Please Note: The transcript is automatically generated by Supertranslate.beta in case you come across any typos or misquotes during your reading.
[Jamie]
Hello and welcome to Coachcast by England Football Learning the coaching podcast that brings you insight from people across the game. I'm Jamie and I'm here with Louise and today we're chatting with Aston Cox, a Game Insights Analyst at the FA, to talk all things tactics. Well, Aston, welcome to the show for the very first time. How are you?
[Aston]
I'm very well, thanks. How are yourselves?
[Jamie]
Yeah, pretty good, thank you.
[Louise]
Yeah, Really nice to have you on with us. So before we jump into the episode, it'd be really good to find out a little bit more about your role and what it is that you do, Aston.
[Aston]
Yeah. So we basically collect a lot of, data and insights and video. Basically The reason we do this is it sort of takes the guise of supporting coaches with basically their coaching, their play development, the game and then their self-development as well. Them insights that we love to collate and try and give some form of information to better direct coaches.
[Jamie]
Fab. Very interesting role. Yeah, very interesting. Well just before we kind of jump into the main part of the show Aston, which is where we kind of find out a little bit more about yourself and then dive into the topic. As this is a coaching podcast, coaches could be on the way to training right now while tuning into this so we always like to give them some good advice at the top of the show.
[Louise]
Yep so we call this an arrival activity and we try and put it in so it gives you a chance to warm up and get used to the podcast. So what we're going to do is we're going to ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can in 30 seconds. Are you up for that challenge?
[Aston]
Of course I am.
[Louise]
Okay, when the music starts, you can begin.
[Aston]
Right, so I'm gonna say start, first of all, keep it simple. Make sure your players get high levels of repetition that are realistic and relevant for them. Make sure your players enjoy it. That's probably the biggest thing I'd take away from this. Always be a student of the game. There's always something that you can learn no matter what level you're working at. And then always try and think about how you link the learning opportunities for your players to make them better and then they can link the opportunities that they've got to learn and then it's all about constructing their understanding.
[Louise]
Did you want to carry on with that?
[Aston]
Sorry, I've got a load of stuff ahead. That final one's all about us as coaches, we're facilitators of learning opportunities. And it's all about allowing players to instruct their knowledge of the game.
[Louise]
Thank you very much for that.
[Jamie]
Right, well, we'll dive into the main part of the show, Aston, which is to find out a little bit more about you. And we always start this section by asking, what was your first experience of football like?
[Aston]
So he was mainly playing football in the garden as a young child if anything and it was quite unfortunate for my parents that they were into their gardening and yeah I used to ruin a lot of the plants in the garden and that took the guys then to go into a football club at the age of under eight. The experience I had probably weren't great in terms of, there was a coach turn up with four or five footballers, probably about 15, 16 of us, who would probably get a touch on the ball every four or five minutes, as a young child, my head was completely gone.
[Louise]
That's a shame that you didn't get as many touches on the ball as you would have liked in that experience, but really nice to hear that you really love practicing at home. So that's really good. On the flip side of that, what was your first experience of coaching like and how did you get into that?
[Aston]
It sort of stemmed from always wanting to help others because there's something that you can do. How can you support all the people that you're playing football with to try and do the same sort of thing? So whether that's a technique and whether that's working with someone in your team, and I sort of stemmed from like an early age if anything.
[Jamie]
And when did that first opportunity actually come around to start coaching?
[Aston]
It was actually secondary school so I was quite lucky for my options so year nine when you pick yeah I don't know yeah yeah history, science etc. I was lucky to do like a sports diploma that was paired with a local college that meant a couple of days in the week we'd go into college and deliver some bits and then a couple of days of the week we'd do some bits like in school where he was linked to more PE. And what they did is one part of the module was an element of coaching. They brought in primary school and there was like learners on that sort of module while we were in secondary school. Had to coach these primary school children. Obviously only being 15, 16 at the time and coming with these challenges in terms of like, not knowing what you're doing, but it was fantastic in terms of sort of dipping your feet into the water and having to go, like trying to implement some stuff.
[Louise]
Was there something about it that you particularly liked or what did you enjoy most about it would you say?
