The Beginning of a Coaching Journey

I’ve played football all my life. For as long as I can remember and since I was old enough to kick a ball. I still play, albeit just in the local 11-a-side Sunday league and evening 5-a-side leagues. I’m now 28, so don’t plan on giving up playing any time soon. But for a long time, I’d always thought I would want to get involved in coaching football.

 

I missed the chance to get myself on a career path in this field by choosing to study a Business Studies degree at University. This only really hit me in my final year at Uni, when I started to think what kind of job I’d like to pursue and what areas of employment I’d like to work in. I sat there thinking of jobs that would fit the degree I would soon be able to put on my CV, but none of them were jobs that I thought I would enjoy. This was the summer of 2007 and I still remember thinking to myself: Why didn’t I do a football related degree. Of course, I know it probably would’ve been “sports” rather than “football”, but you get the picture. Football is the only thing I’ve ever been truly passionate about and will most likely be the only area of work where I can say I would ‘love’ to be involved in and would genuinely enjoy it. At the time I thought of football journalism and football coaching.  I like to write about football and used to make little football magazines when I was a kid. I understand the game well and used to spend hours a week reading about football on teletext, so that should have been a serious consideration when I was planning to go to Uni. I thought this would be a pretty tough thing to get into bearing in mind the number of students every year that graduate with Journalism degrees, and the relatively small number of football-specific writing jobs out there. Football coaching seemed just as exciting to me, and was something I always thought I’d not only go into, but be good at. I started looking at things like ‘Summer Soccer Camps’ in America and things like that, but it was too late for applications that year and I figured I’d struggle to get in without a coaching or teaching qualification to my name. Those ideas fell into oblivion for a few years whilst I went through several jobs, but I withheld the intention to get involved with coaching at some point.

 

I would’ve hoped to have done it sooner, but time and finances dictated that it wasn’t until early 2012 when I booked my place on the FA Level 1 Award in Coaching Football course. September 2012 came and I went along to the course run by the Lincolnshire FA in Grimsby. Unlike most of the candidates on the course, I wasn’t already coaching. This came as a bit of a surprise, as I assumed that most people would want to get the first qualification under their belts and then use that to get involved in coaching, like I had planned to. Obviously I hadn’t thought that a lot of junior level football coaches are parents of one of the kids in that age group, and put themselves forward as a volunteer to do it. And that’s perfectly fine. People will have different reasons for getting into coaching. I paid the course fee myself and started to get involved because I want to eventually be able to work in football full-time, and because I want to help youngsters develop their game and enjoy playing football.

 

I got home after attending the 2-hour introduction and was buzzing with excitement, looking forward to the following weekend of full-day sessions. What could be better than 2 full days of football? The introduction was great. To be honest, beforehand I didn’t know what to expect from whoever was going to be running the course. You often hear the phrase “dinosaurs at the FA” used by the media and some of the more fearless pundits when talking about higher management of the FA being stuck in past. But I wasn’t going with any pre-judgement already made, I’m open minded to everything and was looking forward to the course too much to really think about details like that. As it goes, the course tutor, Dave Collins, was brilliant. You can generally tell within a minute of listening to someone talk about football, if they know what they’re talking about. And you instantly got the feeling Dave was a very knowledgeable coach and as much of a modern-thinker, in terms of priorities, ideas and techniques, as you could meet.

 

After attending the mandatory Emergency First Aid and Safeguarding Children modules during the next week, the time came for the full weekend of coaching. We’d been given some homework to complete some of the very simple exercises in the booklet before this weekend. And that meant we only had to spend a bit of time going through some of the theory before we could be out on the training pitch looking at the practical side. That’s not to say I didn’t like the theory side. I like reading, writing and talking about the game as much as anything, but for someone with no coaching experience, I was looking forward to getting out on the Bradley Football Development Centre’s 3G pitch to go through the sessions.

 

The whole weekend was brilliant. There was plenty of discussion and debate about things, and Dave was more than happy to answer any questions any of us had. We went through all the sessions that are in the Level 1 booklet. It was great to have all the candidates bouncing ideas around when we spoke of possible progressions for the sessions, and I contributed to some good discussion. We were shown how the sessions work and then we put on mock sessions, using the rest of the candidates on the course as the ‘players’. First this was in pairs, then we were all assigned one of the sessions to plan and put on for the group as an individual. After the weekend I was bit gutted it was over for another week. I thought to myself how much I would love these full days of football, with lunch halfway through, to be what my working life would consist of. I could get used to this, I thought. Dave was enthusiastic about the game and helped us to enjoy the course as well as learn from it. He gave us plenty of pointers and advice to help us get through the assessment day the following Sunday. Also, he gave me good feedback, so who am I to argue with him?

 

The group were a really good bunch. As I said, there were plenty of good ideas thrown in when discussing possible progressions and there were some good characters in there. As I got chatting to one of the lads on the course over that weekend, Craig, he mentioned that the local grassroots club he coaches at were in need of a coach for their ‘foundation’ age group. He said the coach who started the club a few years ago currently coaches the under 9′s was also taking the ‘foundation’ (under 6′s) too. He said they’d need their own coach in time for next season since the under 9′s coach obviously wouldn’t be able to take both age groups in their matches at the same time (under 7′s is the first age group that play fixtures against other teams on a Sunday). This was music to my ears. I had already thought that, ideally, I would like to start coaching at the youngest age group and go up through the age groups with them as they get older. So this was a great opportunity, one which I was very grateful for and I told him I thought that would be perfect for me.

 

The following Sunday was the assessment day. We met the Level 1 tutor who was taking us for the assessment day, Matt Evans. Like Dave, Matt immediately came across as a good bloke, enthusiastic about the game and as modern and forward-thinking as you could hope for in a tutor, even though he did confess to being a Leeds fan. If all the FA tutors on the first steps of the coaching pathway around the country are of the same ilk as Matt and Dave, then plenty of coaches will be getting a good start to their coaching education. What I thought was great about the assessment day, was that it wasn’t just about us being assessed. We continued to learn. Matt complimented what Dave had shown/taught us, and added to that with points of his own as we went through the day with everyone carrying out their sessions. Every coach is different just like every tutor is different, so there’s always going to be different ways to do things and you will learn different things from different people.

 

We all passed and I got some good feedback again. Apparently not many people ever actually fail the Level 1 course. I can understand that because it doesn’t go very deep into the understanding of the game and is more about beginners and getting people to a point where they can put on safe sessions for kids to enjoy, whilst hitting all aspects of the FA 4-corners model. But I was still happy to have passed and looked forward to receiving my certificate in the post. Craig gave me the number of the coach who started the club. And said he’d already asked him if it would be ok for him to get me on board, and he was happy with that. So for me the course had gone perfectly. I’d taken my first step on the coaching ladder, loved every minute of the course and was now all set to take my first steps in coaching too.

 

At some point during the next week I phoned Jimmy, the founder of the local grassroots club Craig coaches for - Waltham Juniors Football Club. He’d already been briefed on the situation by Craig, and I told him I’d love to start coming down pretty much straight away and initially observe his sessions with the under 6′s to see how his sessions flowed and what kind of activities he would do with them. At the very first session I went along to observe, I knew this was a great club to get involved with and the principles of the club were fantastic and I completely agreed with them. Jimmy introduced me to all the kids and they all said hello. Jimmy asked the kids to tell me, as someone new to the club, what the 2 rules at the club are. One put their hand up and correctly said “We listen to the coach”. Jimmy asked again “And what’s the most important rule at this club?” Hands went up again and one of the kids answered “We all have fun”. When Jimmy asked the kids why that rule is so important, they answered “Because if we don’t have fun then it’s not worth us coming.” Brilliant, I thought. If I was starting up a new grassroots community club, those are the principles I would build it around.

