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[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 Luke Saunders, a Game Insights Analyst, to unpick the principles of play. Well, hi Luke, welcome to the show for the first time, how are you?
[Luke]
Hey Jamie, hey Louise, yeah great thank you, excited to be on for the first time.
[Louise]
Yeah, really nice to have you with us. Before we start, can we just find out a little bit more about your role and what it is that you do for us here?
[Luke]
Yeah, of course. So I'm a Game Insights Analyst at the FA Education Team. I work across the whole spectrum of football, men's, women's, youth, talents base, power football as well. We have big projects that we work on like goal scoring, Euro 2024 for example, how teams score, how players score, position locations, that kind of data, get some insights from it, how can we relate that to grassroots football, senior academies, everything. Just trying to support coaches to develop better players.
[Jamie]
Brilliant, well we'll potentially take some of those insights now Luke, so before we jump into the main part of the show at this time we kind of like to open the show with some top tips realistically because there could be coaches on the way to training right now.
[Louise]
We like to call this the arrival activity, get you in the zone, enjoying it. We're gonna put 30 seconds on the clock and we're gonna ask you to give us as many top coaching tips as you can in those 30 seconds. Are you up for that challenge?
[Luke]
Yeah, I'll give it a go.
[Louise]
Okay, well when the music starts you can begin. Ironically, stay calm.
[Luke]
I think it's a big one when you first get to training, depending on how your day's been going. Make sure you're organised and you're prepared with all your kit, what you want to go after, what you want to do, what the outcome of your session is. A great thing from Taff Rahman that he taught me was about being a conductor. Sometimes you need music, you need to be loud. Sometimes you need the silence, so pick and choose your moments. And use some stats, you know, see where your players are shooting from, where they're affected from, what you want to get better at, and practice that more and more. Perfect.
[Jamie]
Excellent. Absolutely excellent, that is. Before the whistle as
[Louise]
well, which is really good. Some really good ones there.
[Jamie]
You certainly did stay calm, true to your word there. Well we'll dive into the main part of the show and as always with guests that we have on for the very first time. We'd like to start out by asking them what was your first experience of football like?
[Luke]
I followed my older brother into football, he even played the same position as him. My dad used to come watch me every game I played, even though he couldn't stand football, didn't support a team, didn't go and see it live, so I very much appreciated that and his feedback. Yeah, I played a bit when I was younger up into university and then realised my passion lied within helping other people rather than playing it myself.
[Louise]
So that sounds like a really nice introduction even though it wasn't kind of followed through what your dad wanted to do but you must have been really supportive. If it's brought you all the way through into football it was really nice that he supported you all that way as well.
[Luke]
Yeah exactly I think having him put himself out for me and take me to games and stand in the rain, often he sat in his car to watch me play, That really meant a lot. I remember training was usually just one big game as well which was fun but in hindsight not the best development for me so that was something I'm able to reflect well on now in my role.
[Louise]
Yeah and when did you realise that you wanted to be involved in football rather than play it I guess And can you give us a bit of an insight into the journey from that initial thought to where you are now?
[Luke]
I studied sports science at university and was interested in sports, thought we might as well work in something you enjoy doing. I lived in Australia for a bit of time and really got into rugby league, the NRL out there. As a new fan, I didn't know how to get into the sport, what was good, so I played NRL fantasy, so similar to fantasy Premier League. It's way more expansive, there's lots of different stats you score points on. So it taught me, okay, if players get more points at this, it must impact winning, must mean you're more successful if you're able to do a line break or a tackle bust, whatever it may be. So it opened my eyes to, okay, there are things out there and metrics out there that do impact performance more expansively than just goals. So I thought, okay, football is my sport, I've always played it, always been involved in it, I've coached in it too. Let's see if I can properly get involved in that. It was difficult when I was at university trying to find a spot on a team to work for. So I got experience elsewhere, worked in rugby league, in tennis, canoes, slalom, just trying to hone my knowledge in data and in delivering insights until I successfully got a job here and yeah, came to the national governing body, which is a very proud moment for me.
[Jamie]
Some fantastic sports there, like absolutely amazing. Like, is there any sort of like transferable skills or like in terms of from the data world like that you've seen from different sports compared to football?
