Published by BettingExpert.com 29th May 2013
You in England…are playing in the style we continentals used so many years ago with much physical strength, but no method, no technique.” – Helenio Herrera Gavilán
Helenio Herrera, the former Roma, Inter Milan and Barcelona manager and the man believed to have first implemented the famous Catenaccio style of football (a very technical, well organised and defensive philosophy of football), was recorded saying the above quote in 1960. England have since offered very little to suggest they possess the technical capacity of Brazil, Spain and others. Don’t take my word for it, read through the following quotations from a number of professionals and experts who have been involved in the English game over the years.
“At the very youngest age there wasn’t much emphasis on skill development…We had all of the great English traits: team spirit, great worth ethic, a never-say-die attitude. But the emphasis on our coaching has never totally been around skills and technical ability.” – Gareth Southgate
“In England you teach your kids how to win. In Portugal and Spain they teach their kids how to play.” – José Mourinho, 2006
“There are many changes required in the way this country [England] develops its young players,” – Rafael Benítez
“I don’t think we have enough defenders who are comfortable on the ball in attacking areas – creativity is a worry” – Sir Trevor Brooking
“Technical skills like dribbling, good movement, the ability to pick a pass are key to breaking teams down, but you just don’t see it when England play, their style is always the same… They never changed, they never improvised and they never improved. They put the high ball into the area and try to head it in, but they need to focus on more technical skills.” – Carlos Alberto
“The most important thing that can happen to English players is that they improve their technique” – Carlos Alberto 2007
The over-reliance on strength and speed in the English game has existed since the late 1800’s and it was often noted that Scotland would make up from their comparative lack of speed and strength by employing an approach that allowed Scotland to keep the ball. Scotland did this as a defensive solution and as the game became globalised, the two approaches to football spread in the most fascinating way – a quick google search for ‘Archie McLean’ even leads to the conclusion that Brazil’s technical approach to football was all thanks to a Scot who moved to Brazil.
The Problem With English Football
Having studied the lack of technical ability in the English game over a number of years, I have arrived at four conclusive and fundamentally critical issues that have consistently led to so few players throughout the English leagues possessing a level of technical ability that we see in other nations:
- A lack of technique
- A lack of central philosophy as a nation
- A lack of tactical flexibility and education for players
- The stalling of development for players between the ages of 18 to 21
Over a series of articles for bettingexpert, I will argue that the latest movement from the FA and their shifts in attitudes towards youth development, tackle each and every one of these four critical issues. Article by article we will analyse each of the four critical issues above.
1. A Lack Of Technique
In football, the principle criteria for a good pass, cross or shot is measured by it’s outcome. A good pass for example, is measured on whether the ball arrives at the receiving player in “the right position, at the correct moment and with the desired speed.” The technique used to make the pass itself is less important. Therefore it is not so much about developing the ‘ideal technique’ but a ‘functional technique’. However, having good technique alone isn’t enough to make the best use of such an ability, players must possess the creativity to enable a maximisation of any technique.
Brazil is without a doubt the world’s leading nation for producing players that are blessed with an ability to utilise their technique in the most creative ways. Brazil’s ability to produce such players does so (in my opinion) for one reason and one reason only: Futsal; a small sided game that allows players to excel through a number of constraints.
Futsal is widely considered the national sport of Brazil, a competitive small sided game, and credited for the development of many of its greatest players; it is said that Juninho did not set foot on a full size pitch with a size 5 football until the age of fourteen due to his preference to Futsal.
Being an invasion game players go about organising their positions collectively in unison to increase the number of shots to goal (directly related to goals) and reduce those conceded by increasing the opportunity to tackle when out of possession. Frencken and Lemmink (2009) studied this transition between the organisation of players with the ball and then without; the researchers concluded that valuable tactical information can be learnt through the frequency of which the players experience such transitions. Frencken and Lemmink arrived at the conclusion that the differences in pressures of attacking and defending manipulate the relative positional play from players in a fixed formation, as the damage caused by a possible mistake increases players (whether consciously or not) learnt to tactically narrow down the space around the teammate in possession.
From this study we can conclude that futsal and other small sided games do not ignore tactical aspects of the game and are not set about in a free-for-all manner, but founded upon strategical cohesiveness between the team mates dependant on the increased likelihood of danger and where the ball is in possession. This cohesiveness is of great desire in larger sided formats.
England used to rely on street football to produce players that would demonstrate world class qualities of creativity and despite clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool placing a level of importance on retaining street football qualities in their development models, the fear is that the raw benefits from street football have disappeared.