 

For a few weeks I just observed the sessions and how Jimmy did it, helping him to set things up and just offering encouragement to the kids. After a few weeks I started to put a game on for the kids within the session. And then after a couple of weeks I was turning up to sessions with a plan for the hour of what to do, taking the session with Jimmy’s help (two coaches are needed for a group of 10-12 kids, especially at this age). Since completing the Level 1 course and making the phone call to Jimmy, I’d been researching coaching resources on the internet.

 

I genuinely think that the internet will be a huge factor in helping modern-day coaches develop. It’s a massive resource with the amount of great websites out there with articles, session ideas, points of view and different approaches. I started putting things together in a folder and making notes, to build my own resource I can call on or look back on in years to come. I’m still adding to this now and will continue to do so throughout my life in coaching. I’ll never stop learning in this environment. For me, without doubt the best coaching resource around, aside from the actual courses, is the Twitter account of ‘ @CoachingFamily ‘. There are a lot of great, knowledgeable people contributing that are happy to share their thoughts, ideas and sessions so that others can improve as well. And why shouldn’t they? Surely we are all in this together with the aim of being better coaches so that we can help young players to develop into the best players they can be. The Coaching Family have definitely helped me in my first 6 months of coaching.

 

I spend a lot of time thinking about what to do in the one-hour sessions I have with the under 6′s. The first few weeks that I was putting the sessions on, might have come across as a bit of trial and error. I only say this because a couple of the small games I tried putting on were probably just slightly too advanced or became a little disorganised. So we moved onto something else and those ideas, remaining valid ideas, are shelved for another year. At this age group, it’s all about letting the kids have fun and enjoy playing football. But I want them to learn and start to develop at the same time, as I believe you can achieve both. I usually do a fun-warm up for about 5 minutes, then put on 2 or 3 small games where everyone has a football at their feet. Ball mastery and controlling the ball should be the first thing any young footballer should do. Anything else is surely trying to run before you can walk, so to speak? Passing and shooting etc can come later, but to begin with, I want all the kids to become comfortable with the ball and be able to keep it under control.

 

The games I have them playing are generally tailored to that for the time being. The games are fun for them to play though, rather than the tedious drills where one kid at the front of the line goes first whilst all the rest stand in a line and wait their turn. They’ve all come to play football for an hour, so I want them to play football for an hour, not stand in lines for 20 minutes waiting for their next go. I want the kids to have as many touches of a football as possible in the time they are with me. Granted you won’t always get a chance to do this due to resources/numbers but for the moment, that’s my focus.

 

I don’t like to stand there in front of the kids and lecture or instruct them. As well as ball control, the other emphasis for me is on developing intelligent, creative players with good decision-making ability. That might sound a bit much at this young age, but as with any other form of education, I believe you need to make sure the kids understand why you’re teaching them something and its relevance, to stand a better chance of them learning from it. So as we’re about to play a small game, I’ll ask the players when they might do something, why they might do something, how they might do something or where they might do something. They come up with their own answers. They learn and understand the process of how to do something, rather than memorising the correct answer. I’ve recently read an analogy between this aspect of coaching and teaching in a maths lesson in school. If you teach a kid that 3×3 is 9, that’s OK for the short term, but it won’t help them in the long run when one day they’re asked to work out what 3×250 is. If you teach the kid the process of how you work it out, rather than just the answer, then they can use that knowledge to solve other, much bigger problems. The same applies to the football pitch. If you teach a kid to do something with the ball at a particular time, he might not understand why he’s doing it. Teach a kid to understand the problem, however basic that is, and to decide how to solve the problem themselves, and the long term results will be much more evidence further down the line.

 

I always end the session with 2 small sided games with small goals, rather than a big pitch with everyone divided into two teams. Two small games with 2/3/4 on each side means each youngster will get much more touches of the ball. In turn, they’ll enjoy it more, which at the end of the day is the most important thing and the reason us coaches are there, to make sure the kids are safe and enjoy themselves.

 

I’ve got to a point now where I plan each session on a pad and then copy it into a notebook I’m keeping plans and notes in so that I can plan what to do in the future and which direction to go in. Most of the sessions go very well and as planned, with the kids, who are great, listening and enjoying themselves. At the beginning, in hindsight, I was trying to incorporate too many games into sessions and I often didn’t have time to fit one of them in. I think this was only really out of keenness and the fact that I love coming up with ideas, and of course getting to know how much time you need on each game and how quick the hour seems to go by.  Now the time I set aside for things is just about accurate, although I remain flexible, as you have to do in case I don’t have enough footballs one week or something’s not working after a couple of minutes of trying.

 

I recently went to watch a couple of under 7′s matches in the local area, to get an idea of what a game of under 7′s football looks like. It’s a long time since I was 7 years old myself and played in a match at that level, so I wanted to see if I could pick anything up that I could bear in mind when my under 6′s become under 7′s in August and start to play matches. It will be slightly different though. Currently, under 7′s play 7-a-side, but as part of the FA’s overdue overhaul of youth football, next season will see 5-a-side mini-soccer introduced at under 7′s and under 8′s level. It was a bit of a mixture.

 

On one hand, there was a good-natured, friendly atmosphere between the parents, the coaches and both of the teams of players. But on one of the pitches in particular, the kids must have barely been able to hear themselves think due to the shouting from the sidelines telling them what to do. Going back to my plan to instil decision-making qualities into the youngsters, I will want players to make their own decisions, even if it means sometimes making the wrong decision. That way they will learn for themselves what is the best course of action in certain situations, and they will learn to, and hopefully have confidence to, try different things and be creative. In my eyes, there’s no point instructing a player what to do all the time for years, only for him to go for a trial at a professional football club one day and have no idea what he should do with the ball when he gets it because he hasn’t got people shouting at him telling him what to do. Again, long term development over short term results is key. Something I’ve read a few times in different places on the internet, is the comparison between parents/coaches shouting at kids what to do when they’ve got the ball (whether it’s the right advice or not) and someone stood next to an adult in his place of work shouting and screaming at him telling him what to do. I know I, as an adult, wouldn’t want that, so I’ll try my best to make sure the kids don’t have it and can make up their own minds.

 

The other two things I picked up on were praising of big, powerful kicks up the pitch and the goalkeepers trying to kick the ball as hard and as far as they could. These are things I will be looking to do differently. I’ll never praise anyone who just kicks the ball up the pitch. I’d rather kids run the risk of losing the ball by getting it under control and trying to pass or dribble their way up the pitch than do that.

