How to deal with parents

Every soccercoach knows what I'm talking about. Those parents who know exactly how to win the game, what formation is best for the team and, ofcourse, where to put his/her own child. What is the best way to deal with those parents?
First of all, there are several ways to deal with them. Some coaches think it's the best to invite them to trainings, explain how they work and really get the parents involved. Personally, I think it's better to keep them as far away as possible.
I once had a parent come up to me and said:' It's not going the way it should be, you have to use that substitute (which was her child, ofcourse) because you need an extra striker. All the parents watching agree with me'. Sure enough all the parents agree, because there is no way most parents openly disagree with the one who is an expert at using their voice so loudly people on the other side of the pitch can hear.
I thanked her for her openness and her comming up to me (most of the times they don't even have the guts to say it in your face). I then explained I had an idea of how to play and which players I needed for that kind of play (note: I didn't tell her what idea) and that I would use a substitute when I thought it was necessary.
She went back and I didn't hear a thing for the rest of the season. You don't have to get into an argument, just be clear on how you deal with things and you're not going to do anything unless you want to yourself. Maybe they'll try another time, maybe not, just never let them get the upperhand.

Holland - Uruguay analysis

Last Monday Holland played the semi-final of the world cup. Uruguay was the last obstacle on the way to the final. I want to talk about the important role of the midfield when playing a 4-3-3 formation.

Holland started with the same formation as they every match did this WC. Only the line-up was slighty different because of two suspensions. Boularhouz played instead of van der Wiel and de Zeeuw played instead of de Jong. This way the defensive block of 6 players was complete again. Up front were the three attacking midfielders and the striker.

When you put 2 central defensive midfielders right in front of the defense, it's hard to keep possession and play attacking football. It's hard because when they recieve the ball, there are no option's ahead, they only see the way back. This caused problems in the first half. Holland could not create any chances, the 1-0 was a rather lucky strike from van Bronkhorst. Uruguay are the lesser team and also had trouble creating chances. Forlan did the same as van Bronkhorst and put the ball in the back of the net with a shot from distance.

The second half became very interesting. De Zeeuw went off having an injury and van der Vaart came in. With van der Vaart there were now 2 players in the midfield who can distribute passes anywhere on the pitch. After a couple of minutes the block of 2 defensive midfielders was gone. Van Bommel played behind van der Vaart and Sneijder. This way they played with 3 central midfielders against 2 from Uruguay. Holland took possession of the ball and scored twice, game over. Uruguay did a little something back in injury time but it wasn't enough, Holland through to the final!

The nature of football

As I watch every single match of the world cup, yesterday I was watching Holland vs Brazil. As almost every country nowadays does, both  teams where trying to keep a clean sheet, rather than scoring goals. Brazil handled the pressure better in the first half and should have scored at least two goals. They only scored one, giving Holland the opportunity to get things right during half time and ultimatly get the 2-1 win.

Interesting enough, both teams played more or less in the same formation. Four defenders, two defensive midfielders (melo, silva - v. bommel, de jong), three attacking midfielders (kaka, robinho, alves - robben, sneijder, kuyt) and one target man (fabiano - v. persie). This resulted in a rather dull game.

This is much seen this WC. Only Chili and Spain choose to have an attacking style. The matches of these two teams are the only ones worth while. The rest is thrilling for the people of that specific country, but well played combinations or great goals are very, very rare.

Holland used to be the country who tried to play open and attacking football. That era is gone and since I'm dutch, I'm ashamed of the way Holland plays. Holland got this far, mostly because of luck. The goals of Sneijder yesterday were a good excample of that luck. But luck won't last forever. My hopes for the kind of football that brings real excitement are up for Spain and also for Argentina.

How a central striker can be essential

Yesterday I watched the match Spain vs Portugal. The keyplayer was Llorente, who came in the pitch as a substitute for Torres in the second half.

