It's a team game

Joga Bonito. The beautiful game. It brings us all together. It shows us the importance of working as a unit, how to compete within a collective, it is the ultimate team game…or is it?

At what point does football become a team sport?

In my opinion football is less of a team sport then many believe, especially at youth level. As a young aspiring player you cannot play the game based solely on fitting in to a team. Understanding how to operate as part of a team is essential, but without outstanding individual technical ability you can all but kiss goodbye to your dreams.

As a young player your game is about you. You need to improve your dribbling and passing techniques, you need to learn the roles and responsibilities of each position, you need to develop the tactical understanding needed to operate in a number of formations; in essence you need to progress to a level of dynamism that exceeds your teammates if you want to be noticed, and you need to continue to grow and shine in order become a professional footballer. However part of this process is to develop the intelligence and understanding of when to release the ball, to identify when a teammate is in a better position, that as creative and attack minded as you may be you still need to work on your defensive qualities. When the opportunity to become a professional has bypassed you, then the game is more – but not exclusively – about the team.

But what about the professional game?

Many times I have heard the phrase “the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” and it is something I agree with, but it helps when all of the parts are of such an exceptional ability that the weakest link is stronger than the opponent’s best player. Even in the greatest teams there is a stand out player, and when things are not going well this is who the rest of the team look at for inspiration and a match winning moment. Often you see players neglect certain responsibilities because they are aware that another member in the team will pick up the slack.

Maradona widely receives plaudit for “single handedly” winning Argentina the 1986 World Cup; he also brought a failing Napoli two Scudettos, one Coppa Italia, one UEFA Cup and one Supercoppa Italiana. Where are his teammates in the recognition of success?

Players’ that can bring championships alone are few and far between, Barcelona would often drop points without the consistent and undervalued Victor Valdes, Makelele’s defensive grit and ball winning was essential in Chelsea’s success under Mourinho; even the greatest players need support from the rest of the squad.  Football is the ultimate team game, but maybe it is more important to learn how to operate in a team than as a team.

Nature vs Nurture

"It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get"

Arnold Palmer, the great golfer coined the phrase that I heard as a young boy and carry with me to this day. Too much emphasis is placed on luck. I am not disagreeing that an element of luck can be instrumental in success; lucky to be in the right place at the right time, lucky that your boss likes you over your promotion rival, lucky that your team had a good day and your opponents didn't. Luck definitely has its part to play. But the key ingredients are talent and dedication.

Like luck, "natural talent" often tips the scales of importance in the mind. People believe Messi is such a good player because he is naturally talented, Ronaldo, Xavi and Iniesta too.

Natural talent definitely exists. Genetics mean Ronaldo has more fast-twitch fibres and therefore possess the explosive and electric speed he utilises so well. Xavi and Iniesta are intelligent men, as well as footballers, and this helps them read situations more quickly and identify space others do not see. From an early age Messi has been able to dribble with the ball seemingly glued to his feet. Without doubt some find the game easier than others, some need to train less but still improve, but the thing that distinguishes the good from the average and the great from good is their dedication, application and unwavering desire to improve.

From grassroots football to full time professional it takes around 10,000 hours of football. That is 10,000 hours of high exposure to the ball to improve technique, high tempo tatical and functional practices, friendlies, league and cup matches, and tourments. It also helps if you have a kick around in the park/street/school, try to compete against yourself in ball juggling, and kick a ball against a wall or uneven surface to improve passing, first touch and reaction time. Suddenly the talent does not seem so natural.

Maybe people do not know that Ronaldo goes to training early to work on stretching and breathing exercises, or that Beckham would spend an hour or so after training working on set-pieces. This extra commitment and hard work makes it look easy. Xavi and Iniesta are able to play one and half touch football because their football education at Barcelona's La Masia has conditioned them, making their widely admired style of play second nature.

Education is very important, receiving the correct imformation makes all the difference. Realism in training gives you the skills to take into games. A good coach teaches you not only how to play but also to understand instructions; and maybe more importantly, how to take criticism and how to develop the attitude to learn from it.

Like everything in life, to succeed in football you can not rest on your laurels. Natural talent will only get you so far, the rest is hard work, dedication, application, the right attitude, and desire to be the best you can be. And if all of these added together are not enough, you can at least rest assured you gave it everything and avoid a lifetime of regret.