 

Just to finish on my own personal development, I’ll say that I absolutely love coaching the kids and everything that comes with it. I wish I had got involved in coaching long before I have and would recommend it to anyone. The first 6 months from my Level 1 course to now has flown by and I look forward to seeing the kids develop and continuing to enjoy playing the game. I’ve become a member of the FA Licenced Coaches Club and will be attending as many of the Coaches CPD (Continuing Professional Development) events as I can, not just the number required to renew licence membership. I’ve twice booked onto one with the Lincolnshire FA but due to weather it’s been cancelled twice, so I will soon be attending the rescheduled event for that. I put my name into a competition and have been selected to attend a free FA Youth Module 1 course, sponsored by McDonalds. This is massive for me as this is the next course I wanted to undertake, with the cost of the course being the only barrier. This course will be later in the year so I am already looking forward to that. I’m also putting my name in the hat with an application to win a sponsored place on the Level 2 Award in Coaching Football in the next few weeks so if I am successful there, that will be a great help as the cost of these courses will stand in the way of a lot of capable coaches who want to develop. Other things I’m planning this year include making contact with the School of Excellence set-up at Grimsby Town Football Club and asking if I could observe a few sessions. I also want to visit St. George’s Park in Burton, preferably on a day when I can attend a CPD event and a tour of SGP on the same day, to make to drive down there much more worthwhile.

 

I know I’m a new coach making my first steps into coaching, but I feel like it’s going well, and I’d be happy to share ideas, offer advice or have discussions with anyone following the same path I’ve begun or otherwise.

 

Wow. This is 3900 words on the word count now for this piece. All in one go. I can guarantee if I’d have done a sports degree at Uni I would’ve found essay writing a hell of a lot easier than droning on about business.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Focus on the Race to the Football League

As the Blue Square Bet Premier season edges towards its decisive last couple of months, we review the challengers for that all-important top-spot to guarantee promotion to the football league.

 

Table graphic courtesy of BBC Sport

Not since 2009, when Burton Albion were crowned champions by a 2-point margin, has a title race in England’s top non-league division been so open. That year, just 7 points separated he top 5 at the end of the season. As things currently stand, 8 points separate the top 6. And all of those 6 will believe that they can be the side to hit form at the right time and take the championship at the end of April.

 

The current top 4 have been in the mix since the early weeks of the season. Fourth-placed Kidderminster and sixth-placed Mansfield came into form a little later, but have now given themselves a great chance to challenge for automatic promotion.

 

Current leaders Grimsby Town haven’t lost since a 3-2 defeat away to Hyde on November 6th. They boast the meanest defence in the Conference with just 21 goals conceded and away record of only one loss on the road all season. However, part of the Mariners’ plan going forward will be to turn some of their away draws into wins, having won just 5 of their 13 away games so far. What could work in Grimsby’s favour is their record against the other sides around the top. They’ve beaten Wrexham (1-0), Forest Green (1-0), Luton (4-1) and Mansfield (4-1) at Blundell Park. Whilst goalless away draws at Newport, Kidderminster and Wrexham have added weight to the view that Grimsby have been the most difficult side to beat so far. With Andy Cook turning into one of the divisions most effective strikers, and the likes of Ross Hannah and Richard Brodie chipping in with important goals, Grimsby have as good a chance as anyone to seal a return to the Football League at the third attempt. They may even be able to call upon striker Liam Hearn in the final weeks of the season. He recently joined the squad for light training after missing the entire season so far through an injury sustained in pre-season.

 

Wrexham will be hoping to avoid ending up in the play-offs this time around after the only challengers to Fleetwood in last season’s title race. Andy Morrell’s men are a good quality footballing side, and perhaps have the smallest squad out of the challenging pack. This hasn’t halted their progress so far this season. They have a strong, settled side, and haven’t lost since the away defeat to Grimsby in front of the Premier Sport cameras on December 21^st. In Dean Keates they boast one of the most cultured midfielder’s in the division, and Danny Wright is a handful for any team whether he plays through the middle or on the right side of a front three. The Reds have already played rivals Newport twice, beating them 2-0 at the Racecourse, and playing out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Rodney Parade. They’ve also taken 4 points off Forest Green, again winning at home (2-1) and drawing away (0-0). Wrexham have been consistent throughout this season, their record of 5 defeats is only bettered by Grimsby (4) and there is no doubt they have the quality to challenge for the title.

 

Forest Green Rovers currently find themselves in 3^rd place, although the teams below them have games in hand which could force them out of the play-off places if results don’t go their way. After new financial backing arrived last year, many were tipping Rovers to go all the way this season. Their transfer activity in the summer also suggested they would be challengers, as they signed quality players who already had experience in this division. They’ve been in the top 5 most of the season, but have struggled against the other top sides. They beat Kidderminster (1-0) during Harriers’ winless start to the season, but have since won only once against any of their rivals. That said, it was a fantastic 5-0 away win at Newport County on New Year’s Day. But they have lost at Grimsby, Wrexham, Mansfield and at home to Newport. They’ve got a strong, physical side and great options in attack. James Norwood can’t stop scoring this season, Jan Klukowski currently has 12 from central midfield, and in the pacey Matty Taylor they have one of the better strikers in the division. To stay in contention and make up the ground on the leaders, Rovers will have to become harder to beat on the road, and hope they can take points off the teams around them in the coming weeks.

 

Newport County, who were the early pace-setters, are the divisions top scorers, netting 64 goals in their first 30 games. Many Blue Square Premier fans doubted whether Justin Edinburgh’s side would maintain their early-season form, but they’ve managed to stay in contention despite losing 5 of their last 15 league games. 19-goal striker Aaron O’Connor is arguably the best striker in non-league at the moment, with the former Luton and Mansfield man relishing being played through the middle in an attack-minded side. Newport will be hoping to have him back from injury soon, to get their promotion challenge back on track after those recent defeats and several postponements halting their momentum. The Exiles have had a mixed bag of results against other teams around the top, drawing at home to both Grimsby and Wrexham, beating Mansfield twice, taking 3 points from 6 against Forest Green and losing away to Wrexham and Kidderminster. Justin Edinburgh will be hoping to tighten his side up defensively, as none of the top 8 sides have conceded as many as Newport. Being harder to beat will help them challenge for the title if they can keep the likes of O’Connor, Jolley, Minshull and Sandell fit.

 

Kidderminster Harriers didn’t win any of their first 10 games, but have only lost 3 of their 21 games since they got their first win against Cambridge in late September. Steve Burr’s side stormed into the top half of the table and are now real challengers. Whether they can maintain such a good run of form remains to be seen, but they’ve even coped well with the loss of striker Jamille Matt in the transfer window to Fleetwood. Only Grimsby have a better defensive record than Harriers. They have already beaten Wrexham (2-0) and Newport (3-2) at the Aggborough Stadium and held Grimsby to a 0-0 draw. They will need to keep taking points off the teams above them but the main challenge for Kidderminster will be maintaining their excellent form all the way through to the end of the season.

 

Mansfield Town were also slow starters but their run in the FA Cup, which saw them run Liverpool close in the 3^rd Round, appeared to give them momentum and they currently sit just outside the play-off places with games in hand. Since that cup defeat to Liverpool, the Stags have won 5 of their 7 games, losing the other 2 against rivals Newport and Kidderminster. Paul Cox has put together a hard-working side, spearheaded by 14-goal striker Matt Green. But they have a lot to do after defeats this season at the hands of Grimsby, Newport and Kidderminster. They have beaten Kidderminster and Forest Green. Pressure will be on Mansfield to win their games in hand, and they, like Newport, will need to tighten up defensively if they are serious about challenging for the title.

