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Tuesday, November 18

Coach Salako works on the Arsenal method

by John Salako on Tue 18 Nov 2008 09:23 PM GMT

Give me two minutes and we’ll get down to some serious coaching but first of all I’ve got to get something off my chest. We as players must be above reacting or retaliating to abuse or confrontation especially from the minority of idiots in the crowd.

I cannot begin to defend what Drogba did last week at Chelsea, he lost control and has once again damaged the reputation of professional footballers. What would have happened if he’d have injured someone in the crowd? Thankfully no one was injured.

It reminded me of that unbelievable incident at Selhurst Park when Eric Cantona playing for Manchester United against my team Crystal Palace Kung-Fu kicked a fan on his way back to the dressing room after being sent off. I stood on the field in utter amazement.

We won that night and Chelsea lost to Burnley on Wednesday.

As a coach you tell your players “lose your head, lose the game”.

There will be incidents in a game that dictate the outcome of all matches. Football is an emotional roller coaster and when you stay in control you stand a greater chance of winning.

We talk about discipline, we talk about organisation, we talk about attitude – these are three of the major components of a winning mentality.

The most talented players are often flawed geniuses and as a coach your man-management skills will be severely tested. Often I see limited players at the top level because they have the right mentality and as coaches we can trust them to perform for the team.

Talking about team performances – the Arsenal youngsters against a full strength Wigan side put on a show that was breathtaking. It was football at its very best. They played with freedom, passion and flair. The tempo and the rhythm were amazing due to the fact that they’re young and fresh and their minds are uncluttered.

When you play one two touch married with fantastic movement opponents struggle to get near you. It’s difficult to defend against.

There was no fear or pressure, just a youthful exuberance to go out and enjoy playing on that magnificent stage. Probably most pleasing for me was that half of them are English.

Arsene Wenger is a coaching genius and the reason I say that is all of his players are comfortable with the ball, they’ve got fantastic touch, have fast feet, pace and balance but most importantly they’ve got incredible footballing brains.

Most footballers can learn to play that way by repetition, plenty of touches of the ball and an enforced fast tempo in small sided dynamic training games.

When you set up such a game limit players to one or two touches and keep the ball moving. If it stops – give it to the opposition.

This makes your players be more aware of space, their touches have to be more precise and they have to think quicker. As they’re receiving the ball they’ve got to know what their next pass options are.

Team mates should be moving to create space to receive the ball and making as many options as possible for the man on the ball. So concentrate on passing and moving to create an angle to either receive the ball back or draw away an opponent.

IMPORTANT LESSON: As a coach you must instil in your players that communication is the key. “Yes give it me”, “hold”, “turn”, “man on”, “over”, “down the line”, etc plus arm signals such as I’m available here.

At Bromley on Thursday night I laid on a session that covered all these points and YOU’LL FIND that if it’s done with the right attitude and at the right tempo this will give you a bright dynamic training session.

Set up a small sided game dividing the players into 3 teams.

Teams A and B start the game with team C positioned around the perimeters of the field ready to help the attacking side.

In this game on a 5-a-side pitch the first goals wins with the winners staying on.

Max 3 touch but ideal 1-2 touch

1 Fast tempo

2 Look to play forward

3 Runs forward to support play

4 Lots of shots

5 Recover quickly when ball turned over. All of a sudden you go from 12 v 6 to 6 v 12!

As the coach you get your learning points in between games as the players rest. The players love it but you’ve got to keep the tempo up. Force them out of their comfort zone.

Enjoy the session.

