with ice hockey is so striking that I had to ask questions about it. Why was the blue team just standing around watching the red team pass the ball. And if the blue team let the red team play with the ball unchallenged, why did the red team pass it around when they could run to the net for a shot.
The reason they stood off is that there was no danger. You can pass the ball around the half way line 500 times and it is of no conseqence. It's called denial of possession, and it's what you do when you are 3-1 up. Especially in European games away from home.
It frustrates the other team's supporters too. Newcastle may well have decided that 3-1 wasn't such a terrible result at Arsenal and were waiting for a mistake rather than diving in.
One genius pass and a defensive error gave rise to the goal above. The scorer misjudged the flight of the ball, but it landed nicely and he scored.
================ One genius pass and a defensive error gave rise to the goal above. The scorer misjudged the flight of the ball, but it landed nicely and he scored. ================
I know nothing of soccer but I agree about the defensive mistake. There were three defenders standing flat footed at the back watching an attacker run past them.
==================== Newcastle may well have decided that 3-1 wasn't such a terrible result at Arsenal and were waiting for a mistake rather than diving in. =====================
In the 1990s, ice hockey was pagued by a defensive system called the neutral zone trap. It produced play much like that seen in the video. There were lots of meandering passes around centre ice (the neutral zone) but little else. As a result any team that obtained a lead could shut the game down and there was little chance of their opponents tying the game. This lead to a sort of gentleman's agreement that if one team was leading in the second half of the game, the players would agree that they had won the game. They stopped trying and just skated up and down the ice passing the puck now and again. They played professional hockey in the first part of the game and shinny (pond hockey) in the second half. Nobody would attempt anything as dangerous as breaking a sweat in the final period. Fortunately there have been rule changes which greatly discourage the trap and they do seem to play professional hockey for most of the game now.
maybe this "trap-like" play is a reason why professional soccer cannot become popular in North America.
Your ice hockey analogy of what happened is correct.
This was an unusual situation. Normally players will attack the man on the ball aggressively. However, there were only 12 minutes to go and a 3-1 defeat is better than 5-1. Blackpool had lost 6-0 to Arsenal recently. I think Newcastle were saving themselves for their next game.
14 comments:
I had no idea that you were a Newcastle United fan.
I ssw that goal and thought of your prediction Roger. Wenger is the thinking man's tactician. I prefer Ferguson.
I was looking for the highlights of the Manchester Uhited vs Glasgow Rangers game. Apparently there weren't any !
Rangers are the anti Arsenal.
I saw this game already. What I haven't seen is video of you juggling a soccer ball. How about it?
Roger I was a liscenced soccer coach and my club only competed in college showcase tournaments. Our club director was signed at 16 years old to play division 1 professional soccer in Europe playing until age 30. He went back every year to attend FIFA professional coaching seminars with his old professianal club sitting with all the technical coaches from the EPL, La Liga, etc. He came back with hundreds of pages of strategy and technical concepts that we incortorated into what we termed "simple soccer" which stressed alot of movement without the ball to create space and much more passing in the attack. It took us two years to teach the "European" game to our kids in the USA because we had difficulty breaking the old habits of over-dribbling and not passing and had to spend much more time on better "first touch". In the end it was worth it as my kids looked similar to the above video and the parents had never seen kids play like that.
-4-nanodots
Here is what the top club teaches kids about soccer in Boulder:
"We love "Ball Hogs" and we want every player to become one. At this age players should be dribbling constantly. Our players should be encouraged to dribble as often as possible. Instructing players to "kick the ball" or to "pass the ball" is counter-productive. "
I kid you not.:-(
I played two games a week, one old guys, one young guys. There was another common player about 25. He claimed the young ones were much better. I was flabbergasted.
The game has changed. I admired individual skill / dribbling etc. Now it's a team game with 11 players and no passengers and no prima donnas. The Germans are the future.
I like prima donnas, even if they smoke, drink, ingest drugs and take rests during the game. Wayne Rooney smokes and also Federico Macheda. Could be more at MU
Roger look at the video again and see how many players touch the ball more than twice with their feet. Also do you see any player that is faster than the ball? A passing team will decimate a dribbling team every time because the passing team plays at a faster pace which is the speed of the ball.