[Luke]
I've always tried to look at it like a silhouette any sport I look at so again learning NRL was a new fan I could pick out things say that impact success ABC metric so it doesn't matter I say it doesn't matter what sport you work in, you can learn the rules, you can work out what impacts success and what doesn't. So, that was a skill I took on. So, let's say I'm working in a Paris-based now in power chair, if I haven't seen it or I don't know the rules, how am I gonna go and help a coach learn about success and how to improve their team. So Canoe Slalom, I'd never seen that before, didn't know what it was. Extreme Canoe Slalom was an opportunity for me to work in as well. You watch a few performances, you say, okay, maybe that impacts it. Do a bit of a dive into the data, see if the winners are doing that thing more or less and then go from there really and dig yourself into some numbers.
[Jamie]
Just going back to earlier in your previous answer you hinted at a bit of, that you did a little bit of coaching before earlier on in your journey. What was that first experience like and what did you take from it?
[Luke]
It was a real eye opener for me of what coaching should be like. And it was one of my first experiences at university. So I was lucky enough to be involved around the first team where the coach at the time was studying for his A licence. So to see, you know, stop, start training practices, to see some real interventions from the coach was really cool and to see the impact that could have on the team. I was coaching players my age because they were also students of me so that was a challenge but it was fun as well. It was just a real learning curve for the good I'd say. We had some success.
[Louise]
I guess it's really good to just put yourself in that position, whether it's where you want to go or not, because it gives you a bit of insight into how the data can help and stuff like that as well.
[Luke]
Yeah, I think so. And it also helps to see what has an impact on the grass and what doesn't, what lands with players and what doesn't. How can you learn from your mistakes and be a bit more reflective on things as well?
[Louise]
Yeah, perfect. So if we jump back to today, what do you enjoy about your role and how important is it that coaches take insights from the game, would you say?
[Luke]
I think one of the main things is the collaborative aspect. So being able to work with so many coach developers that you guys have had on the podcast as well and learning from them, those guys are experts. They know so much about the game and so much about how to develop coaches, support players, support coaches. It's been a great experience for me to, you know, I can sit in a spreadsheet and pull things out that I think are interesting, but to actually be on the grass and learn how it is to support young players as an example, that's been a real great opportunity for me. And then take your insights from the game. The real key around that is to see how your team play. You don't have to base your team on data and on insights, but what data or what insights help your team develop in a certain way? What makes them perform in a better way? If it's about trying to score from certain locations, are you then putting that into your practice design? Are you seeing something in the game that isn't happening that you do want to happen? And how are you then changing that when you go into your training sessions?
[Jamie]
So thank you very much for that, Luke. Now today we wanted to get an insight into the principles of play, which is our main theme today. So to start, can you maybe give us a bit of a top line of what the principles of play actually are?
[Luke]
Yeah of course, so the principles of play are the fundamental ways a team attacks and defends effectively. So a team's tactics and strategies may differ but the principles of play will always remain the same across all formats of the game.
[Louise]
And why are the principles of play important?
[Luke]
They're the building blocks of football. It's where you start your training sessions from, whether that be in possession you're attacking or out of possession you're defending. They really give the players the tools they need for really great problem solving. They come up against something, how can they fix an issue on the pitch and how can they help the team score or stop the opponent scoring.
[Jamie]
If we break it down overall there are five attacking and five defending principles. Can you maybe talk through each one individually to help the listeners or anybody watching this gain a greater understanding of them?
[Luke]
Yeah, so five in possession and five out of possession. I'll just run you through each of them. I'll try and do it slowly as well so we can at least keep up with them because there's quite a few to get through. So first of all we have penetration in possession. So this is playing the ball through, around or over your opponent, whether that be passing or dribbling. So the question is how are we going to get past the opponent's defence. Next up you have creating space. So can we stretch the opponent's defense, whether that be sideways or up the pitch? And can you open up the pitch in certain positions? Sometimes you might want space in and around the penalty box, could be space for you to pass the ball out from your own half. Next we have movement. So how Can we create opportunities to receive the ball in the best position? Can we have a subtle step backwards or maybe moving forwards out of a traditional position? So a striker dropping into midfield in order to receive the ball in a different space. Next we have support. So with support it's about giving your team options. Can you get support around the ball, maybe it's further away from the ball, depending on how your team likes to attack. Then the final impossession principle we'll play is creativity. So this is about that moment of magic to fix problems, to problem-solve, to beat the player in front of you or help your team have a better chance of scoring a goal.
