While driving to a Fusion game this past Saturday I heard a great phrase used to describe the style of play of my favorite English Premier League team, Arsenal. One of the London teams, Arsenal under head coach Arsene Wenger play the kind of creative, flowing style of attacking football that can be immensely entertaining...even when they don't score. Scoring wasn't a particular problem in the game I was listening to as Arsenal defeated Sunderland 4-1 but one of the radio commentators noted that as beautifully as they play it can still seem sometimes that Arsenal wait too long to take the shot. "Sometimes" he said "they just keep passing it around, searching for the killer ball."
That is a fair description of how Arsenal play. They pass and dribble and pass again, overlapping and interweaving, until finally the last pass puts the ball in a position where the goal is undeniable. The first goal of the game, a header for Alexis Sanchez, came at the end of a run that included more than twenty-five completed passes. That's something like 20 seconds of continuous possession!
Here is a nice compilation video of Arsenal highlights showing their signature style of "possession football"
But while it's true that Arsenal do play to find the killer ball I don't think that it's much of a criticism of a team to say that they are too patient. My own feeling watching most games, whatever teams are playing and at whatever level, is that far too often the players aren't patient enough. Teams and individual players try to play too directly rather than taking the time to find an opening or even create one by drawing the defense out. I want my players to have that patience, that confidence in their individual skills and their teammates' skills to know that they can take time and a longer path to find the goal.
Girl Power played the final two games of their season this Sunday and the girls were brilliant in both games with the first match bringing a flurry of goals. The second game was a hard fought 1-1 draw against a very tough FC Kentucky side. In both games I was particularly impressed by the new level of competence the team is achieving in playing "positionally". Specifically, we're seeing more of our players understanding how to be patient in their particular role and let the game opportunities come to them rather than getting drawn into chasing the ball. The result of that is that you see many more opportunities created where a player is in just the right position to receive that final pass. I think this achievement is for them a combination of having the experience to read the flow of the game better and of having confidence in each other, knowing that they are working together.
There was one run of play in the second game that particularly stands out for me. I think the players involved were Olivia and Eileen with Liv being in the #2 fullback position and Beanie being ahead of her in the #8. Liv brought the ball up after recovering it in our half and made a quick pass up to Eileen. Eileen found her path blocked by two defenders so she quickly turned back and dropped the ball to Liv who then immediately sent it right back up past those defenders so Beanie could run around them and back onto the ball. It was brilliant but the best part was that they executed it with a kind of casualness, like it was the easiest thing in the world to take a moment out of the soccer game to play a little "monkey in the middle".
Girl Power displayed a lot of that sort of play in that game and it was beautiful but late in the second half their style changed a bit. FC Kentucky had managed a goal finally on one of their rare shooting opportunities and in response our squad seemed to become a little more desperate. We saw less quality passing and more efforts by individual players to dribble-penetrate through the FC line. The girls seemed to be taking turns picking the ball up in midfield and dribbling straight into the heart of the defense, usually with good success until they got to that last defender. No one seemed to be able to break through.
Obviously it can often seem like the girls have more success when they pass the ball around, when they break through a defense as a team rather than as individuals. The truth is though that as both their game coach and their trainer I have to have two different views on the games. As a coach working within the games to teach the players a tactical perspective I naturally want every player to recognize the passing opportunities. I want them to see how they can exploit the openings in a defense by cooperating. But as their trainer I also want to see everyone putting their 1v1 skills to the test. As the trainer I still want them to be fearlessly, even selfishly, pushing forward with the ball. So when I see a player dribble into traffic rather than releasing the ball I see two things. I see that they missed a tactical opportunity that I'd want them to be aware of but I also see a technical deficiency that could be addressed. If a player chooses to dribble into a crowd in an effort to get to goal on their own and they lose the ball does that mean that getting through the crowd was impossible, a bad decision? Or does it mean that they didn't execute technically? As the trainer it's the later that I see. I see players who actually might have gotten through if they'd just used that one move we've worked on so many times...if they'd tried a fake shot...or shielded the ball. So even as the other players and even the parents might be thinking "she should have passed the ball" I might be thinking "yes, maybe...but maybe she could have gotten past that last defender if she'd tried something else."