[Aston]
The best bit is when you're able to go in and influence something and you sort of see that light bulb moment where where people are able to pick up the information that you're giving them and then go and execute it or yeah again it it sort of sparks an element of curiosity. I've got to do it that way. Like them little bits, I think, where people are able to link what you're telling them to what you're showing them, and then them actually doing it, it's really empowering for me, especially within that coaching world.
[Jamie]
Now, Aston, because of the role that you do, I imagine it kind of blends into your coaching approach a little bit, I guess. So can you maybe give us a bit of a insight into how you've used Game Insights to inform your coaching?
[Aston]
Yeah, so I combine a lot of the word that we collate as Game Insights I'm listing a minute into my actual practice design. So can I keep it relevant to the players that I'm working with is the element of realism and then are they getting the level of repetition that they probably should be getting within a match match environment or even more if we're trying to push one a little bit? So there's loads of examples that we see within the Premier League and the WSL around finishing locations. A lot of the goals at the minute are scored in the second six-yard box. So it's then how I link that back into the practice for the players that I'm working with. Now, it's really important that, just because that's happening at the top level, it might not be happening with the players that I'm working with. So it's almost having that understanding of what it looks like here and then how I can support the players I'm working with to make it real for them.
[Jamie]
Yeah, I suppose also just going back to your first experience of football yourself, where you say not getting too many touches of the ball and taking it that you use insight to make sure that players are getting the amount of touches that they actually need.
[Aston]
Yeah, if you were to like stand and watch one of my sessions, I'd like to think that there's loads of repetition of everything that we're trying to do. And that for me, it's a fundamental for any coaching activity that you're looking to put on, but making sure that it's realistic as well at the same time.
[Jamie]
Do you have any further top tips to, I suppose, to help listeners get useful insights from the game?
[Aston]
Yeah, so the first thing I'm going to draw your attention to is the Game Insights team do some fantastic work that goes out on social media. So first of all, I'd make sure that you're following that because there's always something that you can steal and that's been put out there. The second thing I'm going to give you is, as you're observing your games and your training sessions, like, or even the games on the telly, what's happening? Why is it happening? And then how will that support your players? How can you get that message that you're seeing back into the world that you're coaching within?
[Louise]
Yeah, that's some really good advice there. And I guess it breaks it down really simply into how people can kind of start observing what's happening.
[Aston]
Yeah, definitely.
[Louise]
If we think about everything that you've learned in your career so far, what advice would you give to your younger self to prepare them for stepping into the world of coaching for the first time, if you think back to that first time when you were about 16?
[Aston]
The first thing I'd probably say to myself, and a lot of people have said it to me like throughout as I've sort of gone through different roles, is there's no easy fix. There's no cheat code to player development. It's so multifaceted and there's so many factors that feed into it That actually one day they might really understand and pick up a technique. And then the next week they might not be able to link that learning and that technique might not still be there. So it's trying to be really consistent with your approach. And yet again, that's probably a bit of advice I'd give to myself. How can You link what you did previously last week to the learning opportunity you've got this week and then how you build on that for future weeks. And then yet again, it's their game and not your game. So how can you get the most out of the environment that you're setting up for them to flourish almost?
[Jamie]
And What would you say the best piece of advice is that you've ever received?
[Aston]
I think the main one would be, you can't fix everything. There'll be elements of priority that you need to work on the here and now. But if you try and chase everything, you'll probably end up improving nothing. And then yet again, like I've probably touched on previously in the last couple of questions. It's all about what's relevant for your players in the here and now. And then is it real for your players as well? So if you've got a bunch of under-9s, what's the point in trying to practice scoring from like 40, 30 yards away from the goal when they've not got the physical ability to do that. So yet again, what's out there at the minute? How can I make that relevant and real to your players within the sessions that you're delivering?
[Louise]
And if there was a piece of advice that you could give to help coaches to make a positive impact on their players' journey, what would that be?