[Louise]
Really good explanations there, really clear and concise which is really helpful. Absolutely. Okay, so how about out of possession or defending?
[Luke]
So the first one will be delaying. So the thought is how can we slow our opponent down in order to maybe get into better defensive positions? Could that be get into a duel against an opponent or what we call screening? So can I stand in a good spot in order to stop my opponent passing past me? Next we have compactness, So keeping nice and tight together as a team, not allowing that space in between us, not allowing our opponents to move into those gaps to receive the ball. So nice and compact in our shape and defence. Then we have cover and balance. So if one of your teammates who's defending goes out to say press an opponent or moves out of their position, how can we cover them in their spot? How can our defensive shape remain balanced so that the opponents maybe can't break down the wing or get a better advantage from our player doing that defensive action? And next we have pressing, which I did just mention. Pressing is thinking about how tight we can get to our opponents. Is it touch tight? Is it all the way? Is it defending off certain spaces? Can we force the opponent into a mistake or force them into an area where we can win the ball back and maybe get the ball in possession and attack? And then finally, we have control and restraint. So picking the best moments to do our defensive actions. When do I press? When do I go? When do I move out of my compact shape at the perfect time? The restraint part's really important there because everyone gets excited, you want to run and get the ball and maybe win it in a really advantageous situation, but it's not always the best decision.
[Jamie]
Yeah, thank you. Now, just following up from that, you've actually got some clips to share to showcase some of these principles, basically, haven't you? So if you maybe want to talk us through those, and together we'll do our best to kind of describe what's going on for anybody that's listening rather than watching, but this is on YouTube. So if you do get the chance and you fancy skipping to this section to check out them in action, feel free to do so, because they'll be on there. So we've got four clips overall, if I'm right. So do you want to just take us through and kind of explain the context of the first clip and then we'll hit play in there and see the principle of action.
[Luke]
Excellent, yeah I'm looking forward to going through these with everybody. First of all it's from the WSL, we're watching Arsenal versus Spurs, so big North London derby, and one thing I really want to get across about the principles of play here is how they can be included in other aspects of football. So with this clip you're gonna see three player core moves. I'm going to discuss the principles of play that are happening at the same time. So when you're watching the clips you'll see some annotations come up where the three player core moves are being described but I'm going to be picking out the principles of play, mostly in possession but see if you can check the out of possession ones yourselves as we're watching. So here we're going to see the core moves linking to the principles of play. First of all, we're going to see a player scanning so she can create the space for herself and her teammates just behind her. As she receives the pass under pressure from behind, Spurs run quite a compact defensive shape around her. Player on the ball shows really great footwork to then beat her opponent and pass it back to her teammate. If now you check this left back as she's running down the line, her teammate is able to play a great penetrative pass through this space as the left back's running into the space in behind to receive the ball in a dangerous location. Get a chance to see some excellent creativity here with that cross across the box. Player in space finishes really well, all coming from the fact that the Arsenal attacker managed to create space for herself. Next up we have Manchester City versus Manchester United. This is an FA Cup final game. You might see the lovely sights of Wembley in the background from 2024. So we're going to see Manchester City build up from their defence and eventually get a shot away at goal. So City have the ball with their back line, we get to see some really great movement from Rodri and Kovacic, they're playing at a double pivot midfield and what they're doing here is alternating their position. As Rodri advances, Kovacic drops back so it's nice movement from them. City take their time, United show control and restraint, they're delaying City playing the ball. We have some really clever movement from Phil Foden to get in behind, which here is less space for Kevin De Bruyne to receive the ball in front of United's defence, actually under no pressure. Dropped off well. He plays an excellent first time pass here to find Foden who's continued his run in behind. Here we get to see Amrabat trying to recover, but actually it's Martinez who's provided the balance