The coach of Spain, Del Bosque, knew that Portugal would be on the defensive so he thought of a plan to create space way up front. He used Torres and Villa more or less as wingers and let Iniesta play a free role to help out the midfield. Obviously he hoped this would make the defenders of Portugal decide to put pressure on iniesta on the midfield. The problem was they didn't. Spain had all the possession but couldn't create chances of any kind.

When Llorente, a central striker, came in everything changed. Llorente stayed in the middle and acted as a stand for Villa, Xavi, Iniesta and others to have the ball close to the goal to try to make a shot. Ramos and Villa became the wingers who were able to put in some nice crosses. This resulted in a major chance for Llorente, only after one minute on the pitch. The cross came from Ramos and Llorente was able to make a header. Fortunatly for the keeper is was directed at his hands.

Because Spain now had someone in the box who could keep the ball, wheter they tried to reach him through the air or through a regular pass. The goal is an excellent example of this. Llorente got the ball in the box, which was picked up by Iniesta who make a throughpass to Xavi who could reach Villa with his backheel. Villa then made the goal.

So, a central striker can be very important, not only in making goals, but also in creating chances for other players.

Holland vs Slowakia review

Today I was very excited to see the match between Holland and Slowakia. I've seen Slowakia play some good attacking football against Italy so I thought the match against Holland would be a nice one, since Holland tries to play attacking football as well.

Well, at 6 o'clock I was left dumbfounded. Holland controlled the match by not give away any spaces in the back and Slowakia was unable to put some pressure at Holland's defence. Two counters led to a 2-0 victory for Holland.

Slowakia tried their best but couldn't do any better. Holland played a very negative match. They couldn't get the ball foward and keep it there. The main reason for this is the poor position play of the midfielders. Holland plays with two defensive midfielders, three attacking midfielders and one striker. Sneijder is supposed to be the playmaker and plays as the central attacking midfielder. Robben en Kuyt were the two wingers behind Robin van Persie.

Each time a pass went to van Persie he had to deal with two defenders, because there was no one in midfield to support him. De jong and van Bommel are always too far off because they are given the task to defend. Sneijder lacks creativity and fails to see how and when to step forward. Van Persie lost almost all his battles versus Srktel and so Holland couldn't keep possession.

Sneijder is the main reason why holland can't keep the ball, although he has his qualities. The first goal is a perfect example. Mathijssen reaches Sneijder with a great tackle, Sneijder turns and immediately gives a great long ball behind the defence of Slowakia. Arjen Robben takes the ball, makes a run towards the centre and scores with his left foot.

Holland played very defensive after this and gave Slowakia even the chance to get back in the game. Unfortunatly for Slowakia fans their striker missed two great chances.

How to create your own concept of football (attacking)

As I said in my last post, a coach needs to determine which idea or concept of soccer you stand for. This time I'll talk about dominant, or attacking, football. The Dutch national team gained overall respect by playing this kind of soccer.

Dominant means that you're in control of the flow of the game. This usually translates into having more possession of the ball. When your team has the ball, the other team can't score. This is a unique and entirely different philosophy. There are a number of things important if you want to have any chance of succeeding:

1. High pressure
2. Use of spaces
3. Passing

The best formation to play dominant football is a 4-3-3 formation. This is the only possible formation to put pressure on your opponent, everywhere on the pitch. FC Barcelona plays in this formation and is the most succesfull squad over the recent years.

To keep possession of the ball you need to make as many triangles as possible, because it's the best way to play forward without giving opponents the opportunity to gain possession. Here is an explanation of the 4-3-3 formation: 4-3-3 formation

Like you can see in the video all three midfielders has to be near the center of the pitch. This way you gain the upper hand in midfield, mostly because the majority of the teams play with two central midfielders.

To exploit this advantage you have to make sure the passing and movement of your players is above average. Passes must have good speed, players need to move when given a pass and support other players in possession. If this goes well, you won't lose possession, anywhere on the pitch. If passes are given without power you leave yourself open for the counter.

