Saw this in another thread. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/45419/inside-bayern-munichs-youth-program-qa-with-wer.html
You should be very concerned and explain the game to your son as much as you can. If he is not getting taught proper tactics now, in my experience it won't happen later as the coaching unfortunately won't get that much better. I've seen large numbers of players on top academy teams that really don't understand the game. The players that do understand the game are few in numbers. It is a prime reason why kids like Villareal and Fagundez are successful and large numbers of kids with similar athletic ability and skill are not. Tactics should be part of every practice from the earliest ages. At younger ages they are really simple - play with 4 goals to switch the point of attack. As kids get older you play 3 or 4 goals across each endline to help kids understand defensive concepts and shape; pass to end zone's in order to score to teach concepts of off ball movement; Switch directions of goals after each score to teach transitions. Use pre-game and tournaments to teach more complex team tactics. Running passing drills and finishing drills with patterns. The focus is still on skill and short-sided games but the difference is that young players are actually being taught how to play. Another thing I would suggest doing is to take your son to a live game. But instead of just watching the game like a normal fan, have your son pick out his favorite player and have your son focus on that players movements the entire game. Ask your son questions on why he thought a player might have done something and point out things he might not notice. In an ideal world your son would like someone with exceptional off the ball movement like Robbie Keane, but even the movement of the most soccer brain dead professional players will be a revaluation to your son.
Pavlovian responses do take time to become fully installed. Any need to divert an iota of thought toward what should not be only instinctive but reactive, can impair by a significant amount that mental ability needed for correct decision making under pressure. Hopefully you encourage your player to practice these "automatics" as much as possible. This is what helps stop many of those midfield (unforced) errors that lead to goals. Perhaps our first generation soccer players need to be educated a little bit differently then where they play futbol.
Your players team should be getting beat trying to learn to play possession, while the other team scores playing long ball. Something is not right. Winning soccer games (I'm told) is taken a lot more seriously by American children then those elsewhere who play futbol. Watching three TV games a week and attending older players practices even if seated during scrimmages, might help make up for program shortcomings?
They are getting beaten because the other teams have better players. We live in an area where the top players all migrate to a couple mega clubs, meaning that our club ends up feeding the mega clubs. If everyone who started at our club stayed, we'd be the best team in the area, but one leaves, then another and then you have a domino effect. The mega clubs play good, possession-based soccer and they play as a team rather than a group of individuals. They move the ball well and have superior players. Their coaches also give very clear instructions to the players during the game, instructing them when to push up and when to get back. That's extremely effective at this age group. Our players are not told when to push up and when to get back and, as a result, are frequently caught out of position. The mega clubs are too far away for me to justify driving there for a 10 year old boy's soccer, especially since I have two other younger boys with local practices. Watching more games is a good idea. Just hard to fit it into the hectic schedule.
I buy my son's club's philosophy, which in short is working on possession and creativity, and winning will come. But winning is not a focus. Yet my son is very likely leaving. The two major issues are the quality of his teammates (several of which should be playing rec and it is a top twenty team in our state) and the quality of the coach: both his coaching and training. And it does come back to tactics. What do you do when you have the ball? What do you do when you don't have the ball? How do you move? When do you move? Where do you move? Tactics should be introduced around 9 or 10 years old, but give them at least two years to "get it". Some kids never get it but end up on really great teams where their teammates do get it, and can cover for them. Sometimes instinct will cover for not knowing where to be, when to pass, when to shoot. I would not be worried until perhaps the second year of full-sided. I found it almost impossible to coach tactics in small-sided games, because the opponents would always have one or two outstanding players who would run through our defense. Full-sided takes teams with one or two dominant players and makes them manageable. I like the NSCAA "quizzies" which help players understand tactics.
This is really helpful to me, thanks. I think the issue is that clubs like the one my son plays for are intent on training the individual without any focus on tactics during training. Then they throw the kids out on the field and ask them to move the ball like Barcelona simply because they have skill. Couple that with the fact that they refuse to give ANY verbal instruction during games because they abhor "joy-stick coaching" and what you are left with is a bunch of seriously skilled kids like mine who have no idea how to play the game. There are some kids who simply "get it" without being taught, but that's an anomoly and is so rare as to be dismissed out of hand. Yes, on a top team, you will have 2-3 kids out of 10 who "get it" instinctively, but that seeming 20-30% figure is skewed by the fact that you started with the top 10 players in your area. Of course you are going to get 20-30% of the best players around "getting it" all on their own. From a random sample, the number of kids who are going to "get" tactics without being taught them is probably more like 3% than 30%. Then the 2-3 kids who "get it" all on their own leave the club and go to the mega-clubs in the area because they are tired of playing with kids who don't get it. The rich get richer.
Yes, there undoubtedly needs to be a balance. For me, with 9-10 year olds you work mostly on skills during training and use game days for teaching tactics. Give some clear verbal cues to the kids about when to push up, when to get back, when to check to the ball, when to switch the point of attack, how to stay goal-side, etc. If kids aren't following the verbal cues, pull them aside during halftime and explain it more clearly, or sub them out for a brief explanation and then get them right back in the game. I really think that these new-age coaches who refuse to do any coaching at all on game days are really missing an opportunity to impart tactical knowledge to these kids. As an aside, my kid is trying out for one of the mega-clubs today. I found out that one of them is going to hold practices at a mid-point between their town and my town, making it drivable. I'm just not convinced that 100% focus on technical skill is going to get my kid where he needs to be. I've played with too many guys who are way more skilled than I am yet have no idea how to move on the field.