for his defensive team, heads the ball away, and is able to apply that defensive principle of play. Bernardo Silva picks up possession the other side of the penalty box, and United still in this deep compact shape, bit of creativity delivers the ball to the back post. Phil Foden is able to get a shot away into the side netting. So here we're going to see a really great clip that showcases all of the out of possession principles of play all in one to show you how they can be combined together. It's a great way to incorporate that into your practice designs as well. And then excellently out of possession to in possession to show you that defending you win the ball in certain locations where you can really benefit from it. So here we have the defending team dropping really deep towards their own goal, getting back behind the ball and staying nice and compact. 17 metres from front to back, 25 metres from side to side, so really tight to each other. Their opponents are trying to move the ball side to side just to find those spaces to penetrate, but the defending team showing that control and restraint just to reduce the chance of mistakes which might allow the opponents through them. The control and the press delays the in possession team. The centre-back has the ball for around 6 seconds just waiting for an option to pass to. It's actually quite clever movement here to receive the ball in space, but the defensive team is straight on her, covering balance provided by her teammates to force the player back on the ball. Presses initiated at exactly the right moment here. Trigger's been shown. Defensive player at the top line wins the ball, pushes forward, spots the keeper off her line. Great finish. And a goal.
[Jamie]
And just to paint the picture there as well, like for anybody that's listening, that's all kind of like the in possession work being on the halfway. And you mentioned in terms of that tight, compact defence, being able to push them back. And then eventually I say winning the ball in, in the opponent's half and actually managing to score themselves. Like a really great display of all the principles there really, isn't it?
[Luke]
Exactly. And that's when it shows that control and restraint working at the perfect time. So you don't jump out too early. You don't go out and press when you're in your own defensive half because you could leave space behind you, especially if your teammates aren't showing cover and balance. And then waiting to press and waiting for those triggers. So in that specific clip the player had quite a poor touch which meant that the front line of the defending team was able to get out quickly and win the ball back in the best spot. You'd rather win the ball near your opponent's goal because you have a better chance of scoring than winning it in your own half and potentially losing it again. Yeah, absolutely. This clip we get to see Arsenal's display of the out-of-possession principles of play, and they show some really great examples of delaying and controlling restraint in their defensive structure. So we have West Ham here in control possession of the ball. The fielder picks it up, plays it backwards, move the ball side to side along their back line in their own half. You can see the Arsenal players pointing to go okay these are the spots we're going to take. We're going to take our time, wait for the trigger. Trigger here as ball goes out wide to the fullback. Arsenal wide player is ready to press, get out nice and tight, forcing West Ham backwards. West Ham go side to side, Arsenal again just waiting for a trigger, ball goes out to the right fullback. The left midfielder of the Arsenal team gets out early, really quick, presses, forces West Ham back once again. Really great control and restraint from Arsenal. But this time Marnum spots a trigger. She realises it's a long pass across the back line. She looks at her teammate, we're going to go now. She presses the centre back, next player presses the full back, forces a long pass. Clever centre back at the back here for Arsenal manages to show great restraint to step up, force a mistake, Arsenal recover possession due to the West Ham player being offside.
[Jamie]
Looking at all of that, and it's really great. So obviously we've had, you know, quite concise, like really good descriptions, actually seeing it play out, just actually seeing it play out. And then anybody who is listening to this do go and have a look at YouTube at the film version of this because just seeing it play out and then actually being able to put pictures next to what that terminology actually means and actually being able to unpick it is, you know, it's brilliant really to be able to help with learning and help with identifying exactly what that means rather than it just being, you know, just a definition. So do go and check that out. For anyone that's maybe new to coaching or anyone that's unsure about this topic, what level of understanding do coaches actually need here and does maybe the level of understanding depend who and where they're potentially coaching at all.