My feeling is that we still have to let players at this age have the option of dribbling. I don't want players who are merely competent dribblers in 1v1 situations, players who can dribble but who prefer to pass. I want players who are excellent in 1v1, who can reliably dribble-penetrate with confidence and who can then choose their options calmly and with patience, exploiting whatever weaknesses they can discover. A team full of players like that can then find many paths to the goal. They can work together patiently relying on the combined quality of their individual skills as they search for the killer ball.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
End-of-season High Note for the Ninjas
Over the course of their first season together I've seen each player on the Ninjas squad have moments of real individual brilliance. I've seen them all play hard against physically bigger, more aggressive teams. I've seen them deal with the knocks and cheap fouls with grit and the indignities of their roster situation with grace. On Saturday, in their final match of the season, they showed all of that again and more. It was without a doubt the team's best performance of the season and, I think, a real indication of the high quality team they can become.
The first half of that game was, for most of the girls individually, their best half of play. Not only were they displaying a great combination of skillful play and raw athleticism but they were playing with a very high energy level and intensity. There was a wonderful amount of communication going on and most of it was in the limited vocabulary we work on in training: "Square, Drop, Through". Kylee has certainly been the leader in that aspect of the team's play but in this game she was combining that willingness to communicate with a great vision for the flow of the game. Not only was she calling for "square" or "through" passes, she was really getting into the ideal position for them. It seemed to me that she was always in an advantageous position, always "in" the play even when off the ball. This made for an exemplary display of how to actually play a "position", in this case the #10 and #6, which is where I put Kylee in the first half. Something I've been talking with the team about lately is that the key to playing your position well is to understand your responsibilities and how those intertwine with those of your teammates and then, most importantly, to be patient and let the game opportunities come to you. Don't chase...not the ball, not your teammates. Rather, be patient and strike when the time is right.
Annabelle also played her first position very well in that first half. I'd started her in as the #9 or "striker" as she has the speed and the physical toughness to play that role in a "hold up" style. That means she's a player who is able to receive the ball with her back to the goal, shield off the defenders and then turn into her run for a shot. In past games she's had a tendency to start in that #9 role and then run out of position chasing the ball back into our own half. My advice to her and all of our players when they take the strikers position is that you now get to be "the big whinny baby" who says to her teammates "your job is to get me the ball...and by the way...I don't play defense." Annabelle was perfect in that role Saturday and just by successfully holding the ball up in the other team's half for long periods of time she contributed to our defense the way a good striker does: don't let the other team have the ball.
Ashley was brilliant in midfield (the #10, #8 or #6) most of the game and it was a kind of brilliance that might be easily missed. She's the artist of the quick trap-and-pass, receiving the ball cleanly with one touch then after one dribble step at most she's passing it off right to a teammate's feet. As a result you could easily get the impression that she didn't get involved in the run of play very much but that's not the case. She plays the role of #10 perfectly, acting as a conduit to move the ball quickly up the field or side to side. It's subtle but indispensable.
Juliana has from the start of our training season shown that her greatest gifts are her speed, balance and courage. She runs full tilt straight into crowds of players who tower over her and like a spinning top she impossibly maintains her feet while being tripped and pushed. I've thought since the beginning that if she could develop a good touch on the ball she'd become a tremendously effective penetrating player. If you ever get the chance, watch some video of Leo Messi the FC Barcelona star. Jumping over tackles, stumbling on after being hacked, driving relentlessly to goal...that's his signature. In this last game I think Juliana was finally showing that she is developing that soft touch on the ball that will allow her to turn her speed into a real advantage on the attack and she had some lovely long runs with the ball where it seemed that nothing could knock her off her balance.
Samantha had a great game too, especially in as keeper. Her hand technique is really good already and while I don't like to move players into specializing in any position at this age I have to say she certainly shows some real aptitude for playing goalie. Out in the field she had a good game too and like Annabelle she seems really suited to playing that "hold-up" style of forward player, someone who likes to body-up to a defender and receive then shield the ball before turning in for a shot. It's especially the quality of Sam's first touch that makes her so effective in that role and I hope all of us, parents and players, as we watch the game more and understand it better will come to understand that "first touch" is probably the single most important skill a player can have and frankly nothing short of perfect first touch will suffice. When it comes to first touch there's an old soccer training adage that really applies: a good player practices until they get it right...an elite player practices until they can't get it wrong. So I always say to my teams "don't waste a single touch...we never know which one will lead to a goal or at least prevent one for them." Sam gets that as well as any player I have.