 

Head-to-head guide for games between the top 6:

 

Graphics courtesy of statto.com

 

Verdict

 

Based on how the season has panned out so far, Grimsby, Wrexham and Newport seem to be the serious contenders for the title that are likely to last the distance. These 3 sides have all been top of the table at some point in the last few months, and may trade positions again between now and the final league games on April 20^th. Expect Grimsby and Wrexham to battle it out for top-spot, with superior strength throughout their eleven, and game-changing options from the bench, edging them slightly ahead of Newport. If Newport do keep up their challenge with the top 2, then there is potentially a final-day title-decider come April 20^th when they travel to Grimsby. Grimsby and Wrexham may also meet in the final of the FA Trophy at Wembley in March, after the two title challengers built up good 1^st leg leads in their respective semi-finals, but this added fixture shouldn’t prove too much of a distraction at this stage.

 

Forest Green should be strong enough to comfortably make the play-offs, but their form against the rest of the top 6 will ultimately cost them. Mansfield and Kidderminster have left themselves a lot of work to do in the final 9 weeks of the season. Kidderminster are the more likely of the two, with a decent record against the rest of the top 6. But both should end up battling with Macclesfield and Luton for the last play-off spots.

Problem Position to Embarassment of Riches

Cast your minds back a little over a decade and you will remember the English national team’s problematic left side. The left-midfield role was scarcely contested, and without much quality too. Nick Barmby and Trevor Sinclair benefitted hugely from this.

The left-back slot was just as much of a problem. After Stuart Pearce’s long reign as England’s regular number 3 came to an end, Graeme Le Saux was a natural replacement during Glenn Hoddle’s spell in charge. Hoddle’s favoured 3-5-2 formation with wing-backs on either side ensured the position was Le Saux’s to lose as it suited his game down to the ground.

Moving on, Kevin Keegan struggled to find a consistent performer at left-back. More often than not, Keegan played Phil Neville in a position which, despite claiming it as his favourite position, is not a position he was ready to play at international level at that time.

Surprise call-ups

When Sven Goran Eriksson took over in 2001, it kicked off several months of England caps being given out to any available, English, Premier League left-back. Chris Powell made 5 appearances for his country during this time and Michael Ball won a solitary cap. Gareth Barry was also trialled in this position but failed to make the position his own as he was still finding his way (and his best position) at Aston Villa in his early years as a professional.

Ashley Cole thankfully came along and made sure that number 3 shirt was his for years to come. Initially the lack of competition may have had something to do with it. But the improvement in his defending, rather than showing a reliance on pace to get himself out of trouble, in the last few years has seen him become one of the best full backs, defensively, in Europe.

Competition

Only now does Cole have real competition for his place.

The maturity of Leighton Baines over the last 12 months has been a joy to watch. He has always been a player of great quality on the ball. He showed that in his time at Wigan. At Everton, Baines has grown in confidence year after year and formed an unrivalled partnership with Steven Pienaar down the left of Everton’s improving team. He is better technically with the ball at his feet than Cole, with crossing ability to put Cole to shame. What perhaps lets Baines down in his challenge to become England’s left-back, is his lack of experience in big games. Rightly or wrongly, players at clubs taking part in the Champions League are always more likely to be picked for England. The rumoured move to Manchester United this summer didn’t materialise, but had it done, it would’ve been interesting to see how much closer Baines would be pushing Cole for that England place by now.

Cole’s understudy at Chelsea is 23 year old Englishman Ryan Bertrand. At 23, Bertrand would have no doubt been hoping to have played more 1st team football than he has done. But on the other hand, he has played in a UEFA Champions League final. And he has the winners’ medal to show it. He played that night as a left-midfielder, as he has done on several other occasions, but he’s also an adept left-back with a similar playing style to that of Ashley Cole. He’s pacey, quick to get forward and he covers the centre-backs well when needed (essential as John Terry shows no signs of getting any quicker). This season Bertrand already seems to be trusted with more game-time by club manager Roberto Di Matteo. And this trust in him by a manager who is clearly confident he is ready for top-level football should see him really improve between now and next May.

The 4th contender for the England left-back position is Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs. The youngest of these 4 players, Gibbs has made a brilliant start to the 2012/2013 season. He appears far more confident and composed in possession. He is playing like he now believes he deserves to be playing at this high level. And last but by no means least, he will be benefitting from the addition of Steve Bould to Arsene Wenger’s coaching team. Bould was a part of Arsenal’s original famous back four and is already receiving many plaudits for the current side’s defensively solid start to the season. Gibbs will no doubt improve his education in the art of defending with Bould around. The 22 year old is already now keeping Andre Santos out of Arsenal’s team, despite the Brazilian only arriving from Fenerbahce 12 months ago. He will now be looking to add to his handful of England caps.

The future

So England have gone from throwing caps around like confetti in desperate searches for left-backs, to now having real competition of quality players in this position. And whilst these players aren’t necessarily all at the peak of their powers at present, the coming years will see the best of the three challengers to Ashley Cole’s number 3 shirt.

 

 

Pictures courtesy of Allsport, mirror.co.uk, Getty Images and arsenal.com.

Parents – The Key to England’s Improvement

Written on 26 June 2012.

 

 

Another international tournament. Another penalty shoot-out defeat. Another tournament showing the same deficiencies in the English game as the five tournaments before this one.

More questions asked. Fingers pointed. Blame apportioned.

At least in 2012 there is more of a sense of realism amongst England fans, in that more people are realising that England just aren’t as good as they have been built up to be. They’ve been built up by the British media, from the tabloid press to the pundits on any T.V. station showing football. Sometimes the players haven’t helped these unrealistic expectations spiral out of control as they’ve always, before this year it must be said, gone along with the “We can win this” quotes in the daily red-tops.

Sadly, it’s the same problems that have been England’s downfall. An inability to keep possession of the ball has ultimately led to the England players becoming fatigued far quicker than their opponents as they’ve spent the majority of matches chasing the ball whilst squandering it themselves.

Yes, England undoubtedly looked more solid as a group than in previous tournaments, and only conceded one goal in matches against two good teams in France and Italy. But England still never looked comfortable in possession and were never able to keep it for prolonged periods in any of their four matches. Too often an England player in possession only has one option to pass to, and not enough players within reachable distance for a short pass on the ground. This leaves a predictable pattern of play that the opposition can read in advance and close down the avenues available easily, often forcing England defenders into playing the ball high and long into the channels or for a striker to challenge in the air with a centre-back.

Not enough movement off the ball. Not enough players really wanting the ball. Not enough patience on the ball and willingness to play simple passes to keep the opposition moving.

The FA are finally doing something about this. At the end of May this year, FA shareholders voted with an 87% majority to redevelop youth football in England. The changes will see:

• 5-a-side football for under 7′s and under 8′s,
• 7-a-side football for under 9′s and under 10′s,
• 9-a-side football for under 11′s and under 12′s,
• 11-a-side football only introduced at under 13′s level.

The changes are long overdue and still won’t be fully phased in as mandatory changes until 2014/15. But at least it is a step in the right direction. It will see young children playing more enjoyable games on smaller pitches where they will get more touches of the ball. It will develop their technique with more touches encouraged by the appropriately sized pitches and smaller-sided games. It should improve their mental approach to the game too, which should be more noticeable in their adult years. This will be in the form of comfort with the ball at their feet. A calmness on the ball and an instinct to pass the ball rather than the average approach you will see in kids football in England – kick it and chase it up a pitch that is far too big for them so that the bigger, stronger, faster kids excel (or appear superior anyway).