[Luke]
I think that anybody working in the game will be able to understand this, the principles of play. So you're probably already working on them, your players are already doing these things, they're probably already in your training sessions, it's just got maybe a different name to what you're used to calling them. And that probably helps those that are new to coaching as well, or maybe not. Maybe you have a different name for a penetrative pass or creativity. Maybe it's what you call a bit of magic. And that's fine as well. So it doesn't matter what level you're coaching at, whether you're new, whether you're really experienced, the fundamentals will always be there, the building blocks will always remain the same, it just might be different how you use your language around your players, it also might be different what it looks like. If your players maybe aren't able to do certain things, then a penetrative pass might look different. If you want a certain player to press more than another it might be a different trigger that you use. So yeah, anyone can get involved in the mat at the level.
[Louise]
I imagine there's like so many different ways to implement the principles of play. How can coaches figure out how best to use them?
[Luke]
Yeah, it's a really great question actually because when I'm here saying the principles of play are so important and they're the fundamentals of the game, how do you best incorporate them? I think if people do get a chance to watch the video clips and listen to the voiceover description of them, incorporating them with other things such as the core moves and core skills is a really great way for your players to learn and for you to also see them come out in the game as a coach. So whether it be a core skill of passing or receiving, okay we're going to practice passing today, but can we put a couple of cones down and pass through those? Well there's your penetration. We're going to talk about receiving today, another core skill. Okay, I want you to step quickly to your right and then turn and spin to your left. That's what we're going to practice. There's your creativity. There's your creating space and movement, all within just receiving a pass. So combining them with other things that you're already doing, I think is really powerful. And then also individual tactics of players. We did a bit of work on Grace Clinton for the England team and her playing style for Manchester United now this season and her out of possession principles of play are really really obvious when she's playing for United high up the pitch, her defensive style. Her individual tactics means that she's a great battler, a great dueller. She can press, she knows when to go, she knows how to turn over the ball. So that means that she can be excellent with the principles of play because of her superhero powers. So if your players have their own superhero powers, maybe you've got a player who likes to do step overs and do tricks, great, get them working on their creativity, encourage that. So again, link those principles of other things that your players are able to do and that you already do in your sessions.
[Jamie]
It's all about like understanding your players really, isn't it? Like that observational piece, like in terms of knowing what they're good at, what maybe they might need to work on and what may become natural and just, just enhancing that, creating that sort of superpower, if, if you will, isn't it?
[Luke]
Yeah, exactly. If players show a real keenness to do a certain thing, then encourage that. You can work it around with the principles of play. So you might have a player who's really fast and just loves running. Great. Or we can look at running into space. It might be dropping off and running back to your own teammate, a defender to get the ball from them, for example. So yeah, really encouraging your players to have fun with these things without saying, today we're going to work on the principles of play because I'm sure that isn't going to excite anybody at any age.
[Jamie]
And just to pick up on, I think you've mentioned it a couple of times now, just the phrase in terms of like picking up on like what you already do, like just to be aware that people are probably already working on the principles of play without potentially knowing what the principles of play are or at least terminating, like you say, we're working on the principles of play without potentially knowing what the principles of play are or at least determining that, like you say, we're working on the principles of play today so it's not anything to get coaches worried about, that it's new, it's always been there, you're always working on it but this is kind of giving a bit of an insight to put a lens on it just to say this is what it is if you want to delve into this information, this is why it's important but yeah, it is probably already coming out in your work, this is just being really more sort of intricate and obvious about like the principles of play, this is what it is, this is what it looks like basically.
[Luke]
Yeah, exactly. Every team will have their own, what we would call a game model. So whether that be an under-10s coach or a Premier League manager, you're going to have a style of play. You like all your things effective with your players. Let's say it's long ball. My centre-back's going to pick up the ball and hit it forward and we're going to run after it. Great, well that's penetration. You're just penetrating over the defence rather than through it. So you're already working on these things. They're not new, it's just the way that we use the terminology may be slightly different to what you're using.
[Louise]
We've mentioned a couple of times kind of changing your wording and stuff, do you have any top tips to help coaches talk to their players about the principles and like kind of I don't know just make it make sense to them?