[Aston]
I'd firstly say, can you back up your practice design with some form of insight? What's feeding what you're doing with your players? So if that's, for example, certain players need to get X amount of repetitions, that's in the form in your practice, and that will help you build your practice design to make sure that the players are getting this element of repetition within the practice itself. So that's sort of the why you're doing what you're doing. And yet again, I've referred to there as it being a number. You need to get this amount of repetitions, but it might be that subjective opinion of, I think this works because this is what these players need in this time. Or it might even just be player feedback. I really enjoyed that session last week. I'll tell you what, why don't we replicate it and do it again? We'll just add a different spin on it. There's loads of things that you can, you can sort of pick up still from others and get and utilize in your own practice.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, well now Aston today we wanted to get a little bit more of I suppose an introduction to tactics is the main theme of today so to start us off what's the difference between tactics systems and strategies and why are they important?
[Aston]
I like to break it down into looking at systems first. So systems is basically where you're going to deploy your players basically. So an example of this could be a 1-4-3-3. We then break it down into the strategies, which is probably like a general approach of what you're trying to go after with your team and the objectives you're trying to achieve in that match. So this might take into consideration what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are as a team. And then some of you might be able to look at what the opposition do and then tail around what you're trying to go after. For example, a strategy for me might be looking to win the ball high with a press and then we lead into a tactic, which is more of the specific plan that you're going after in the actions you're trying to employ, or the team are trying to employ, with the individuals you've got in the team. And this might be more around a certain pressing strategy. So we've looked at one earlier where we were looking at the wide player looks to press centre half and then our full back's looking to press another full back or the opposition's full back. So that for me would be an example of a tactic.
[Louise]
What level of understanding do coaches need for this kind of stuff? So for example, what do coaches need to know if they're working with under 7s compared to working with adults? Like what's the difference?
[Aston]
The first one would be if I was working with a younger age group, can I keep it simple? Can I make it like suitable for my players to understand it? What I mean by this is how can you connect it to their world? So some of the players I was coaching previously, a little bit older than 15, 16, they're playing a certain game, video game, as that as it sounds. And the way I sort of linked the press that we were working on was sort of to their reality. So they're playing this game and apparently the circle gets smaller and if you're not in the circle, you lose the game basically. So it's basically saying, what's the circle doing then? It's getting smaller, okay. What's the circle forcing you to do? Get closer to people. So it straight away links to their reality, their world, and how we're looking to press. So that would be the important thing for me there. When you get to the older age groups, I think it might be important to understand or explain to your players why they're doing certain things. So they're sort of on board with the concept. So if we look at any form of pressing, So the first person that presses might not win the ball. So they might be going, why am I looking to press this player? If I'm not going to get close enough to win the ball. So you might have to explain that bit of detail about if you go and press the centre, forcing their option and their pass somewhere else, and we were going to win the ball potential the second or third pass. So that extra detail allows them to keep on board with your tactic, strategy and system that you're looking to implement.
[Louise]
Yeah, I can see that's really important to get everybody on the same page and kind of understanding why everybody's doing what they're doing.
[Aston]
Yeah, definitely.
[Jamie]
Do you have any top tips to help coaches choose the right tactics, strategies and systems for their team?
[Aston]
I think understanding your players is going to be really important. So for example, if they're going through significant growth at the minute, then they might not be able to sprint as quick as they used to. So the pressing strategy might be completely different than you look to implement in that time. So understanding the physical capabilities of your players and the technical and tactical understanding will then implement the detail and the way that you look to use a pressing strategy. I'm talking about pressing a lot here but There's loads of different ways that you might look to do this. So it might be in possession. If you've got people that are really good on the ball, then you're going to try and utilise that within your tactic and your strategy and your system that you look to implement.
[Louise]
How do you like your team to play for your own preference?
[Aston]
I'm one of these, I love driving it out of possession stuff. So it's how can we look to to press high how can we look to force one way how can we look to win the ball high that's something I feel is really important for my team and then the in possession stuff I think you see it a lot at the minute how can we make loads of passes how we can make sure passes and then almost inviting the opposition to press us to then play in the spaces that's left, whether that be playing over, around or through the opposition.
[Jamie]
Can you maybe talk us through some different examples of tactics, strategies and systems that teams can use? And I think this is probably the point where we're gonna show a few video examples here. If you've got some clips, Aston, and for anyone that's listening to this, this episode is on YouTube. So you can head over to there to check out what Aston is actually going to walk and talk us through, but we obviously will do our absolute best to explain it for anyone that's choosing to listen rather than watching YouTube, of course.