How to create your own concept of football (defending)

A soccercoach thinks a lot about soccer. You need to determine which idea you stand for. There are a large number of concepts you can apply to your team. For example, you can play a dominant kind of football (attacking) or you can react on that which your opponent does (defensive). In my opinion these are the only two concepts which benefits your squad the most.

Whatever concept you aplly, your team needs to work together. The formation is the most important aspect. Although some coaches think it's better to adjust the formation based on kind of players in the squad, I think the standard formation comes first. After this you can make slight adjustments depending on the squad.

Let's start setting up a concept for a defensive kind of play. Most teams play in a classical 4-4-2 formation, like the US and England in the world cup. Always start with deciding what to do when the opponent have ballpossession.

First, you want to mark the two forwards. You should cover them with three defenders. Two defenders to mark the forwards thight, and one to cover the space behind.
After this you should mark the opponents wingers, so you need two full backs. This way, your formation consists five defenders.

Second, you need two central midfielders to cover the opponents central midfielders. Now, there are some options you have left with your remaining three players. You can choose to play with three strikers, or you can play with an extra (creative) midfielder and two strikers. I would pick the last option. You need a creative player who can feed the two strikers.
Your formation should look like this: Formation

Very important is to play with low pressure. You can't play with high pressure because you don't have enough players to put pressure on your opponent so your strikers will waste energy.

The first training

The first training is very important. You have the opportunity to apply the rules and let the players feel you mean business. Start off with an easy going training with exercises everyone is able to do. If you want to keep a positive attitude of the players be positive yourself! I get shivers all over when I see a coach standing on the sideline shouting things like:' That pass is bad, try harder!'. Well, you don't have to be Einstein to see that when your pass ends up directly at the feet of an opponent it's a bad pass. Players see that as well and need to know how they can improve. Thát's your duty as a coach, to teach them how they can improve their play. Simply saying they're doing something wrong isn't going to help them improve.

If you're a coach like I described your players will not believe a thing you said about them having fun and joy is the most important word. The message you're giving your players is that they need to do everything right, which creates stress and finally you end up with players who have no selfesteem and are afraid of getting the ball (I don't want the ball so I don't make mistakes).

For example, the first training I always let them do a passingexercise. I do this because I think passing is the most important thing in soccer, but also because I want to make something clear. The most important thing about a pass is that the pass has to have enough speed. So they need to kick the ball hard to give it speed. If you give it speed, it will go wrong quite a few times because its hard to give it speed and the right direction. I tell them that I don't care if they don't give the ball the right direction the first time, because that's of later importance. Take it step by step. Don't expect them to become Messi or Christiano Ronaldo in one day, or in one year for that matter. Tell them that they're doing a great job when they give the pass enough speed, don't say something like:' Try to give it the right direction the next time'. You can say:' Well done, you've given it speed, try to give it the right direction next time as well!' It may seem like there's little difference but giving players compliments is vital.

Kids experience the most joy when they improve and do well. If you take it step by step they will experience succes and will improve greatly.

How to kick off the season

When starting off with a team great tactical speeches, or critical notes on behalf of your players is the worst way to start. Soccer is a game and is meant to be played with great joy. Joy is the keyword for starting off the right way.

Now you're probably wondering how to do just that, right? Well, first of all, tell your players that you, as a coach, think their joy is the most important thing. Players, and especially children, like a coach who is clear and honest. If you don't mean what you say, they'll soon find out and use it against you.
When you've done this, it's time to state the rules. The coach (that's you!) makes the rules, not the children, not other coaches and certainly not parents! You have to keep the rules simple. I always tell them two things. 1. If I speak, they keep their mouth shut and do as I say and 2. They can make fun in between exercises, not during (!) exercises. This way you can always add rules later. Some teams don't need much rules and others need many. Many times I have seen coaches who do not make this clear and end up with kids doing anything but what the coach says. A strict coach makes players happy, in spite of what you might think.
Next is the first training.

Introduction

Hi everybody,
You're probably here because you are interested in youth soccer. In this blog I will post my thoughts about youth soccer, especially about they way to coach children and the style of play. I hope you will enjoy my blog and maybe learn something!