[Luke]
Yeah a couple. I've heard the phrase superhero powers before I think it was Matt Jones and individual tactics So that's something that I think would be really great to link it into players, especially the younger age groups. How can we get them on their level? So where you might say, this is your superhero power, you know, it could be shooting. Great. Well then how can we relate that back to kids who might talk about hunting in packs, you know, they've seen an animal show. When we press we hunt together, we work together. Rather than compactness it might just be stay next to your mate, keep tight, keep tight. When it's delay, you know, control and restraint, it could just be wait, hold, hold. These are words that people probably just use day to day that you don't need to use the terminology that we are, rather than penetrate, you could just be passed through, get it to the next player, you know, it doesn't have to be the terminology that the FA use, but it's still the principle to play. I think practice is key as well, so it may be that you use a certain word, and if you use that word over and over again in your sessions, the players will learn that and they'll understand what you mean by the phrasing that you are using. So go after what feels comfortable for you as a coach, keep practising it and just make sure it's at a level your players understand. If you want to be more complex because your players can understand that, then great, go after that too. It's probably what they're hearing on Sky Sports or TNT or whatever they're watching.
[Louise]
I guess it's one of those things if you're saying something and they're not understanding it, maybe take a step back and think about what the phrase that you're using, does it actually make sense to your players or do you need to explain it a little bit more? Maybe there's like a different way of like finding different words that work better and stuff like that. So I suppose it's a bit of a learning thing for everybody, isn't it?
[Luke]
Exactly. And one of my points from the beginning of the episode about being calm and being organised, I think work together too. So don't let your emotions, your energy get the better of you. As you say, take a step back, be calm, think about how am I going to talk so my players understand me in the best way. Otherwise, you're going to put them in a training session and they're going to do whatever they want and you're not going to get those outcomes that you've really prepared for.
[Jamie]
Yeah, that's a really key message to take away. Just thinking about the information and the players in front of you, what information do they actually need to make it nice and simple for them. And like you say, with the age groups, you could scale it up, scale it down. It is really important to take away. How could coaches potentially tailor their practice design to work on the principles of play in a more realistic and relevant way, do you think?
[Luke]
A key thing is to work in transition, I think. So that moment where there's a loose ball, we're not sure if we have possession or the other team have possession. So clips earlier were great, you know, one team's defending, one team's attacking, it's really obvious to see. But actually a lot of the time in the game, we're not quite sure who has the ball and who doesn't have the ball. Are we attacking with more players than they have defenders? Or are we defending with more defenders and they have less attackers? It's different moments like that in the game. So how do the principles of play work differently when you're in transition and players are a bit everywhere, maybe my attacker's now in defence. So I think it's important to work in those moments as your attacker will need to know how to provide cover and balance with the defenders when they're in that spot. They might not be up the top of the pitch because they might have had to run backwards to tie a shoelace or whatever it could be. I think that's important. Another thing, a tip I would go for would be what we would call game within a game. So let's use 11v11 as the full game as an example. Within those moments, you'll have a 1v1, maybe a 2v1, maybe it's a 4v4. So if you can split your training session into smaller groups, the principles of play come out there too. So let's use pressing and creativity as one. If it's a 1v1 situation and you're saying, okay, go and beat that player, you're in a small box, dribble past him, you've got to be creative to beat the defender. And the defender's got to wait, have a bit of control and restraint in order to know when am I gonna nick that ball so that they don't beat me. So they're really really great moments. The transition, game within the game and finally a tip would be we don't always need a goal. So the principles of play isn't about scoring It's about how to get in the best position to score or to stop a goal being scored. So don't think that, okay, we're going to practice the principles, I want to talk about pressing, I want to talk about creating space. You don't need to worry about having a goal at the end. You could just have a circle area, could be a square area, as long as you're going after the right things in the right way, that's the most important thing.
[Jamie]
And do you have any advice to help coaches, that's kind of like in training, I suppose this could be for training as well, but in particular on match day, like how they can observe and notice the principles in play during the game?
