Do you know your formations?

Hi Everyone, Happy new year. Apologies for the lack of comms during the holidays, I had planned to send out two newsletters but following Boris Johnson’s lockdown over Christmas for us in the UK, I decided to spend more time with the family. I’m back now and have enough content for 3 newsletters but will keep it to the major theme of the Top Ten of the week. One of the major highlights this week is a thread from Eric Laurie going through the advantages and disadvantages of different formations. When I was playing I tried my best to study different formations to know the strengths and weaknesses, so I could take advantage of the weaker areas, plus be aware and guard against the stronger areas. So enough of me and on to the Top Ten

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Top Ten of the Week

1. Ever wanted to know the advantages and disadvantages of formations? There’s a great thread from Eric Laurie, who I definitely recommend you follow, on just that. I've always thought players and coaches should know the strengths and weaknesses of their formations and other formations they face.

   Eric Laurie @EricLaurie

   Thread⬇️ Advantages and disadvantages of various formation in football.

2. Paul McGuiness talking through the video he was part of from the FA learning team. He is showing you how to create predator skills in your strikers

   Paul McGuinness @Paulmcg8

   Tips for “Predator strikers skills” Position blindside - scanning space defender passer - body shape side on to chest forward - footwork sideways to open up- deception ‘blindside’ - last second timing show the passer a clear picture - technique to pass & receive 🔥⚽️

   

   FA Learning @FALearning

   𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 🏈⚽ This activity from @Paulmcg8 shows how the movement of players ahead of the ball coming can open up space for through passes 🎯 https://t.co/cjxcRZyzDr

3. Interesting thread from Christian Dobrick proposing that the next development in positional play will be the role of goalkeepers. Do you agree with goalkeepers being asked to be a +1 player, getting involved in higher areas during the first phase?

   Christian Dobrick @chrdob

   Next important development in positional play will be the role of the GK. While Neuer redefined the role of the goalkeeper in the defensive phase with his "libero"-role in the 2010s, the coming development will be about the GK's role in the offensive game as +1 player (THREAD).

   

4. Always wondered how to create the same scenarios in training to make sure you work on a particular skill but not keep repeating the same thing over and over again leading to boredom from the players? Well, get inspiration from Yiannis Tsala's work on developing more adaptive wide triangles. Good for what he is trying to achieve but also helps you to think about adapting your sessions on the themes you want to achieve without being repetitive.

   http://konzeptfussballberlin.de/2020/12/21/door-22-a-differential-approach-to-developing-more-adaptive-wide-triangles/

5. Looking to help your goalkeepers with the correct techniques when engaging strikers. Have a look at Louis hunt's tweet from the John Harrison analysis that I sometimes point out in this newsletter.

   Louis Hunt @LouisHunt17

   Been using @Jhdharrison1 1v1 analysis in my #GK principles & sessions w/ @SurfSoccerClub players recently. Put this analysis video together for them w/ help from the @CoachingManual Plan is to leave original clips in, take out my analysis & have kids do their own, then compare.

   

6. Another brilliant thread from Paul McGuiness talking through movement, scanning and other attributes top players have either before they receive the ball or when they're on the ball.

   Paul McGuinness @Paulmcg8

   “If you don’t know you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else” Yogi Berra - If coaches don’t know the ‘pictures’ - the common moves top players make - how do they know what to teach step by step in a long term development programme?

   

   

7. England Rugby Coach Eddie Jones' man management thoughts are always of a very high level. watch this video.

   Andrew Brownhill @AndrewBrownhil

   Eddie Jones on physchology👇 🗣"It's not because there not educated or not industrious but because things are done for them. A good performance psychologist encourages players to develop their own routine. Players need to take responsibility and not be reliant on the environment"

   

8. After a discussion on whether we are rushing young players into 11v11 too quickly, something I think is true, Paul MGuniess here with the philosophy and research from Manchester United and their soccer schools.

   Paul Brown @muscglos

   @AntrobusN @Paulmcg8 @ed2000_8 @sturge_p Man Utd Soccer school doc. dropbox.com/s/rx4zeh53ep80… I think a lot of the 4v4 is covered in Rene meulensteen new soccer tutor book too.

   

   shop.soccertutor.comRené Meulensteen & Man Utd Methods of Success (2007-2013) - René’s Coaching Philosophy and Training Sessions (94 Practices), Sir Alex Fergu…Learn, practice and apply René’s exact Manchester United training sessions, enabling your team to reproduce Alex Ferguson’s team’s fantastic attacking style

9. Do you know the different types of superiorities that can be applied when playing? This is a great article that goes through and explains what they are and how they work. Can you take these into your sessions?

   https://breakingthelines.com/tactical-analysis/conceptualising-superiorities-in-football/

10. Something to think about from Anne-Laure when looking into talent development and talent spotting. Are you sure you're remembering everything correctly?

    Anne-Laure Le Cunff @anthilemoon

    Think you have a good memory? Think again 🙃 I give you 10 types of memory bias: 1) Rosy retrospection bias = we tend to remember the past as better than it was 2) Consistency bias = we incorrectly remember our past self as similar to our present self (self-image bias)

That’s it for this week and the first one of the year. Thanks for joining me and I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know if there are people I should be following or content I should be looking at. If you know anyone who would enjoy this newsletter please share using the buttons below. Have a great weekend and week.