[Aston]
Right, we'll dive in. So we've got an example here, and we are looking at the out of possession, linking back to what I've just said about my team, looking to high press and win the ball high. We've got Liverpool versus Norwich in the FA Cup. I'll tell a straight a few bits, I'm gonna try my best to talk through the information that we've got on the screen and what we're trying to look at. So we know Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp were always looking to sort of press high and win the ball high. The way they look to do this, they almost looked to create with that 4-3-3 something where their wide players look to press centre halves. So just a bit of additional detail, Norwich were actually playing a 4-3-3 within this example as well. So the ball has gone back to the goalkeeper. They create that 433 with fullbacks go really high and wide. And then obviously you've got Liverpool's front three. The idea with this press is the number nine is looking to press the goalkeeper. And then you're too wide players are actually looking to press center halfs of Norwich. Now what this does is it actually leaves Norwich's fullback in a big bit of space. So I like to refer to this as making play predictable. So when you see this image on the screen, with the amount of space that the fullback's in, you're almost going the next pass that Norwich are going to play is into the fullback. So because we've made play predictable now, or Liverpool have made play predictable, What it allows them to do is it allows them to press the next pass. So this pressing strategy, as I've just touched on, the wide players will look to press Norwich's center half. The number nine will look to press there, the goalkeeper. The midfield players will all look to lock onto Norwich's midfield players. So maybe it becomes like a three from three v three in midfield. But what it does is it allows Liverpool's fullback to actually jump on to Norwich's fullback in all that space. So as the ball is played in the air into the fullback, What it allows the Liverpool fullback to do is actually to jump on the travel of the ball, making it really difficult for the fullback and Norwich to actually receive the ball. And in this instance, they actually win it back. And this was something we've seen Liverpool do quite a lot last season. I think I've heard it described before as like a wide chain almost. So as your wide player looks to press their centre half, your full-back looks to press the full-back. What's really important, and you'll see this within the video clip as well. If you imagine that there's a chain around the full back of Liverpool and the centre halves of Liverpool and then the opposite left back of Liverpool, is as the full back presses, the remaining three players in the back will all look to shuffle around and provide some support. Now that's the first example of a way that you can look to implement a pressing strategy. And now I know I'm chucking a lot of words at you there if you're listening, but it will be really good for you to see the clip so you can sort of link the information that we're giving to you there to the exact example. The next example we've got is England versus Finland. So like we see in England have actually set up out of possession in a 4-4-2 with their wide players coming quite narrow. And then on the flip side to that, Finland, yeah, again, it looks a little bit like a 4-3-3. But their fullbacks have gone really high and wide, almost into winger positions. Now with this press that England have looked to implement, The idea here is they're actually looking to force possession inside. So into where they've got their bodies. So they've got their two high players, the two strikers for England. They've got the wide player that's come inside and they're almost trying to make a lot of overload. Now, as the ball is played, understanding that it's not all about winning the ball on the first pass or winning the ball straight away, the striker of England looks to press the goalkeeper and this straight away forces the decision of the goalkeeper to play into the compact area. Now understanding this, the next option, because there's someone really tight onto the centre mid that's receiving the ball from the goalkeeper, the next option is to go back into a centre half. Yet again, it's all about making play predictable. So as that ball travels into the center half, there's going to be a space opened up somewhere on the pitch and it's recognizing who can jump. And what I mean by jump is press. Who can press that next pass where it's going to be a little bit of a contest for the ball. So as the ball travels from the centre mid to the centre back, actually it's Finland's second midfield player that's actually free. Now, recognising and understanding that, the closest player, England, can then go and put pressure on that pass coming into that second midfield player. And that second pass is actually one that's it's not a short pass. It's now a little bit of a longer pass that's played with speed. So it's going to be a little bit of a harder one to receive for the midfield player at Finland. And yet again, that's just another way that you can implement a pressure strategy. There's loads of different ways that you can do it. It's all about finding a way that works for your team and what they've got in it. So that physical traits, their technical and tactical outputs, how can you implement a tactic and strategy that would best support the players that you're working with?