Stat's not good enough

In American sports a player’s performance comes down to one thing, statistics. Stats are the story, they define a player’s game, and ultimately his career. In the NFL a single moment of game winning creativity can be overshadowed by the Quarterback rating; a complex formula where the number of attempted passes, completed passed, total yards gained, amount of touchdowns, and intercepted passes are multiplied and added together, divided by 6 and then multiplied by 100. Now please do not take this as me insulting American sport, I love NFL and have admiration for the attention of detail put into their statistics; but using only quantitative data to analyse a performance does not always give you an accurate portrayal.

Now on the flip side in our version of football, statistics are in relative infancy. We collect information on the distance a player runs in 90 minutes, how many shots he has on/off target, his goal per game ratio – these make for an interesting read and great ammunition when discussing which player is better, but what do we really learn from it?

I know that Lionel Messi has scored 228 goals in 311 games for Barcelona giving him an impressive ration of a goal every 1.36 games, I also know that Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 247 club goals in 449 club games giving him a fantastic record of a goal every 1.81 games. Impressive as these statistics may be and as wonderful as they are to know, how can they be used to help someone improve their game?

As a coach it is important to understand the game, it is vital to know the action areas, where goals are scored from, it is helpful to know the average breakdown of goals scored by position, and what percentage of goals are scored in open play or from set pieces.  Knowing this information can give you an edge, it helps in planning sessions and creating realistic situations.

For example, conducting my own research of Europe’s top leagues and the Champions League I know that 85% of goals are scored from inside the penalty area, and that over 70% of all goals are scored with a 1 touch finish. This information tells me that the majority of shooting practices should take place inside the penalty area and encourage high tempo, quick reactions, shooting early, and finishing in congested areas.

Trivial statistics have their place in football, they are interesting and create conversation; but as a coach it is important to look a little bit deeper and as with American sports, use the correct stats to give you the developmental and winning edge.

Football's Renaissance

In the wise words of a pessimist: You cannot prolong the inevitable. It happens to all of us, none of us look forward to it and some even try to deny, but age eventually creeps up on us all. Football is a relatively short career, in your mid to late 30s your speed starts to diminish, your muscle density starts to decrease, you feel the ache of the previous game/training session more than ever; at this point that nagging thought can creep into your head – is it time to call it a day?

With the improvements in training methods and advances in medicine and science, football is welcoming a new type of player – the resurgence man. Many players who are considered past their best and placed on football’s scrapheap are demonstrating that hitting 35 is not a career-ender. We can all think of at least one of these players, someone widely to be considered a has-been that did not accept that enough is enough.  

Ryan Giggs was labelled "finished" shortly after his 30^th birthday, with a transfer to Bolton Wanderers on the cards in the summer of 2004, few could have imagined what would happen next: over 300 games, over 40 goals, 4 Premier League winners medals, 3 League Cups, 3 Community Shields, 1 FA Cup, 1 Champions League, PFA Players’ Player of the Year, and a 1 year contract extension at the age of 38.

Giggs is not an anomaly – Clarence Seedorff continues to be instrumental at AC Milan, Raul has a new lease of live at Schalke, Frank Lampard is still scoring for Chelsea, Paul Scholes is showing that his decision to retire at 36 was very premature, Brad Friedel is as agile as ever, the list continues to grow year by year.

If players take advantage of the improvements in medicine and training techniques, if they allow themselves adequate rest for recovery, if they look after their diet then age loses the upper hand in the battle to end a career. Science and medicine can only do so much, two more ingredients are essential; determination and desire. Without the drive to want to carry on playing the battle is lost, but add these essentials to science and medicine and it will only be a matter of time before 40 really does become the new 30.

It appears you can prolong the inevitable!

The good, the bad, and the average

In football we love a superlative; great players are described as world-class, good goals are described as fantastic, and a routine save becomes unbelievable! It seems that when it comes to the game remaining objective is much easier said than done.

As a fan it is difficult keeping things in perspective, you naturally lean towards speaking favourably about the team you support and its players and this ultimately leads to overpraise. A fan favourite will often be overhyped when in reality he is little more than a good footballer; everything he does will be deemed incredible when in fact he has done little more than keep the ball. Now consider an opposing fan's opinion on the very same player; useless, overrated and profanities will often be used. When offering an opinion it seems that rationality is excluded.

There are different ways you can measure the quality of a player/situation: you can compare player against player, you can assess the impact a player has on games, you can consider a single situation and the effect it had on the outcome of the game. However in every case it is all relative, no single moment should be definitive. A save can only be as good as the shot, a tackle can only be as important as what happens next, and a goal can only be as good as the difficulty of its execution.

