FOR INFORMATION ON STAGES 2,3,4 AND MUCH MORE JOIN THE SOCCERPLANNER NETWORK NOW! GENERAL COMPONENTS Govern the Ball. A team understanding of how to create/use space to keep the ball. To know and understand when to exploit playing long. And when to exploit playing through the thirds. COACHING PHILOSOPHY-GAMESTYLE 1/ 2/ 3/ Going Forward With Certainty A team Understanding of how to attack with cleverness whilst maintaining possession and achieving good possession in dangerous areas. Create Clever Finishing Opportunities. Creating/achieving various finishing opportunities in and around the box. "Playing in areas" "2nd six yard box" "2nd Penalty Area" "POMO Situations" Maximizing Finishing Hitting the stanchions/2 score easier than 1/deflections and follow-ins/ quality heading/volleying/curling shots. 4/ 5/ 6/ Defending aggresively. Attacking their possession and winning the ball back in a quick clean and aggressive manner as individuals and as a team. Maximizing possession and finishing opportunities on attacking set plays. Corners, freekicks, throw ons. Minimizing possession and finishing opportunities for the opposition on their set plays.Corners, freekicks and throw ons. 7/ 8/ 9/ Team mobility when in possession players moving and creating support positions defensive shape going narrow, squeezing /dropping in unison. Controlling opposition movement. REGISTER NOW!                                                                                                             Back One of the functions of the Soccerplanner is to help the coach through the 4 vital planning stages. THE SECRET OF PLANNING Step 1. To define his/her playing vision called "gamestyle". Step 2. To breakdown the "gamestyle" into practical elements both tactically and technically. Step 3. To then incorporate the implementation of those elements into a season coaching programme. Step 4. To plan and deliver individual yet co-ordinated coaching sessions. Planning Step 1 - The Playing vision No meaningful coaching can take place, with players of ANY age, unless the coach has a clear vision of his Gamestyle. The coach is like a driver setting off on a coaching journey they must know where they want to finish up. "You cannot coach a 5 year old if you do not have a clear idea of how you want them to play when they are 25!" "Great coaches always have a picture in their minds of how they want their team to play", Vince Lombardi. In soccer we have many examples of coaches who have created successful teams and have changed the way the game is played because they understood the importance of creating a gamestyle. Helmut Schoen the German national coach in the 60’s and 70's produced a style full of athleticism, skill and innovative positional play by changing the role of the sweeper from a destructive to a constructive player. Schoen’s vision produced the gamestyle that ensured German International success over a long period of time because it gave SIGNPOSTS to grassroots coaches in Germany to produce the skill and tactical acumen in their young players to make them successful at a later age. "A Gamestyle is NOT a playing formation. Brazil have won the World Cup 5 times since its inception, during that time they have changed their formation a number of times from 4-2-4 to 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 but always their gamestyle (with slight variations) has remained constant" Rinus Michels the Dutch National Coach in the 70’s and 80’s had a playing vision entitled. " Total Football". Michels based his Gamestyle on individualism and high level skill allied to clever player rotation. Michels' work elevated the Dutch, a relatively small nation, to one of the power houses of World and European football. Just as significant was the way the Louis van Gaal the First Team Manager at Ajax Football Club extended and adapted Michels vision at club level. Van Gaal recognized that the most important team coaches at the club were the JUNIOR and YOUTH coaches. He ensured they fully understood the first team Gamestyle and they were set to work to produce a "conveyor belt" of young players who eventually played successfully for Ajax and Holland. The visionary coach can be working at any level. At Crystal Palace in the 80’s the youth coach john Cartwright developed a gamestyle based on high individualism combined with clever tactical play and his young players provided the base for Palace’s most successful era. The young first team were labeled "the Team of the Eighties". More importantly Cartwright developed a coaching methodology used by all development coaches at the club based on a "street football-chaos learning "programme" supported by tactical input that produced "natural" players at all ages who could con join with their team mates. SO THE MESSAGE IS FOR COACHES AT ALL LEVELS. THE CRUCIAL FIRST STEP IS TO DEVELOP A PLAYING VISION – A GAMESTYLE. How does a coach develop their playing vision? To simplify the answer to this question break it into 2 parts: 1. Watch great teams play, Brazil, France, Holland, Argentina, German, Barcelona, Manchester Utd, Bayern Munich, Arsenal who have a recognizable style of play. 2. Study their team play and break it down into the general elements of their play. For example look for aspects likes; When in possession: How do they keep possession/when do the play long and when do they work through the thirds/How do they go forward/how do they utilize space at the back, in midfield, up front and in wide positions/how do they work in the top third to create finishing opportunities/how clinical and sophisticated is their finishing in the air and on the ground. When out of possession: How do they win the ball back both as individuals and as group of players, what parts of the field do they pressurize the ball. Do they maximize attacking opportunities on regaining possession. Set Plays: How effective are they with attacking set play and how do they defend against opposition set plays. From this research the coach can select and prioritize the key elements they want in their playing philosophy/gamestyle and put them in an order of priority. So the breakdown of key elements could look like this Here we give example of the first stage. It is important to emphasize that the philosophy/gamestyle is unique to each coach. This is an example of one coaches planning.