The issue of a lack of quality, qualified coaches in this country is another obstacle that needs to be overcome. There are less than 3,000 UEFA qualified coaches in England. This compares to 35,000 in Germany and 25,000 in Spain. I’ve believed for a long time that the FA’s pricing of courses seems to price out many people from average walks of life that would have the knowledge, intelligence and enthusiasm to be great coaches. It seems to favour ex-professional players, many of whom aren’t exactly students of the game and don’t understand the tactical side of the game or the correct way to coach children to improve their game. What’s more, ex-professional players that are members of the PFA actually get discount off the cost of their course with the help of the PFA, so the ones who can probably afford it on their own are the ones getting the financial help towards it.

The number of coaches will always be increasing. And with social networking sites helping aspiring coaches share ideas and philosophies over the internet, the quality coaches could see their ideas and approaches adopted as best practice on a broader scale before long. The changes the FA are making to grassroots football can only help. I say it can only help, it will only help if the parents of the young kids playing junior football get on board with the idea too.

Too many parents are loud on the touchline, screaming at their kids. They want them to win the match, the league, the cup and come home with medals/trophies. Maybe some see it as a chance to relive their own youth where they weren’t quite good enough. Maybe some think the more trophies their kid has, the better chance they have of making it as a professional. The truth is, most of the stuff shouted from the touchline by these overzealous parents is absolute rubbish and is detrimental to the development of the kids on the pitch.

“Get rid of it!”

“Put in the channel!”

“Get if forward!”

It is bad enough when you hear the above three commonly used phrases shouted at a professional football match. But to hear it at junior level, screamed at kids as young as 8 or 9 years old, is shocking. There’s no wonder so many English lads grow up to have no confidence in receiving the ball under pressure, no patience when they’re on the ball and play in games where they spend most of it running about without having many touches of the ball.

Many parents would be delighted when their kid comes home on a Sunday having won 15-0. Why? How will that make him a better player? The winning team and the losing team both get nothing out of a game like that, despite the short-term opinion of the usual majority that think the winning team is great and destined for professional careers.

Most parents would rather their kid be involved in a match where his team wins by 7 or 8 goals than a match they’ve drawn but played some excellent football. What the focus should be on is how the kids played. Did they enjoy the game? Did they get plenty of touches of the ball and look to pass it to team-mates? Were they patient rather than hoofing it up the pitch for the big striker to chase?

Too many parents start to moan when the team their kid plays for isn’t winning. It isn’t about winning at that level. Or at least it shouldn’t be. Let the kids play. Let them enjoy themselves. When they enjoy themselves they will get on the ball more often and not be afraid to make a mistake. They will try new things and start to be creative and imaginative.

The parents of the next generation of footballers need to let the coaches coach. Encourage the kids to play well rather than to win. If they take the changes on board and embrace them, it could be a winning combination. And we could begin to see the results by the time the 2020′s come around.

Disappointing Dutch get what they deserve in Group B opener

As one of the pre-tournament favourites, Holland had a lot to live up to in their opening game against Denmark. Impressing on their way to the World Cup final 2 years ago only to disappoint in the defeat to Spain, even the Holland players may have felt like they had a point to prove. The Danes meanwhile, had been generally written off in most quarters. They would have no chance of progress to the quarter finals in the so-called “group of death” according to most pundits. This was undoubtedly unfair on the Danish squad and perhaps lazy on the part of several pundits who failed to note that Denmark had topped their qualifying group ahead of Group B rivals Portugal. The Danes do have talent of their own and are a modest, well-organised, hard-working unit too.

 

The game began with a pattern that would follow for large parts of the first half – Holland in possession. They passed, they probed, but they didn’t get into many positions to hurt Denmark. When they did, Robin Van Persie’s finishing could’ve led some to think he was wearing ugg boots rather than football boots, such was the lack of quality and composure shown by the Arsenal striker.

 

 

Denmark took the lead in the 24th minute through a well taken Michael Krohn-Dehli strike. They grew in confidence after this and began to have their own share of possession.

 

Holland did come close when Robben struck the post after a calamitous mistake from Danish ‘keeper Stephan Andersen. This was as close as they came to getting anything from the game. And it was the only time Robben threatened to score.

 

Stats point to a landslide in Holland’s favour in terms of shots at goal. And the BBC match commentators seemed to imply that the number of shots from the Dutch team meant that they had dominated the match and deserved something from it. I think that is well wide of the mark – much like 90% of the Dutch’s shots incidentally. With closer examination you will see that of Holland’s 29 shots, only 8 were on target. And I would suggest that a large number of those total shots came from Arjen Robben, who seemed intent on shooting every time he had the ball, regardless of where he was on the pitch or whether a team-mate was better placed.

 

Denmark, on the other hand, were far more efficient with their shooting. They hit the target with 4 of their 8 efforts with one going through the legs of Stekelenburg and into his net.

 

The main problem I think the Dutch faced was the lack of numbers they had in support of Van Persie. There is no question the quartet of Robben, Afellay, Sneijder and Van Persie is as good a front 4 as you are likely to see in the tournament. But they seemed to be left alone to do all the creative attacking themselves. That often leaves them out-numbered against a well-organised side such as Denmark, who will have a solid midfield barrier protecting the back 4. Van Bommel and De Jong don’t attempt to get forward and support attacks, rarely getting ahead of the ball. Are they both needed in this system? Maybe one of them could make way for a disciplined player who could also do more with the ball. And the full backs need to do more down their relative flanks to offer some width and give the opposition something to think about with players running forward.

 

Holland immediately looked more threatening when Van der Vaart and Huntelaar came on with 20 minutes to go, as they had more creativity in the deeper midfield area and more support up alongside Van Persie. The ‘Oranje’ could have also had a penalty, when Lars Jacobsen seemed to handle in the Denmark penalty area late on, but a Holland equaliser would have masked a very team poor performance.

 

The tragedy of this match was that Wesley Sneijder was on the losing side. The Dutch number 10 played some sublime passes that deserved better end results from his team-mates. The finest moment perhaps being a fantastic ball through ball with the outside of his right foot that sent Huntelaar racing through into the box. He saw enough of the ball in the Group B opener, but there needs to be more movement around him from other players and more players getting into the final third for him to pick out.

 

One thing is for sure – Holland vs Germany on Wednesday is set up to be a cracker.

 

 

 

Picture courtesy of dailyrecord.co.uk

Cole Uses Champions League to Pronounce World Class Quality

Ashley Cole is a player who has often been in the headlines. Whether it was for his personal relationship and its breakdown, his on-the-pitch exploits, his training ground air rifle incident, being banned from driving or his controversial move to Chelsea in 2006 he has often dominated front and back pages of the national newspapers.

He burst onto the scene as a professional footballer with Arsenal in the 2000/2001 season, profiting from an injury to Silvinho to show his promise in the Gunners’ first team. He made 228 appearances for Arsenal before eventually signing for Chelsea in August 2006, after a drawn-out affair that involved a ‘tapping-up’ meeting with Chelsea officials in January 2005.

England

He has been a regular in the England set-up since his debut in 2001 and has virtually been an automatic pick for most of the last 11 years. His time with England has also had its ups and downs for Cole. At one time he was booed by England fans at a few home matches at Wembley. And comments that came out in the media quoting Cole as saying “I hate England and the people” didn’t help his cause in 2010. But he has always performed fairly well for England. Perhaps giving his best performances in recent years as he has grown and improved as a player. His athleticism was always strength of his as a youngster, but now he has fused that with excellent positioning, one-on-one defending and timing of his tackles.