Charlie also got some quality time in as the #9 in this game. Her natural gifts make her an interesting contrast in style to the way Sam and Annabelle play as strikers. Charlie, because she's reliably two-footed and also has good field vision, plays the position less as a hold-up striker and more as a "runner" who looks to either dribble-penetrate from near the half line or else likes to run through seams in the defense onto through balls from her teammates. Charlie is a surprisingly good dribbler who can move with ease through a crowd of defenders. I say "surprisingly" because I think the grace of her touch on the ball can seem incongruous to someone who is only judging her based on her size. You don't expect such a tall player to have such deft control of the ball in tight spaces. In contrast, Kennedy looks just like the sort of player you'd expect to see dribbling crisply through the scrum. Kennedy has a brilliant ability to control the ball with either side of her right foot and this allows her to move at good pace without ever letting the ball too far away from her. As a result she can step around defenders lightly without needing any dramatic cuts side-to-side.
I describe those two players, Charlie and Kennedy, together there because they combined for the one season-defining highlight from that last game that I want to describe in some detail. In the second half we'd had some very nice long runs of play where our fullbacks (#2 and #3) and central defenders (#4 and #5) were bringing the ball up to one of our midfielders who then made steady headway dribble penetrating into the center of the other team's defense. I think we must have had five or six really good chances generated in this way and there was a fair amount of good passing between the mids and the striker too (Ashley!) but one play really stood out. Late in the game Annabelle, playing in the #3 position, received the ball near the sideline then took a few dribble touches diagonally toward the center of the field before making a beautiful pass to Kennedy. Kennedy then won the 1v1 in front of her and started moving diagonally to her right back across the remaining defenders. Just as Kennedy made that change of direction Charlie, who was in the #9, turned and ran out ahead of her toward the right corner, staying on-side but getting a good five yards out past those nearest defenders. The pass that Kennedy delivered wasn't just good, it was thrilling. The communication between the two players was in this case clear but wordless. Everything in Charlie's posture and body language signaled Kennedy "I'm headed into this space and I need the ball" while Kennedy was herself clearly signaling "here it comes...you'd better get this."
Charlie had a good shot but didn't convert. No matter though. That sort of interplay is as good as it gets and my feeling as a coach is that for many players it's that sort of thing that becomes the real addiction. Everyone likes having the ball and scoring or making any other sort of individual play that makes a difference, but that feeling of being in concert with a teammate, of wordlessly knowing where to be and when, is at once magical and primal. It's like being part of a wolf pack, moving forward, knowing that the prey has no chance. When a team develops that sense of being predators, opportunists and killers then every aspect of the game, even their play in our defensive half becomes part of the attack.
Thanks for the great season Ninjas. Can't wait for the spring!
The first half of that game was, for most of the girls individually, their best half of play. Not only were they displaying a great combination of skillful play and raw athleticism but they were playing with a very high energy level and intensity. There was a wonderful amount of communication going on and most of it was in the limited vocabulary we work on in training: "Square, Drop, Through". Kylee has certainly been the leader in that aspect of the team's play but in this game she was combining that willingness to communicate with a great vision for the flow of the game. Not only was she calling for "square" or "through" passes, she was really getting into the ideal position for them. It seemed to me that she was always in an advantageous position, always "in" the play even when off the ball. This made for an exemplary display of how to actually play a "position", in this case the #10 and #6, which is where I put Kylee in the first half. Something I've been talking with the team about lately is that the key to playing your position well is to understand your responsibilities and how those intertwine with those of your teammates and then, most importantly, to be patient and let the game opportunities come to you. Don't chase...not the ball, not your teammates. Rather, be patient and strike when the time is right.
Annabelle also played her first position very well in that first half. I'd started her in as the #9 or "striker" as she has the speed and the physical toughness to play that role in a "hold up" style. That means she's a player who is able to receive the ball with her back to the goal, shield off the defenders and then turn into her run for a shot. In past games she's had a tendency to start in that #9 role and then run out of position chasing the ball back into our own half. My advice to her and all of our players when they take the strikers position is that you now get to be "the big whinny baby" who says to her teammates "your job is to get me the ball...and by the way...I don't play defense." Annabelle was perfect in that role Saturday and just by successfully holding the ball up in the other team's half for long periods of time she contributed to our defense the way a good striker does: don't let the other team have the ball.
Ashley was brilliant in midfield (the #10, #8 or #6) most of the game and it was a kind of brilliance that might be easily missed. She's the artist of the quick trap-and-pass, receiving the ball cleanly with one touch then after one dribble step at most she's passing it off right to a teammate's feet. As a result you could easily get the impression that she didn't get involved in the run of play very much but that's not the case. She plays the role of #10 perfectly, acting as a conduit to move the ball quickly up the field or side to side. It's subtle but indispensable.
