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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
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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