Medals

After winning 5 major trophies (excluding the Community Shield) in his 6 full seasons at Arsenal, he has surpassed that in his first 6 seasons at Chelsea with the Champions League winners triumph on Saturday being the 7th major competition’s winners medal he has picked up in that time. Whilst surprisingly he won more Premier League winners medals at Arsenal than he has thus far with Chelsea (two to one), the Champions League victory and the fact that Arsenal haven’t won a single trophy since he left should eliminate any doubt that he made the right decision to switch from North London to West London 6 years ago.

Improvement

There is also no question that Cole has improved as a player as a result of his time at Chelsea. Arsenal under Arsene Wenger are said to spend very limited time working on defending in training, which can only be to the detriment of young defenders like Cole was at the time. At Chelsea he has worked under Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Guus Hiddink – all known for being fantastic coaches and all known for having well-organised defences. Cole has reaped the rewards of this and has obviously been keen to improve. The young marauding left-back we saw at Arsenal is now a solid, reliable left-back who is rarely beaten, both in the air and on the ground. He still gets forward to support attacks but chooses the time to do it more effectively to ensure it doesn’t imbalance the team or leave them too exposed at the back. He has come up against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Theo Walcott, all offering different problems, and has not been outclassed in any of those battles.

Champions League Stage for Excellence

The 2011/2012 season has been a dramatic one for Cole. Chelsea struggled for form under previous manager Andre Villas-Boas in the first half of the season. Cole found himself out of the team as Villas-Boas seemed to want to re-build the Chelsea team with younger players. A key match for Cole was the Champions League second round 1st leg away to Napoli. Cole was left on the bench, along with other experienced players, but was called upon just 12 minutes in when Jose Bosingwa limped off injured. Chelsea went down 3-1 that night in Naples but Cole made a crucial goal-line clearance to keep the score at 3-1. By the time the second leg came around, Villas-Boas had been replaced as manager by interim boss Roberto Di Matteo. The Italian restored faith in the senior professionals and they all starred in a brilliant 4-1 victory at Stamford Bridge to ensure progress to the quarter finals.

Two brilliant defensive performances against Benfica in the quarter-finals were followed by two world class performances against Barcelona in a dramatic two-legged semi-final. Cole was exceptional at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea defeated the holders 1-0 thanks to Didier Drogba’s goal. He was then faultless in the Nou Camp as ten-man Chelsea fought off wave after wave of Barcelona pressure to draw 2-2 and make the final.

In front of a worldwide audience in the UEFA Champions League Final of 2012, Ashley Cole confirmed his standing as a truly world class left-back with another master class performance at full-back. Facing the likes of Ribery, Robben and Lahm, Cole was rarely beaten, made another key goal-line clearance and was fantastic as Chelsea soaked up almost constant pressure from Bayern Munich to take the game to a penalty shoot-out. Cole showed nerves of steel to score a penalty in the shoot-out and help his side on the way to the trophy that has eluded them since Roman Abramovich began to plough his millions into the club in 2003. Whilst he is not perfect and could improve on his delivery into the box when in good positions to cross, he has developed over the years to the point where he can now be considered one of the best left-backs in world football.

Picture courtesy of fansfc.com.

Vardy Transfer Shows Continued Growth of Non-League Football

Jamie Vardy’s £1million transfer from Fleetwood Town to Leicester City this week emphasises the growth and development of non-league football in England. More and more players are successfully making the step up from non-league and this is a credit to how non-league football, and in particular the Blue Square Bet Premier Division, is improving. The fact that an increasing number of Football League clubs are paying large transfer fees to sign these players is evidence that the clubs in the Football League are fully aware of it too.

Vardy (above) is the latest non-league player to move for big-money after several deals in the last few years, although this eclipses all of those in terms of the transfer fee. Although Fleetwood finished the season as Champions of the Blue Square Bet Premier Division, Vardy is a player who has previously only played at non-league level. The pacey 26 year old was only signed by Fleetwood in August 2011 for an initial fee of around £150,000 from FC Halifax. Now, after scoring 34 goals in 40 games in a fantastic season, he steps up to the Championship with Leicester in a deal that not only rises to £1.7million with add-ons, it will also see his former club Halifax profit to the tune of another £200,000-plus after bonus add-ons and a sell-on clause in the deal that took him to Fleetwood a year ago.

So now we take a look at other players that have been involved in expensive transfers from non-league clubs in the last few years.

When Crawley Town signed Richard Brodie from York City for £275,000 in August 2010, it set the record for the highest transfer fee paid between non-league clubs. Brodie had just come off the back of a magnificent season for York in which he hit 34 goals as York made the play-offs, where they would eventually lose to Oxford. Brodie never completely settled at Crawley and was in and out of the team, but did manage 11 goals as they marched towards the Blue Square Bet Premier Division title that season. The following season he was loaned out to Fleetwood Town. At Fleetwood he appeared from the substitutes bench more times than he started, as he found himself to be second choice to the prolific Vardy and the impressive Andy Mangan. He did manage 9 goals to contribute to Fleetwood’s successful title-winning season, but it is unknown what his future holds.

Crawley also paid £100,000 to Alfreton Town before the start of the 2010/2011 season, for the services of centre-back Kyle McFadzean. McFadzean was a key figure in Crawley’s promotion and remained an integral part of the team that won a second successive promotion to earn a place in League One.

That wasn’t the only significant transfer income that Alfreton received that season. In January 2011, Swindon Town paid Alfreton, then of the Blue Square Bet North Division, a fee of around £150,000 for defender Aden Flint. Flint struggled to break into the Swindon team immediately as they fought a relegation battle in League One. He was loaned back to Alfreton in March and captained the side as they were crowned Champions to earn promotion the Blue Square Bet Premier Division for the first time in their history. Flint has since become a regular in the Swindon side that finished as Champions of League Two, meaning he will now play in League One for the first time in his career next season.

When Flint arrived back at Swindon for pre-season training in July 2011, he was joined by another player that Swindon plucked from non-league. This time it was Grimsby Town striker Alan Connell. Connell (below) had previously played in the Football League for Bournemouth, Brentford, Hereford and Torquay. But he had the best goalscoring season of his career for Grimsby, scoring 29 goals in all competitions for a side that finished 11th in the league. Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio paid the Mariners a fee believed to be £150,000 to add him to a healthy choice of strikers that meant Connell wasn’t the automatic pick that he had been at Grimsby. He did manage to score 13 goals to play his part in the title-winning season that means he will once again play at League One level.

Wrexham’s season-long battle with Fleetwood at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier Division was interrupted in the January transfer window when Premier League Swansea City lodged a bid for Curtis Obeng. Swansea paid around £200,000 for the defender, who has yet to make an appearance at the Liberty Stadium. But at the age of 23 he has time on his side in his quest to become a regular fixture in the Swansea team.

Newport County received £200,000 from two separate transfers within 6 months of each other in 2011. In the January of that year, Stevenage paid £100,000 for striker Craig Reid. Reid had enjoyed a blistering start to the season that saw him score 18 goals in his 29 league game for County. He only scored twice for Stevenage during the rest of the season but managed 7 goals in his 29 games the following season in League One. Newport received their second £100,000 windfall when Blackpool signed defender Paul Bignot in July 2011. Bignot is yet to make an appearance for Blackpool and was loaned out to Plymouth during the season.