[Luke]
Yeah, I think the important thing to go back to the language slightly again is to keep it as simple as possible. So if we spoke about 10 today, it could be quite overwhelming even just listening to it I'm sure. Just pick a couple of in possession, maybe a couple of out of possession and draw it back to what that really means to your team. So for example if we're looking at penetration and creating space during the game, maybe just look at every time your team passes past an opponent, every time they receive the ball without a defender near them. So that's still creating space, that's still penetration, but you're looking at it with a slightly different lens, a lens that you understand because it's your team playing. It could be winning possession back. How many times do we win the ball? How many times do we turn over possession? How many times are we beating a player 1v1? How many times does my player show a bit of skill and a bit of magic? That could be a challenge, whether that would be kids or adults playing football. How many times are we doing a step over when we're dribbling? So that would be the best thing for observation. Keep it simple and then don't use that fancy terminology. Stick it to your game model. What do I want to see when my players are on the pitch?
[Louise]
Brilliant. I think that's been a really good overview and like kind of without overcomplicating everything or like scaring anybody when you say principles. So yeah that's been really useful. If we look back at everything we've discussed can you summarize your key top tips that you want coaches to take away from this episode?
[Luke]
Understand your players to pitch the principles of play at the right level that you think is relevant. Create practices which really benefit those principles of play so that your players are getting that repetition and make sure that it is relative to what's happening in the game, that it's realistic. And a big one I think we haven't discussed is make sure you're considering what the opponents are doing as well. So we're thinking about us in and out of possession but your opponents are also doing the principles of play as well. How are they trying to create space? How are they moving around you? How are they pressing you? Can you then alter what you're doing during the game in order to come out of it on top against their principals?
[Louise]
Brilliant, and if we were to ask you to kind of give coaches a little challenge to kind of start thinking about the principals of play a little bit maybe in a little bit more detail, what would you suggest that they do as a first step?
[Luke]
I think pick one in possession, one out of possession and it could be at the start of your training session, let's say you've got 45 minutes with the kids, it could be a warm-up drill, you can get them 1v1 as I say, I want to see someone show some creativity here, whichever player does the best wins. Or you get to move around and you have 1v1s as 10 kids and they get to rotate and play against each other. So you're still working on principles of play but you're making it fun. So that'll be my challenge. Just do it early, do it quick, but make sure those principles are in there.
[Jamie]
Yeah, fantastic. Right, well we are coming up to the end of the show now, Luke, but that does mean it is time for our swift session feature.
[Louise]
Yep, so we've got another 30 second challenge for you to round off the episode. This time we're going to ask you to explain a session idea to us in 30 seconds. Are you up for the challenge?
[Luke]
Yeah, I'll give it my best shot.
[Louise]
OK, Brilliant. Once the music starts, you can begin.
[Luke]
So my session thought is North South. It's very simple, but very effective. You have an equal number of players inside a small square marked out on the pitch. So 2v2, 3v3. You have a bounce player on either side of the square. The goal is to get the ball out to those players and receive it back. If the two players that we're defending win the ball, turnover, they're in possession now. So it's about using those principles of play in a really small space, few numbers, you can make it as many as you want or as small as you want. Excellent.
[Jamie]
Excellent.
[Louise]
Got to play the whistle but you didn't actually need it.
[Jamie]
Didn't need it, I just like pressing the whistle. But yeah, no you did it with plenty of time to spare. But we always ask, is there anything else that you want to add to that?
[Luke]
Yeah, a few things. As I say, simple but effective. What I really like about North South is that you can incorporate so many different things. And if I put my game insights hat back on again, I think about things such as assist locations, scoring locations, number of touches, finish techniques. So if we have this box shape again for North South and we think okay where can we put the box in relation to the pitch? Do we want our players to work on receiving the ball in the middle of the pitch? Maybe we want them on the sides of the pitch. Can you put that box in different locations to make them work on different skills? Maybe it's not a square, maybe it's a circle. Think about them playing in 360 degrees. Maybe you want your strikers to work on a certain finish type, so they have to score with that if you put a goal there rather than a bounce player. Maybe you want a certain assist, maybe you can only score if you cross into the box. Maybe you have to play with two touches. There are so many different skills and things you can challenge your players with just a box and a ball.
[Jamie]
Yeah, no I really like that. Plenty of variations like you say. Thank you very much for your time today Luke, hope you've enjoyed the first time being on Coachcast.
[Luke]
Yeah, definitely. Hope you have me back for some more features.
[Jamie]
Absolutely. No, it's been great unpicking the principles of play with you today so thank you very much. Right, that is all we do 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 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.