[Jamie]
Yeah, actually, I was just going to ask, while we've still got this showing on screen, I know obviously so many different strategies, tactics and systems that people can deploy. So of course, this isn't exactly like a one solution fits all. But for this example in particular, so obviously Finland's got the goal kick and that's where obviously this is all happening is as players are shuffling across. How do you actually instill that into players? So to actually really make it work. So, you know, if anybody's watching when the Finland goalkeeper's taken the goal kick and the England striker's kind of running at an angle to force them to make that pass inside, and then obviously everything that you've just explained then obviously starts happening. How do you start working on that with your team in training?
[Aston]
Yeah, that's a great observation. I think it's all about direct feed and that little bit of detail. So it's Jack Greenish actually that goes to Curveys run. So there's loads of practices that you can put on that have elements of precedent. And you could work with your nine, your midfield players, your wide players on how you're looking to to press someone with the ball and why you're looking to do it. Now, once you've dripped them little bits of detail in, it's then how you can incorporate that message consistently across your training week. So when they get into the game, you're not looking to replicate something that's completely different to what you've been telling them in the week. So I'm gonna use that word consistent. So if you've got a way of doing things, can you keep it consistent so players can sort of link the learning? And what I mean by that, within the development setting, you're probably safe to do that. As you go up higher through the levels, you might need to adjust the way you play slightly because of the need to get results all merged or the fact of what the opposition do versus what you're doing. But if we're looking back to the development side of things, and the grassroots area as well, how can I keep that tactic consistent? A great story, I delivered a tactic the other week, and the players that I work with implemented it really well. And I've come away going, oh, I've cracked it, I've cracked this coaching game. It's easy. So the next week I go, I'm going to keep that tactic, I'm just going to add a few bits. And it absolutely crumbles. I'm walking away going, oh my word, like what has gone on here? How can they get it one week and not get it in the next week? But the thing is, if you're doing something consistent, let's say it's a pressing strategy for six weeks, then your opposition is going to prevent you new challenges. You're not always going to succeed with the tactics and strategies that you're looking to implement. But within this development setting, it's allowing players to link the opportunities to learn from week one to week two to week three. It might look different because of the different opposition you're playing, but if the messages that you're trying to implement are consistent, it allows players to link that learning. So They'll understand that, oh, this press didn't work because the opposition played a different shape. And it's all about constructing that knowledge for your players, instead of you being on the side and understanding it, seeing the game and having that tactical knowledge and trying to show that to the players. But yeah, again, it's their game. Let them try and work out what you're trying to implement, but keep the messages consistent for them to be able to link it back to the learning off that you're trying to give to the players.
[Jamie]
Yeah, so is it just important to be patient realistically? Like whenever it is actually that you're giving these sort of, I suppose, cues and looking for triggers, it's just being patient with it, say it's not going to happen overnight.
[Aston]
Yeah, definitely. And we'd be silly to think that if we can just tell someone what we need them to do and them to pick it up and do it straight away. When we know, for example, in a game, there's so many different factors that are changing every time a player receives the ball in different areas. What's the expectation when that, for example, the opposition are receiving deeper compared to receiving it higher. So there's so many different factors.
[Jamie]
When do you start trying to instil some of this information? Like, I'm not saying there's a right or wrong answer here, but what's the earliest that this sort of information should kind of be given to players?
[Aston]
See, I don't see a problem under 9s, under 10s, but it's the way it's given. So straight away, I'm not going to be giving an under 9 all this detail about pressing strategies. It might be the terminology and the language that I use. So it might be, can you press the closest player? So straight away then, that message for that under 9, under 10, they know that the closest player with the ball that they go and press. And then it might be the next message for the player behind going, who is the next player that they might pass to? Can you go and press them? So all of a sudden, the language and the terminology and what I'm trying to implement is really like simple needs to pick up. Where if I start going in with loads of detail, it's just, they're not gonna understand it.
[Jamie]
Do you have any like go-to simple tips to help players develop tactical awareness and the understanding of the roles without actually complicating things for them?