Stevenage’s capture of Craig Reid was their second signing from non-league in recent seasons. In May 2010 they paid Ebbsfleet United £100,000 for defender Darius Charles. Charles had famously signed for Ebbsfleet after his release from Brentford in 2009, when the community-owned club’s members raised the £25,000 compensation fee and voted in favour of him signing – the first transfer of this nature. Charles has made 56 appearances in his two years at Stevenage and played in the League Two play-off final at Old Trafford in his first season with The Boro, which secured promotion to League One.

One player has been involved in two decent-sized transfers from non-league clubs in recent years is George Donnelly. The striker, now playing at Rochdale, signed for Fleetwood in January 2011 for a fee of £50,000. He scored 5 goals in his 25 appearances for Fleetwood, but soon found himself behind new arrivals Jamie Vardy, Andy Mangan, Richard Brodie as well as Magno Vieira in the pecking order at The Highbury Stadium. Donnelly was initially loaned out to Macclesfield and was later bought by the League Two side for £75,000, who will ironically now pass his former side on the way down to non-league after their relegation to the Blue Square Bet Premier Division.

Two players that left the non-league scene for sizeable transfer fees in 2011 were Tom Naylor and Alex Rodman. Defender Naylor joined Derby County, initially on loan with a view to a permanent deal. Derby boss Nigel Clough liked what he saw of the youngster and The Rams eventually paid Mansfield a fee thought to be £100,000 in January 2012. Tamworth forward Rodman joined League Two side Aldershot Town for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £75,000. The versatile midfielder/striker scored a hat-trick for Tamworth in a 3-2 win against Newport on the 11th of January, 2011. The following day, Newport Manager Dean Holdsworth left to take over as Manager of Aldershot and had obviously been impressed by Rodman’s hat-trick exploits as he signed just two weeks after taking over as manager of The Shots.

Now to a player perhaps more commonly recognised than some of the names above – Lee Novak. Novak (above) signed for Huddersfield from Gateshead in January 2009 for an initial fee of £50,000 after scoring an incredible 16 goals in the first 18 games of the season. The arrangement of the transfer saw Novak loaned back to Gateshead where he took his total for the season to 26 goals in 32 games as The Heed finished in 2nd place in the Blue Square Bet North Division and won promotion via the play-offs to the Blue Square Bet Premier Division. His subsequent number of appearances for Huddersfield have seen another £100,000 go Gateshead’s way in the form of appearance-related add-ons, taking the total transfer value to £150,000. Novak isn’t quite as prolific in League One with Huddersfield, but his strength is important to Huddersfield and he helps the likes of Jordan Rhodes to shine.

Another player who has played for a few league clubs, including Peterborough at Championship level, since rising from non-league, is Exodus Geohaghon. Geohaghon was signed by Peterborough in January 2010. After playing under Mark Cooper at Kettering for 15 months, Cooper had left Kettering in November 2009 to take over at Peterborough. Two weeks after taking the reins at Peterborough, Cooper moved to sign Geohaghon on loan from his former club, with a view to a permanent deal in the transfer window. Sure enough, in the January transfer window of 2010, Geohaghon signed for The Posh for a fee of around £150,000. He then had several loan spells after falling out of favour at Peterborough following Cooper’s departure. He left Peterborough in 2011, had spells at Barnet and Darlington (again under Mark Cooper, before he was sacked as manager) before finishing the season on loan at Mansfield. He is now a free agent.

Finally, I think it is necessary to give an honorary mention to Matt Tubbs. Whilst Tubbs (below) wasn’t signed from non-league to get his chance in the Football League, he had only been out of non-league for 6 months by the time he was signed by Bournemouth for a massive £800,000 fee. He was a prolific goalscorer for Salisbury City before Crawley paid £55,000 for him to join their promotion challenge in 2010. By the end of the 2010/2011 season Tubbs had hit an amazing 40 goals in 48 matches to fire Crawley into League Two as Champions of the Blue Square Bet Premier Division. Then half-way through his first ever season out of non-league, by which time he had already bagged 18 goals in 31 games, Bournemouth swooped in and smashed their transfer record to sign the 27 year old striker.

 

Pictures courtesy of dailymail.co.uk, examiner.co.uk and bestofthebets.com. 

Puyol Puts English Stars to Shame by Valuing Team before Ego

Recent days have seen Barcelona Captain Carlos Puyol rule himself out of contention for Spain’s Euro 2012 campaign. And whilst most people won’t think anything more of it, the Spaniard’s thought process here should be a lesson to England and some of their star players’ attitudes in previous years.

Firstly, Puyol is injured. He picked up a knee injury in a recent game against Espanyol and has been advised he will be out of action for six weeks. It may seem common sense that he would miss out on this summer’s international tournament. But when you think back to England’s World Cup campaign in 2002 it was a different story when one of the supposed “Golden Generation” picked up an injury in the months leading up to the tournament. When an Aldo Duscher (then of Deportivo La Coruna) tackle caused injury to David Beckham’s metatarsal bone in his foot, there was no suggestion in England that it might be better for a player in first-class condition to go to the tournament in his place.

Instead, the next couple of months of British media was dominated by the embarrassing long drawn-out saga of whether Beckham would be fit in time, reporting his every visit to a physio and front page headlines in tabloid newspapers wishing for his foot to recover in time. This could lead to another debate of how the British media consistently over-hype and build up players into “stars”, which then contributes to the “disaster” story of one of them being injured. But sticking with the topic, Beckham fought hard to get himself fit for the tournament. There is no criticism for this in itself, as you would expect any professional to do the same. What you would also expect though, when the time comes for the tournament squad to be announced, is that there would be a bigger emphasis placed on the team as a whole, a bit more honesty and a lot more common sense. Beckham went to Japan and South Korea and captained the squad despite being no-where near fully fit. It showed in his performances. He earned praise for scoring a penalty against Argentina in the Group Stage but bottled a challenge in the build-up to Brazil’s equalising goal against England in the Quarter-Final.

Beckham isn’t alone in terms of English players that have gone to a tournament without being 100% fit. Wayne Rooney suffered a foot injury in a match for Manchester United against Chelsea prior to the World Cup in 2006. There was a similar obsession in the media of whether he would be fit in time. In reality, it should have been obvious all along that he would go to the tournament whether he was fit or not. After being treated with new methods such as the now famous oxygen tent, he was declared in a suitable enough condition to travel and take part. Sure enough he came on as a substitute in England’s second match in the group stage and started the three games that followed. As with Beckham four years earlier, Rooney was not fit and it showed. He put in performances well below that of the level expected of him and failed to score in the tournament. He ended his tournament on an especially sour note as he was sent off during the Quarter-Final defeat to Portugal for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.

Both players took places in the squads in these tournaments when they would have been better filled with players in good form and fitness. They were both rushed back to full health and had no time to build up any match-fitness, which shouldn’t be confused with general fitness. Some blame should be apportioned to the manager for picking the players as well. In both cases the England Manager was Sven Goran Eriksson, who was maybe influenced by the media’s inference that the campaign would have been a failure without these individuals involved in the team. Putting so much focus on individuals rather than the team as a collective has been a big part of England’s lack of progress in the last 10 years – from selecting players on past reputation and standing in the media, to taking injured players to tournaments, and players attempting too many 60-yard ‘Hollywood’ passes in games to impress rather than retaining possession.

A quote from Carlos Puyol reads as follows:

“I think it’s impossible because when you come out of an operation there is a recovery period and I believe that those who are in better shape should go.”

