watch any other coach wether theyve just started or are in the professional game, people have great ideas whatever their experience.

watching plenty of games on playback, but most important to me is understanding the players you work with.

last season with my u16's i changed everything about the way they played previously.

This was because the amount of players e had in certain positions didnt lend itself to the old style/formation of play.

We changed from a 4 to a 3 at the back which meant educating the couple of full backs we had into good centrebacks giving us a gretaer depth in defence. teaching new skills to the high amount of midfeilders we had 

it took almost 6 months of the season in training/matches, learning for  myself and the team sometimes having to stick to my guns or trying to explain to them the importance of trust in one and other, when all i could here in the first few weeks was "we cant play like this" "we need to go back to 4 at the back" and we finished second in the league.

i personally think the players finished the season better for it and the feedback was good.

but what ive learned is you have to be brave in making decisions, you have to be prepared to change formation/style every season if necessary, but you always need to communicate with your players to make them feel part of the whole process

Thanks Lee. Barring observing your players is there anything else you do to develop your understanding of and with the players? 
And where do you watch most of the coaches and playback of games?

Thanks Lee. Barring observing your players is there anything else you do to develop your understanding of and with the players? 
And where do you watch most of the coaches and playback of games?

Hi Tim,

Where the players are concerned (juniors) , listening to their general chit chat during the first 10 minutes on arrival, the stuff you hear, good or bad can help massively.

It gives you a great excuse to start a conversation with an individual

With the coaches i like to see how they warm up their players and how they relay messages during game time, one thing that stuck with me a long time ago was instead of saying to a player "do this" i always ask "can you"

replaying games helps me with visuals on certain things im trying to help my players with ie. how teams press high and why,what formation are they doing it with, or how high the keeper is up the pitch.

just because your in a back 3 it doesnt mean you cant be brave and run out with the ball. heres a clip to show you

Sounds really good, Lee. Do you run any other activities outside of football to help your players get to know one another?