Great topic, dcole. My son (turned 9 in January) has some innate understanding of where to be and when to be there, but he's by no means a tactical prodigy. For instance, he has always understood that someone should be waiting near the top of the box if he takes the ball down to the goal line, so he has always cut that pass diagonally back into the middle of the field. Only now are his teammates beginning to understand that "Hey, if I'm there, the ball's going to be there an I might score." He does not get other things, though. He will stand and wait for a throw in instead of checking and making a run, and when he's on the wing he doesn't get near the width he should when we're attacking. I believe coaches should be introducing tactics at 9 and 10. I think most of the focus should still be on individual development, but it's time for the kids to begin to understand the game on a more macro level, and denying them that is a disservice. Some of the simpler tactics our coaches have introduced... Dropping the ball to a supporting player and having the support try to switch the field. Give and go combination passing. Overlapping. Creating triangles. The kids totally struggled with it, but over the past three or so games we're beginning to see some of it creep onto the pitch. Had a VERY sweet little one-two for a goal this past weekend. My recommendation - watch great soccer. YouTube is a wonderful resource. When my son has trouble with a concept from practice, I'll find 15 minutes and a few videos of the pros doing it on YouTube. Once he sees how it's supposed to look, he's like "Oh, okay, I got it." And he really does. Be patient, with your son and his coaches. My guess is one day the light will come on for him, and over the course of two or three weeks he will become a totally different player.
Anytime you want to post some of those youtube videos I'd appreciate it, I have a hard time finding good tactical moments.
Watch creative players like Modric in this clip. Describe which foot he uses, which part of the foot etc. Describe the runs of other players, though balls, triangles etc. What are his strengths? Cater your videos to the position(s) he seems most keen on. For instance, if he was a right back I would bring him to a MLS game and have him watch the RB during the whole game. A cheaper version would be to watch Champion's League with him. Using the same right back scenario I would have him watch Lahm, Srna, Abate and Ivanovic.
I recall using this one to talk about triangles. I'll see if I can find a few more. Fair warning - most of them will probably be Barca
This one's got some technical stuff in it too, but I used mainly the first couple of minutes to demonstrate awareness of defenders and space.
I tell my son all the time that the most dangerous guy on the field is the guy who just passed it. Several examples here of how to run smart on the pitch.
Watch the Bundesliga with him. GOL TVs production values are poor, but IMHO their league is the best. Fast, physical, technical with proper officiating. Even the lower/mid table teams know how to pass the ball well. Ameri-Serb Subotic plays for Dortmund and was passed up by the USMNT. What a waste. His coach couldn't see a diamond in the rough.
He also mentions how fatigue can effect your finishing. That is very true have your players surround a regulation field. Then have a player use each player for wall passes around the field. Have a keeper in goal and then see what kind of shot the dribbler puts on goal. The first time he does it the chances are the shot will be a week shot. As he gets more fit tge shot will be better. Then let him wall pass around the field two times before he can shoot on the keeper and see what kind of shot he makes on the keeper. On having the ball a very short time in a game is also true. So it is all about your movement when you don't have ball. I want to see a player always be up when the ball is up. I want to see him be up when the ball us up in the 89 minute. To do that he has to be fit and he has to be mentally fit because he has to be able to push himself mentally to be up when the ball is up. Then he has to be able to finish that chance when he gets tge chance.
Off-topic, but I hope now that more and more providers are dropping GolTV (I just lost it a week or two ago), somebody else will get the broadcast rights for the Bundesliga--in HD. I agree about it being the best league.
Interesting discussion. I've seen this phenomenon in basketball as well (although they don't call it "tactics," it's more like "instincts" or "basketball IQ"), where players with apparently great skill just never seem to understand how to make the "right" play, or vice versa where players who are very limited in terms of skill always seem to end up on the winning side thanks to playing "smart." If you find someone who has both, then you've really got something. I'm sure there are some things you can do to try to help, but some of it seems ingrained at a very young age, in basketball at least. Some players just get it, and others never do.
Skills over tactics at young ages, absolutely. The muscle memory and touch on the ball needs to begin early. There ARE some basic soccer tactics that should definitely be stressed even at an early age. 1. Movement, specifically move to get open and after you pass the ball, move to get it back or be an outlet. This one should start as early as possible. 2. Inside-outside, switching the ball etc. all ball movement should be as early as possible. 3. The give and go 1-2 etc should be as early as possible. Fits with number one nicely. 4. Concepts of space and movement into space as early as possible. 5. Concepts of positions and positional responsibilities around age 8+ 6. Everything else 10+ I can't stress enough how much watching games early teaches tactical elements. Not just professional games but older sibling games as well. I was watching my 7 year old the other day and he was standing on the field explaining to another player the offside trap. Made me smile.
Spot on, every word. Love watching the younger one trying to play 1-2's with his U6 teammates. He's asking for the ball back and the other little dude is like "Give it back? For what? I just got it." By the end of last year we were seeing lots of inside/outside ball movement and 1-2 type plays from our U9s. It takes a long time for some of that stuff to show up on the field, but when it finally does it's extremely gratifying.
On how long before you see movement show up on the field in games. It depends when the player started to play under good coaching. Also how many coaches there are working with the players individually and in small groups. If they started at 5/6 yrs old by 8 years old you can see some amazing things in games. You can even have them playing 11 on a side games at that age. If you worked with them playing in that format.