Juliana has from the start of our training season shown that her greatest gifts are her speed, balance and courage. She runs full tilt straight into crowds of players who tower over her and like a spinning top she impossibly maintains her feet while being tripped and pushed. I've thought since the beginning that if she could develop a good touch on the ball she'd become a tremendously effective penetrating player. If you ever get the chance, watch some video of Leo Messi the FC Barcelona star. Jumping over tackles, stumbling on after being hacked, driving relentlessly to goal...that's his signature. In this last game I think Juliana was finally showing that she is developing that soft touch on the ball that will allow her to turn her speed into a real advantage on the attack and she had some lovely long runs with the ball where it seemed that nothing could knock her off her balance.
Samantha had a great game too, especially in as keeper. Her hand technique is really good already and while I don't like to move players into specializing in any position at this age I have to say she certainly shows some real aptitude for playing goalie. Out in the field she had a good game too and like Annabelle she seems really suited to playing that "hold-up" style of forward player, someone who likes to body-up to a defender and receive then shield the ball before turning in for a shot. It's especially the quality of Sam's first touch that makes her so effective in that role and I hope all of us, parents and players, as we watch the game more and understand it better will come to understand that "first touch" is probably the single most important skill a player can have and frankly nothing short of perfect first touch will suffice. When it comes to first touch there's an old soccer training adage that really applies: a good player practices until they get it right...an elite player practices until they can't get it wrong. So I always say to my teams "don't waste a single touch...we never know which one will lead to a goal or at least prevent one for them." Sam gets that as well as any player I have.
Charlie also got some quality time in as the #9 in this game. Her natural gifts make her an interesting contrast in style to the way Sam and Annabelle play as strikers. Charlie, because she's reliably two-footed and also has good field vision, plays the position less as a hold-up striker and more as a "runner" who looks to either dribble-penetrate from near the half line or else likes to run through seams in the defense onto through balls from her teammates. Charlie is a surprisingly good dribbler who can move with ease through a crowd of defenders. I say "surprisingly" because I think the grace of her touch on the ball can seem incongruous to someone who is only judging her based on her size. You don't expect such a tall player to have such deft control of the ball in tight spaces. In contrast, Kennedy looks just like the sort of player you'd expect to see dribbling crisply through the scrum. Kennedy has a brilliant ability to control the ball with either side of her right foot and this allows her to move at good pace without ever letting the ball too far away from her. As a result she can step around defenders lightly without needing any dramatic cuts side-to-side.
I describe those two players, Charlie and Kennedy, together there because they combined for the one season-defining highlight from that last game that I want to describe in some detail. In the second half we'd had some very nice long runs of play where our fullbacks (#2 and #3) and central defenders (#4 and #5) were bringing the ball up to one of our midfielders who then made steady headway dribble penetrating into the center of the other team's defense. I think we must have had five or six really good chances generated in this way and there was a fair amount of good passing between the mids and the striker too (Ashley!) but one play really stood out. Late in the game Annabelle, playing in the #3 position, received the ball near the sideline then took a few dribble touches diagonally toward the center of the field before making a beautiful pass to Kennedy. Kennedy then won the 1v1 in front of her and started moving diagonally to her right back across the remaining defenders. Just as Kennedy made that change of direction Charlie, who was in the #9, turned and ran out ahead of her toward the right corner, staying on-side but getting a good five yards out past those nearest defenders. The pass that Kennedy delivered wasn't just good, it was thrilling. The communication between the two players was in this case clear but wordless. Everything in Charlie's posture and body language signaled Kennedy "I'm headed into this space and I need the ball" while Kennedy was herself clearly signaling "here it comes...you'd better get this."
Charlie had a good shot but didn't convert. No matter though. That sort of interplay is as good as it gets and my feeling as a coach is that for many players it's that sort of thing that becomes the real addiction. Everyone likes having the ball and scoring or making any other sort of individual play that makes a difference, but that feeling of being in concert with a teammate, of wordlessly knowing where to be and when, is at once magical and primal. It's like being part of a wolf pack, moving forward, knowing that the prey has no chance. When a team develops that sense of being predators, opportunists and killers then every aspect of the game, even their play in our defensive half becomes part of the attack.
Thanks for the great season Ninjas. Can't wait for the spring!
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