[Aston]
The first thing I'd love to try and implement is can my players get in a position where they can do one and a half jobs and people are like what do you mean by one and a half jobs? So what I'm basically saying is, if the ball goes to a player, can you press them? Or if the ball goes to another player, can you actually press them as well? So you've always got two opportunities to go do two jobs. That'd be the first thing I'd say, because straight away then you've got players going, okay, I know I can press that one. I actually, I might be able to press that one as well. So depending on the situation, the decisions in their court of what they try and go after. And yeah, again, you implement that on a team basis. So if you go and press, let's say the fullback, what does the player next to you do? Oh, I'll tell you what, I can press the midfield player that's closest to you, or I could go and press the forward. So they've always got two options, potentially, on the pitch that they can go and look to press.
[Louise]
Are there any simple drills or practices that coaches can use to work on tactics with their players?
[Aston]
Yeah, so you see a lot of people look to use like phases almost and like walkthroughs of what you're trying to implement. They're important. I sometimes use them in like a match day warm up just so I try and gauge where the players are and whether they understand the information I've given to them. The only downfall to using a phase is how many times you actually get the repetition of actually looking to get a press and sometimes you might have to manipulate it to actually get out what you're trying to get out within the actual session itself. I'm a big fan of almost like small-sided practices. So they get loads of repetition and pressing and getting it wrong and getting it right. And yet again, they've got opportunities going in the press and then also covering behind the ball. So you've got that cover and balance that's going on at the same time.
[Jamie]
Just to help anybody listening, what do you mean by when you say like using a phase to help work on tactics?
[Aston]
A phase of play would almost be close to 11 v 11. You're not going to have 22 players on the matchday, so you're going to struggle in terms of doing a phase on a matchday. So I almost split that up into two, so I almost go your defensive unit versus your front unit. So this would be done on let's say a third of a pitch With the defenders looking to progress over that third by making passes dribbling receiving beyond that third And my front unit would be looking to almost press and win it in that third. So yeah, again, you might walk through it. So this is where I want you to go and press. This is where I want you to come up, move across to. And then you almost give them six balls to actually have a go of it. So the back unit will look to try and play out while my front unit are actually looking to not repress. And it just gives you an opportunity before you go into the game, you're trying to fix and manipulate a few bits just so the players that are in it understand what you're sort of going after. And they're sort of showing you at the same time their understanding of what you've asked.
[Jamie]
Is that sort of the best way or your go-to way to effectively like simulate game situations to kind of reinforce tactical ideas?
[Aston]
Yeah, it's one of the ways that I'd love to implement it. My most favourite way is probably a small sided practice, just because they've got that element of high repetition. They've got loads of ball contacts going on, sometimes feel like if you're using a form of phased play to coach out the key bits of tactics and strategies, not everyone's gonna get them high levels touches on the ball that I touched on earlier on the podcast where me as a player would be really important in terms of getting loads of touches before a play or in training. So that's sometimes the downfall of using almost that phase of play versus a small sided practice.
[Jamie]
Ashton, do you have any other top tips that can really help coaches in training work on tactics?
[Aston]
So it's almost recognizing your realistic matchups within sessions as well. So we know nine times out of 10, within pressing scenarios, you're probably underloaded. So the opposition have got more players than you've got pressing. So a lot of the practice designs may need to factor in that it's sometimes five v three. So what I mean by five versus three is the five might be the goalkeeper, the back four, and they're the ones that are looking to play out. And your pressing unit might be like we've just touched on within them clips. It might be the front three that are looking to lock that press. So yeah, again, that makes it really real for them front three players of what they're experiencing on match day. If you start to add more players that are pressing in that, it becomes a little bit unrealistic and it doesn't feel like the game almost. And then I'd almost say, you see a lot of practices that will always start from a goal kick. And we know from the work that we've collected within Game Insights again, not every start or restart starts from a goal kick, or not every press starts from a goal kick. There might be times when the ball starts from a throw in, it might be a transitional moment where you've given an extra ball almost once the ball has gone out and they have to react to it. So they'll almost be looking at your starting positions within your practice and going, does it look and feel like the game? Are you giving players realistic, relevant opportunities to go and impress in the same way that in the C&M match environment?
[Jamie]
Recently we did an episode with Matt Jones on individual tactics and listeners and anyone watching this, please do go and check that out if you haven't already. And it's kind of just made me think how important are individual sort of like 1v1 tactics in ensuring that the wider tactics of the whole team are actually successful.