Coach John

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Friday, November 7

Hey Coach your first decision is...

by John Salako on Fri 07 Nov 2008 10:59 PM GMT

As a coach you have to approach every game differently because of your opposition and the players available to you. In effect there are two basic set-ups you need to master. Your team as the more skilful side and of course on the other hand – you as the underdog.
For example, this week we saw the Champions’ League group match between Celtic and Manchester United. If you look at the Scottish Premier League Celtic are top of the table and flying. However, on Wednesday night they played the champions of Europe, at Celtic Park, in a game they had to win.
Because of the superior quality of the players in the United side Gordon Strachan’s whole tactical approach would have been to contain and frustrate United by 1 being absolutely committed and working harder than Manchester United and 2 keeping a solid shape making sure that United didn’t get in behind into dangerous crossing positions.
This means getting tight to the likes of Ronaldo and Rooney – being all over them like a rash and not letting them isolate defenders. You have to support each other in numbers and especially with Ronaldo you have to drive him inside into your strength in numbers.
Basically you have to concede areas of the field. You cannot close down too high up the pitch otherwise you get “picked off” so Celtic formed a tight unit in their defensive third of the field and showed Ronaldo inside where it was more congested.
Celtic players were definitely under the orders that man and ball wouldn’t pass! And on numerous occasions Ronaldo was fouled before he could get in his stride.
Going into the last ten minutes with Celtic leading by a goal Strachan’s game plan of containing and frustrating was working. If the Portuguese wizard had been sent off for lashing out at his defender – who was doing his job and was all over him like a cheap suit – then he wouldn’t have been able to hit the incredible dipping swerving shot that led to United’s equaliser a couple of minutes later.
From then on there was only one side in it with Celtic clinging on and Berbatov should have won it in the dying seconds.
The reason why I highlight this is because often on TV you’ll hear pundits talk about it being a game of tactical chess and as we’ve seen with Pulis at Stoke or Benetiz at Liverpool they set their teams out to win games and if they happen to entertain that’s a by-product.
As painful as it is winning is paramount and if you ask any fan they’ll say “don’t care we won”. As a coach you’ll be loved for winning and sacked for playing good losing football.
What I’m saying is: as the coach even with an inferior side you can win games and that is always justified if you get the desired result. It is your responsibility to choose the tactics to suit the game and this will depend on who you’re playing and how your team is playing.
There is always a balance between playing entertaining football and winning. As a coach you’ve got to be brave and prepared to experiment. To recap there are two styles for you to work on in the coming weeks – you as the better footballing side and you as underdogs.
If you watch Celtic this weekend Gordon will have a completely different set-up because they are 12 points clear of Motherwell and they know they’re the more skilful team.
If the players understand their jobs they’ll enjoy the game more, they’ll become better players and that’s after all is the point. We should all want to improve.
Over the coming weeks we’ll look at how to set up a side when you’re the underdog.
Have a great winning weekend.
Coach John

PS Remember when your side looks good it will perform better. Visit Umbro's home of football kits to get yourself kitted out right.

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Wednesday, October 8

In case you don't know me . . . .