AN EMPHASIS ON SMALL SIDED GAMES
One of the biggest problems with the lack of street football or small sided games like futsal over the last few decades has been the decrease in the number of touches that each player would get of the ball per game. Aconsultation paper written by Grant Small of the University of Abertay Dundee in 2006, analysed the number of touches per player in different scaled formats (4 vs 4, 7 vs 7 and 11 v 11) within the under-12 teams of Falkirk Football Club, Motherwell Football Club and a number of others. The study concluded that players have 390% more touches of the ball in the 4 vs 4 formation compared to 11 vs 11 and twice as many as in the 7 vs 7.
Other research by Manchester United has indicated that there are 225% more 1 vs 1 encounters and a 280% increase in the number of dribbles in 4 vs 4 games compared to 8 v 8 formats. This research also concluded that the impact was not only on outfielders, the technical skills performed by the goalkeeper increased by 200-400%. Since goalkeepers are expected to use their feet 7x more than their hands in today’s football, this aspect of development cannot be overlooked.
The smaller games of 4 vs. 4 resulted in players to play with heart rates of approximately 8-10 beats/min lower than the 8 vs. 8 games; Rick Fenoglio suggests the lower heart rate enables a higher concentration in technical development due the decreased short-term fatigue and ability for players to concentrate at a higher level.
LEARNING HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL
Salmela (1995, p.62) suggests for effective learning, an athlete must involve all four components of their development: “Physical, technical, tactical and mental”. In a game where players are working at a higher heart rate, short-term fatigue depleted the ability for players to concentrate and their develop technically, tactically or mentally. The benefits of small sided games are therefore not only beneficial for technical development but in aiding the mental development of the players in preparation of the adult game through the repeated decision-making experience that takes place, but at a rate that is comfortable for the players to maintain a high concentration level. The decision making and mental abilities are vital in increasing the ability to visualise the options available to a player and to then make a split second decision in which option the player sees as the best fit solution to the problem he faces.
“In roughly 10 seconds, Paul Scholes will see a hundred alternatives and then make his choices that will draw on his place” – Mick Critchell,The Blizzard
It is therefore imperative that young players have as many decision making moments as possible in a game of football. Research by both McGeskin and Chris Carling have offered evidence that a player spends 98.3% of the game on an 11 vs. 11 appropriately sized field without the ball. This equates to an average of 53 seconds of the match spent on the ball. In no circumstances can this aid development in young or learning players of any kind. Therefore, it is important that the size of the field should be appropriate for both ability and age.
“We need to teach small-sided games which are appropriate for the age and ability of each child” – Mick Critchell,The Blizzard
Mick Critchell, a former consultant for both Fulham FC and Southampton FC, argues that the long term development goes further than the simple rational conclusions that have been made above. Critchell believes that the English game is often played through the logical and rational part of the brain (the left) and the right hand side of the brain (emotional and intuitive skills) is then underdeveloped because of a lack of creativity and freedom of player-expression. This concept leads me to believe the rationale of why the Brazilians lack positional awareness and the English lack the Brazilian’s level of creativity.
Bulgarian scientist Lozanov made the suggestion of a ‘super learning method’ in the 1970‘s which simply put, requires both hemispheres of the brain to be stimulated. The side of the brain that the English have developed well (the left) is too slow acting for a fast moving game like football. Players are best developed and prepared for the adult game when both sides of the brain are developed; it is only then that the decision making, creativity and technique merge into one simple effortless activity, the kind of action that Xavi of Barcelona demonstrates on every occasion he touches the ball (thanks to his thousands of hours of Rondos).
Despite the vast amount of research that highlights the importance of small sided games for developing players, research carried out by Liverpool John Moore’s University found that 50% of training time at English football academies is spent on fitness training or unopposed practices and less than 20% spent on playing small sided games.
“…not only are we developing poor technical players…we are creating poor decision makers. we need players who have the ability to play in the future – a vision to know what to do before receiving the ball. This wont change unless we get rid of the drills” (Horst Wein, Developing Youth Football Players.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
As of 2014-15 football in England will now see changes that impact the English game profoundly. Players will not play 11 vs. 11 until the age of 12; The 5 vs. 5 format will be used from the age groups of under-7 to under-8, only age appropriate proportional scaled fields and goals. Then from the age groups of under-9 to under-10 a 7 vs. 7 game format will be implemented; under-11 and under-12 will play a 9 vs. 9 format with appropriately sized pitches and goals.
“We were not seeking to emulate one particular country but to look at the best things across Europe and try to develop a new model which is best for English football,…The smaller versions of the game will enable more touches, dribbles, one-on-ones, more involvement and more enjoyment. Where children are enjoying the game more, they are getting better, so that runs hand in hand with development.” – Official FA Statement, 2012
One thing is for certain, these changes will lead to England producing more creative and technically sound football players.