[Aston]
There's 1v1s all over the pitch, so understanding your match-up of who you're playing against, what are their strengths, what are your strengths, and how can you overcome the challenge that you're facing are fundamental in the game. But it's almost recognising that, okay, in your 1v1, you might not win the ball in that 1v1, but you might be implementing or encouraging the next 1v1 or forcing it in a certain way where the next 1v1 will actually win the ball. So it's almost understanding your role, what's my role in my 1v1, how can I overcome it? And then how can I make my mate's 1v1 easier for him to win or her to win that ball? That's something I'd probably look to implement or make sure that you consider when you're any tactic and strategy, how are you looking to overcome the opposition that you're playing.
[Louise]
Is there a way that you'd actually work on individual tactics though? Like I know you've kind of mentioned what you might say to them. Is there any kind of practices that you'd give them to help them link that approach that you want the team to use?
[Aston]
The way, a couple of ways I've done it, I've sort of like built a session up. And what I mean by that is, is you might actually start with some, like a one-on-one defending practice where they're getting loads of repetition and 1v1 defending. And then the next part of that training day or training session, you then look to increase the numbers. So it might become then like a 4v4 and then looking to win the ball and that is a 4 and then ramp that up to it might be an NB 11 if you've got the luxury of having the players, or it might be that five versus three to make a realistic pressing environment. But it's almost then going, right, this is what you were doing on your own in a certain way to force play one way, try and pinch the ball when we can. This is how it then links to your unit. So yeah, your 4v4, your 3v3. And then this is how it might link to the team environment. And that's just done by the design of the practice almost by streaming from a 1v1 to a 3v3 to a 5v3 or whatever that looks like towards the end of the practice almost.
[Louise]
It sounds like a really useful way of kind of making it make sense to people and just kind of keep building up what the context is.
[Aston]
Because then you're understanding how your role then impacts the next 1v1 that's on a little bit of a bigger scale.
[Jamie]
Yeah, absolutely. They're a really good tip there. And thinking about the 1v1s, how important is it to, I suppose, just like making sure that in those 1v1s that players are actually getting to experience playing against other players realistically in that because of course you know it's all well and good that we've got our own strategies that are you know in systems and tactics that we want to actually put out on the match day but especially in grassroots when you haven't necessarily got the opposition analysis for instance and therefore know how they're going to play. You know, it's quite useful, or is it, should I say, quite useful for players to play against others so that other individual tactics can come out and they know how to play against them, I suppose.
[Aston]
Yeah, definitely. Like, for example, you're going to have, within a team, you're going to have so many different individuals that have got different strengths, different areas to improve. It's how you find the fine balance of putting pairs together. Almost. It's going to impact the player in a certain way. So you might get someone that's really athletic and fast on the ball in a pair against someone that needs to work on the one we've gone defending. And you straight away, that's going to open them up to a whole heap of challenges within that one B one. But then the next round, you might give them someone, like for example, another defender, there's probably not, I'm not referring to defenders not being good on the ball by the way, but might not be as good as on the ball as like a forward player that gets loads of it in the one B one attacking situations. So then again, that opens them up to another exposure and then another battle that's completely different to the athletic one B one that they've just had. And then it's how they link them. Okay. Cause this player is fast. I might need to stay off a little bit to give her a little bit of space. Or this player struggles in their first touch. You might need to get a little bit tighter and try and pinch that ball on the front foot a little bit more. So there's loads of opportunities that you can, that you can utilise within your session design, your practice design of how you link people together to bring out strengths and areas of development within player development.
[Louise]
I guess that's why it's really important to allow people to try in lots of different positions as well, because all of a sudden one combination might just click really well that you weren't expecting?
[Aston]
Yeah, that's another great point. And then the other thing is as well, it's how many positions you actually give players. So I'm probably one of these where on a match day I'd probably not give a player more than two positions just because of the variety and what they need to do within certain roles, within the positions. It might be difficult for a player to sort of link the learning a little bit in terms of, if I play 15 minutes as a centre-half, I'll play 15 minutes as a centre-mid, I'll play it as a striker, I'll play it as a goalkeeper, where you could do two positions almost they get the reality of this is my role as a wide player oh and I'm getting the understanding of what the centre mid needs to do here so I totally agree around giving players exposure to different positions but just being careful about how many you give them on certain match days.