In my practices I incorporated drills using 3v3 4v4 5v5 and ramping down touches from 3max to 2max to one touch. In "simple" or one touch soccer the player receiving the pass has to develop their mind to recognize at least two options before the ball gets to him. When the instinct is to "ball hog" a player never learns to be aware of any other option and this leads to a significant narrowing of field awareness, slow reaction time and poor decision making. You can't get kids to develop their mind to think three steps ahead if their default mode is to dribble. You can't believe how difficult this is and how frustrated the kids were at first because they had never been forced to expand their field awareness when I introduced these challenges. One of the other detriments of ball hogging is that the rest of the team becomes ball gazers and don't learn to move without the ball to be a passing option. I will close with the mention of Zidane as someone who could accomplish in one touch what others took three touches to do. He is a genius who is able to take the game to its simplest level and produce beauty! Simple soccer. :<) (I have a big nose)
Watched it again Twenty two of the passes (near the half way line) were irrelevant, unless they mesmerised Newcastle into making a horrible mistake. Arsenal were 3-1 up and holding the ball.
I'm not saying it wasn't impressive and very skillful, but it was possession, not attack. Hence the Spanish Oles from the crowd.
Well..let's wait till 10/3 before we start raving about the Gunners too much. Defense has always been the question mark for me and they have yet to be tested on offense against top defenses (1-1 v. Pool was not exactly a vindication!).
On to training...I'm with nanodots...precision passing and quick releases and vision are where the training needs to focus. Speed,size and athleticism and fitness can provide advantage as well...but it won't beat skill. WHERE is an American top 10 forward or middie? We have little problem producing top keepers...but we don't develop the top skills needed on the field as a TEAM player.
In ice hockey, the tactic shown in teh video is called puck support. It is the responsibility of other players to become open to be able receive a pass from the puck carrier.
This leads to the first question that sprung to my mind when I saw the video. Why was the blue team not challenging the ball carrier (or whatever the player is called in soccer). They just stood off the ball carrier and watched him pass. In ice hockey, no player would be allowed to carry the puck for so long without being challenged. That is why it is necessary for other players to offer adequate puck support so that the player can pass the puck when challenged.
As well the red team had the ball without being challenged. In ice hockey this would trigger an immediate drive for the net ( a rush). This either succeeds in a shot on net or forces a challenge by the opposing team which pones the opportunity to take the challenging player out of the play by passing the puck beyond him
I know these are different games but the contrast with ice hockey is so striking that I had to ask questions about it. Why was the blue team just standing around watching the red team pass the ball. And if the blue team let the red team play with the ball unchallenged, why did the red team pass it around when they could run to the net for a shot.
dljvjbsl
The title of the video is 'possession'
The reason they stood off is that there was no danger. You can pass the ball around the half way line 500 times and it is of no conseqence. It's called denial of possession, and it's what you do when you are 3-1 up. Especially in European games away from home.
It frustrates the other team's supporters too. Newcastle may well have decided that 3-1 wasn't such a terrible result at Arsenal and were waiting for a mistake rather than diving in.
One genius pass and a defensive error gave rise to the goal above. The scorer misjudged the flight of the ball, but it landed nicely and he scored.
re 11
================
One genius pass and a defensive error gave rise to the goal above. The scorer misjudged the flight of the ball, but it landed nicely and he scored.
================
I know nothing of soccer but I agree about the defensive mistake. There were three defenders standing flat footed at the back watching an attacker run past them.
====================
Newcastle may well have decided that 3-1 wasn't such a terrible result at Arsenal and were waiting for a mistake rather than diving in.
=====================
In the 1990s, ice hockey was pagued by a defensive system called the neutral zone trap. It produced play much like that seen in the video. There were lots of meandering passes around centre ice (the neutral zone) but little else. As a result any team that obtained a lead could shut the game down and there was little chance of their opponents tying the game. This lead to a sort of gentleman's agreement that if one team was leading in the second half of the game, the players would agree that they had won the game. They stopped trying and just skated up and down the ice passing the puck now and again. They played professional hockey in the first part of the game and shinny (pond hockey) in the second half. Nobody would attempt anything as dangerous as breaking a sweat in the final period. Fortunately there have been rule changes which greatly discourage the trap and they do seem to play professional hockey for most of the game now.
maybe this "trap-like" play is a reason why professional soccer cannot become popular in North America.
dljvjbsl
Your ice hockey analogy of what happened is correct.
This was an unusual situation. Normally players will attack the man on the ball aggressively. However, there were only 12 minutes to go and a
3-1 defeat is better than 5-1. Blackpool had lost 6-0 to Arsenal recently. I think Newcastle were saving themselves for their next game.
Fletcher Nani Berbatov
http://footyroom.com/manchester-united-3-2-liverpool-2010-09/
That's what I call football.
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