To be considered world class surely a player needs to be widely accepted as one of the best three in his position? It does not discredit a player to call him very good, but does calling a very good player world class not devalue the greats?

Goalkeepers are subjected to the overhyped praise and unfair criticism more than most. A relatively simple save is wonderful, but a conceeding a goal can be described as poor goalkeeping. Goalkeepers make saves because they have trained to do so, goalkeepers conceed goals because outfield players practice scoring - something has to give.

In our minds football is a game of intricate passes, world-beating dribbles and wonder goals; but in reality it is more keeping it simple, over hit passes and tap-ins.

Here's to another weekend of mediocre football with an abundance of average, a sprinkle of good, and hopefully a moment of class.

The Death of the tackle?

"Get stuck in son, let him know you're there" advice you hear from the grassroots pitch all the way through to the terraces of your favourite team. A bone crunching tackle excites the crowd and reaffirms the player's passion and dedication to give all for his team. But with referees seemingly clamping down on tough challenges and dismissals being issues for "intent", it appears the FA are trying to make tackling a much smaller part of the game - and in my opinion rightly so.

Tackling is a part of defending, and it should continue to be so, but that is all it is - a part. Tackling is a last resort, it is something that complements a good defender. Young players need to be able to tackle, but they need to have so much more to their defensive game than simply being able to get stuck in.

Young players need to understand how to defend without taking the ball, that slowing an opponent down and forcing them away from danger until frustration leads to a mistake still constitutes good defending. That applying pressure and making opponents panic in possession can lead to winning the ball. That reading the game and understanding the oppositions style of play, waiting to pounce at the opportune moment to make an inceterception is extremely effective. To summarise, they need to be more intelligent and less brute.

Paolo Maldini is the epitome of the intelligent defender; in his 24 year career at AC Milan he played over 900 games, yet only averaged a tackle once every two games. This was down two his superb positioning and superior understanding of the game. Maldini did not need to make tackles because he outplayed opponents, he frustrated them until they gave him the ball, he pressured them into going away from his goal. He is the type of defender young players should try to emmulate.

With the pace of the modern game, getting close enough to tackle is becoming more difficult; meaning greater understanding and the ability to read the game will become paramount for defenders of the future - and the way to encourage this to develop in players is high tempo, technique based work in small and tight areas.

Lets hope that we learn to appreciate the intricasies of defending instead of thinking it is simply a matter of tackling. 

Two-Footedness - the ultimate fairytale

Ghosts, fairies, monsters - many people claim to have seen them, people write books about them, maybe they exist. People enjoy the idea of the supernatural, they like to get lost in imagination; and why not, its a break from the tediousness of reality. In football we have our very own special creature that people claim to have seen, that are accepted as commonplace in the game: the two-footed player! Countless times I have heard people talk about world-class players such as Cristiano Ronaldo being two-footed, but in my opinion you have nearly as much chance of spotting a ghost, fairy, or monster as you do a two-footed player.

Now I am expecting lots of people to disagree with me here, but I think two-footed players are extremely rare. Before outright disagreeing, or disregarding this blog as utter nonsense, here is the logic behind this: many players CAN use both feet, and some with little difference between the two, but practically every player has a stronger foot - if he was to take a penalty he would use this foot, if he was to take a freekick he would use this foot, if he was to take a corner he would use this foot. Now for a player to be considered truly two-footed he would not have a preference, you would see penalties and freekicks taken with both feet, but ultimately most players will rely on their stronger foot.

The ability to use both feet does not make you two-footed, it makes you a better footballer, but being able to do EXACTLY the same things with both feet makes you two-footed. There are countless players who nearly fall into the bracket of two-footedness, for example the aforementioned Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has exceptional ability, and has a left foot better than a lot of left footed players - but without doubt he is a right footed player! Ronaldo has taken countless penalties and freekicks, and every single one has been with his right foot, surely if he was truly two-footed we would have seen him take one with his left foot if the angle dictated.

This would be my definition of a two-footed player: a player who is able to perform actions of equal measure with both feet, without preference.

Using this definition to identifiy a two-footed player I can think of only one - Wesley Sneijder - and for proof of this check out his YouTube videos where you'll see left and right footed free kicks and corners. Now if you still disagree, give me a better definition/logic of a two footed player.