[Jamie]
Yeah, absolutely.
[Louise]
I guess more in practice maybe it makes like when you're kind of in the practice sessions that's probably a really good time to try stuff out.
[Aston]
Yeah, definitely.
[Jamie]
Looking back at everything we've discussed then, Aston, can you summarise maybe the key top tips that you would want coach to take away from this episode?
[Aston]
Yeah, so I'm going to go with first of all, like make it simple and easy to follow. That's going to be my first one. Be consistent with your messaging and then just understand that your tactical strategy or system is not always going to work and that is fine.
[Jamie]
Brilliant.
[Louise]
And if you were to, for any coaches who were listening and they want to start kind of implementing some of this, what would be the first step you'd suggest that they go away and do?
[Aston]
I'd almost find a tactic or strategy that might suit their players and their current time and then can you look to use that consistently for the six weeks to allow them players to link the opportunities to learn and then build upon that knowledge that they've constructed themselves and then after that you might want to tweak and adjust it after the six weeks depending on what the six weeks has given you. But the idea is that six weeks stays as a consistent thing for your players.
[Louise]
Is there a specific place you'd go and look as like someone who's new to this for strategies and tactics to try out?
[Aston]
We do a few breakdowns on social media around tactics and strategies and this might be looking at some of the stuff that's played out over the weekend or in the WSL, the Premier League or some of the international teams or even the FA Cup, for example. So there is some stuff that goes out on socials around certain ways teams have loved to play. As you look at this stuff, yeah, it's good to expand your tactical understanding, but then it's almost taking it back to your players and making it real for them. So if you've seen a certain press on the telly, your players might not be able to implement that at the minute, but there might be some key principles within that, that you can get across and make it real for them.
[Louise]
Yeah, brilliant.
[Jamie]
Right, well we are coming up to the end of the show now Aston, but that does mean it is time for our Swift Session feature.
[Louise]
Yep, so it's another challenge and in this one we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in 30 seconds. It's a bit tricky, but it's a nice way to end the show. Are you up for the challenge?
[Aston]
I certainly am, but you could get anything here. I've got a few practices, whether I can get them across to you in 30 seconds without a tactics board or a moving image, I'll do my best.
[Louise]
Well, we'll just give it a go and we'll see where we get to. Okay, once the music starts, you can begin.
[Aston]
Right, picture this, you've got a 30 by 20 that's split up into three, so there's three areas. You've got three teams, you're gonna have a team in each area. The idea is the middle team are gonna be the team that looks to press the outside teams. The idea is for the two other teams is you need to make three passes and transfer it to the other team on the outside of the box. Like I've just said two players from the middle square or middle rectangle will look to press the outside players to win the ball back. If they do they transfer the ball and the team in the middle swap over with the team that have lost the ball.
[Louise]
Perfect. Pretty much *** on time there. Smash that one out. Probably a couple of seconds to spare. Is there anything else you'd like to add to that to kind of give it any more context or do you feel happy with that?
[Aston]
To be fair, there's loads you can add to it. It's a practice that you can do in possession or out of possession. I'd probably replicate this two or three times a week. And then I'd almost do it for two weeks on the balance. So players can have a go in possession and get more technical and technical points out for in possession. And then on the flip side of that I can do the same with the out of possession work and if anything it's like half my planning around trying to design something I've got something that I can use for multiple things.
[Louise]
Brilliant
[Jamie]
Yeah that's a fantastic session and a fantastic top tip as well like just being able to reuse it as well so yeah I like that. Well thank you very much for your time Aston hopefully you've enjoyed being on Coachcast for the first time. It was a really good introduction to quite a detailed topic but a very interesting one. Thank you very much.
[Aston]
I've thoroughly enjoyed it thanks guys for having me.
[Jamie]
Anytime, anytime. Right that's all we have time for today but don't forget to check out the description for the transcription of this episode and for all the links to our platforms. There you'll be able to click through to the England Football Community and this is where you can post your coaching questions for us to discuss on the podcast or just simply to connect with loads of wonderful coaches.
[Louise]
Yep, we'd love to help you out with your coaching questions so please do check it out. We'll be back soon with another episode of Coachcast so if you haven't already, hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. From all of us at England Football Learning, thanks for listening.