by John Salako on Wed 08 Oct 2008 04:27 PM BST

I’ve spent the last 20 years – most of my life – playing the most beautiful game in the world. I was lucky enough to be totally immersed in the sport. I’ve worked under some of the best managers in the game, played with and against some of the most talented footballers on the planet and right now I’m want to pass on some of that experience to you so that you can enjoy your game more.
These days I work in the media on Sky Sports and I also do some coaching at one of my local non-league sides and do you know what - I still have the same sense of wonder and joy that I had when I joined Crystal Palace just after the dinosaurs died out.
It’s still a fascination to me that the game keeps re-inventing itself and the standards at the very top of the game continue to get better and better. From fitness to equipment to tactics the game is still evolving and I’d like to let you know how you can benefit from what is obvious to the trained eye and is a hidden mystery to the uninitiated.
I’ve sat in dressing rooms – with my teammates – when, like at Newcastle right now, nobody knew what tomorrow would bring and I can tell you that it’s tough to get into the zone and skin their left back when you’re concerned about how you’re going to pay the mortgage.
Whereas I’ve also been in teams where – although we weren’t the best team in the league – we ripped it up because we all knew what we were doing and we knew we could trust each other to give their best.
And that’s what I’m about - getting you and your team into a place where you know what you’re supposed to be doing. A highly professional side will know what to do at every set play, it will know what to do in the last 10 minutes when leading 1-0 or trailing 2-1. Knowing breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning and winning breeds happiness.
Football is an art form but it’s also a science and like a professor over the coming months I’ll explain to you in dead simple terms how to maximise the talents in your team, whether you play semi-professional on a Saturday or simply enjoy a game of 5 a side on a Tuesday night with your mates.
Look at the turmoil currently affecting two of the big teams in the Premiership – Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. In my view both have been hit by the Berbatov effect. And of course, Ronaldo and the Real saga did not help the teamwork at Old Trafford.
We all know that playing winning football is about building momentum and that can only happen when you’re sure about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The time for learning how the team will gel is during the pre-season not after the season’s underway.
After the Chelsea match Sir Alex spoke about five of his players not quite having match fitness and he alluded to his team still getting to know each other. And this was evident when they conceded the equaliser late on in the game from a set piece caused by a late and tired challenge from Wayne Rooney.
Now the inswinging fizzing free kick is a tough ball to defend but as I said earlier a team on top of its game physically and mentally would simply know what it was doing at such set plays. It would cause the opposition to play a certain way and not be bossed about itself.
However, the good news for this team is the reputation of Sir Alex – he told the reporter that the entire team would be okay by October. No sense of panic, just a realism that not having a settled team because of late transfer dealings and injuries would take its time to work out. But things would be okay.
Now of course, you’ll remember that the Manchester United manager was not always given such a luxury was he? Was it two seasons ago that he was past his best and – according to the press - should be hanging up coaching boots? Two championships and the top prize in Europe have given him the breathing space to correct his ship and set course to achieve his third Premiership title in a row.
Counter this with the club at the other end of the Berbatov saga. Spurs are on the fourth or fifth re-build and everyone is on Ramos’ case. He’s been accused of wanting to get out of London, his tactics are under intense scrutiny and all this turmoil transmits itself to the players on the field.
Let me tell you from experience team confidence is a fragile thing and can be easily broken when there’s been such high profile comings and goings. Ramos will have his work cut out getting his team of highly talented players operating as a tightly knit fighting unit capable of mounting a serious challenge on the Premiership.
He needs to get some momentum going and that can only happen when the team gets its sense of itself. Remember the “old” Wimbledon team. It knew itself and what it was about. They played to their strengths and got stronger on the back of all the criticism they received for their no nonsense approach to the game.
This leads me to ask “what is the identity of your team?” This will determine how you will approach the new season; it will allow you to work at the building blocks that will help you towards your goals. Things to consider are the age and fitness of your team. If, like me, the clock’s been ticking for a while then we have to use our experience and set ourselves up at the back to be solid and use our experience rather than our speed to create chances.
If your team is fresh out of college then this energy should be used to make the ball work quicker so that you can turn the opposition to create chances.
Whatever the makeup of your side with some professional coaching we can improve your enjoyment and success levels.
It is my belief that every player can improve his knowledge of the game. You’ve heard ex-professionals like me point out that this player just seems to know where to go. This is no voodoo magic – its simply an awareness of the likely areas the ball is going to be played into.
It is also my belief that every coach can improve his training of the team to extract more out of them and I’m going to prove this to you by talking to you in simple terms and also giving you better practice routines.
It’s not a case of training or playing harder, it’s a case of training or playing smarter. What I’m saying is the answer is not to work harder it’s to work smarter.
Let me ask you a question: do you think that professional footballers like to find the most difficult and tiring way to win football matches or do you think they, like most people, love to achieve results with the minimum of effort?
Now John can you see where I’m coming from? Let’s work smarter to achieve more and therefore enjoy it more.
I’m looking forward to revealing the inside secrets that led me to being an England International.
All the best.
Coach John

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