He went on to clarify that he is not retiring from international football. He is just putting the team first and recognising that the Spanish team will perform better with eleven fit and able players on the pitch, rather than ten players carrying an injured player whose ego outweighs the wish for the team to succeed.

There is no suggestion that England would have gone on to win either of the tournaments in 2002 or 2006, but they would surely have performed better and stood a better chance of progressing further with a fully fit squad. Puyol should be praised for his unselfish attitude. Whilst in England, passion is praised when someone kisses the badge after scoring or throws their body into a full-blooded challenge, Puyol has shown in Spain that passion for his country to do well in ways that we may not see in England until many, many attitudes are changed.

Photograph: Halden Krog/EPA

What’s missing from Town’s 3-man midfield?

In recent weeks, Grimsby Town joint-managers Rob Scott and Paul Hurst have tinkered with the formation in preparation for next season. The 4-4-2 used for the majority of the season has been ditched in favour of the 4-3-3 that they used at times earlier in the season. Whether this is a sign of things to come for next season or not, only time will tell. But if 4-3-3 is a system that Scott and Hurst will look to favour when the 2012-2013 kick off in August, it will need a lot of work on the training ground as well as a new player or two.

Looking at the final fixture of the season, in which The Mariners suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Southport, the lone frontman Anthony Elding was generally isolated and the midfield three were too often in a straight line across the pitch.

There isn’t too much criticism you can throw at the players that played in midfield for Town. Captain Craig Disley, Frankie Artus and Andi Thanoj are all good players. They all work hard enough and want to play football in the right way. The problem with playing them as a three is that they all like to play in a similar way – stay quite deep, pick the ball up from defenders and pass it.

The team needed an extra dimension yesterday in midfield as it became a flat 3 in the middle. In the first 10 minutes Artus made a few runs forward off the ball and I thought he would be the one that would continue to do that and get closer to Elding when Town attacked. But that didn’t really happen and the only time the midfield broke from being a flat 3, was when Disley or Thanoj came deep to get the ball from McKeown or the centre-backs.

Ideally – and he has the ability to do it – I would have liked to have seen Thanoj pass the ball into the striker’s feet and follow his pass straight away, running forward wanting it back (as shown below).

Thanoj plays the ball into Elding's feet and follows his pass forwards

After Elding lays the ball back into Thanoj's path, he now has creative options

As the second diagram shows, Thanoj can follow his pass forward and Elding returns it into his path. At the time Elding lays the ball back, Hearn and Soares make a diagonal run in towards the penalty box. Elding’s part isn’t finished either as further movement from him can drag a defender with him and create more space for either Hearn or Soares to be played in. So Thanoj now has options. He can play in either Hearn or Soares, find Elding himself if the centre-back chooses to close down Thanoj and leave Elding in space, or he can take the ball on himself and shoot. The other option not shown on the diagram above is that as Hearn/Soares run infield, the Town full-backs suddenly have yards of space to attack down the flanks. A square ball from Thanoj plays one of the full backs in and gives them a chance to put a cross into the box. If they do hit an early ball into the box, there should be enough bodies in there to hit. Elding would have been joined by Hearn and Soares coming in off the flanks. And Thanoj can either join them in the middle or hold his position on the edge of the box. If he hangs back on the edge of the box he can gather any slack clearances that come his way, or even be available for the full back in possession to cut the ball back along the floor for Thanoj to shoot.

New Players?

What Town really need is a Groves/Bolland type midfielder who will break from the midfield line and get close to the striker. Someone to arrive late in the box to get on the end of crosses. Someone to get onto knock-downs from the front man after a long-ball up. Someone for the full-backs to find with neat passes as they make forward runs towards the opposition box.

Town could also do with a Manny Panther-type holding midfielder. A disciplined and intelligent player to do the simple things when in possession, and be the man that plugs the gaps when others go forward to attack. Someone with the tactical nouse of Panther would have held the position to prevent York scoring their last minute winner at Blundell Park in March – where the York full-back intercepted a pass and ran half the length of the pitch before hitting a winning goal from just over 20 yards. Games against the top five sides in the league have shown that it is necessary to have such a player. And a strong, mobile presence in midfield would enable Town’s other midfielders to play a few yards higher up the pitch when in possession.

Scott and Hurst don’t need to make major changes to the squad, but there are some vital areas where we do need to bring players in. And I feel this approach to rebuilding the midfield would go a long way to giving the team a midfield that could compete with anyone in the league.

Why Redknapp leaving for England will benefit Spurs

The speculation surrounding the vacant England managerial position still seems to point to Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp being the favourite to be approached for the job. I believe the Tottenham hierarchy should accept any FA approach to speak with Harry Redknapp as it could be the key to turning the North London club from a team challenging the top four of the Premier League into to a club challenging to win the Premier League.

At one point this season Tottenham were within touching distance of the two Manchester clubs and were in a position where you could genuinely count them as title contenders. But then they stuttered, going on a run of 5 games without a win including defeats against Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton. I put the collapse of Tottenham’s season down to several factors:

• Injuries to Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon
• Moving Modric out of the centre
• Transfer activity in January
• Lack of strength in depth
• No ‘Plan B’

The injuries to Bale and Lennon at different times gave Tottenham a major problem. They are two key players in Tottenham’s pacey attacking style and they didn’t really have any like-for-like replacements of anywhere near similar quality to replace them with. That said, it was a mistake to move the pivotal figure of his team (Modric) out of the centre of his midfield. All this did was disrupt another position in the team, forcing a further change to the line-up, whilst also restricting the influence Modric was able to have on games from a wider starting position. Kranjcar or Rose coming in for Lennon or Bale would have been a better option and would have caused less disruption to a side that was previously in good form. With Rose replacing Bale on the left, the side could have retained the 4-4-1-1 shape and Rose’s pace could have even maintained the way in which they attacked down that flank. Similarly on the right, putting Kranjcar in for Lennon would have meant only one change to the team and would have seen a clever player in a position that he has played many times during his time in England.

You could point to the transfer activity in January as key to the failure to deal with the injuries and lack of squad depth. Spurs allowed Steven Pienaar to sign for Everton on loan late on transfer deadline day and failed to ensure they signed a replacement. As it turned out, Pienaar would undoubtedly have been the first name in Harry Redknapp’s thoughts when Lennon, and later Bale, were injured. There could also have been raised eyebrows over the decision to allow Vedran Corluka to leave on loan whilst not bringing in a replacement who could provide back-up for Kyle Walker at right back. Kaboul has deputised at right back when necessary but hasn’t looked entirely comfortable with his positioning in this role.

The lack of strength in depth at Tottenham is well documented and I’ve already hinted at two instances of this when they suffered injuries in wide areas. You could look at the manager for not looking to bring in reinforcements in the right areas. You could suggest it is down to the manager to rotate the side slightly and give game-time to fringe players to keep them at a level where they could step into the team at any moment and perform to the required standard. You could counter that with the argument that that back-up players just aren’t good enough, but then you’re back to the initial failings of the manager’s transfer activity.

All of the above points have contributed to Redknapp being exposed as not having a successful ‘Plan B’ to turn to when his thin-on-quality squad was stretched in key areas. In some games Redknapp has adopted a 4-3-3 formation with Bale and van der Vaart in floating attacking roles behind a main striker. This is not a formation Redknapp has used before and should not be confused with the 4-4-1-1 regularly used with van der Vaart behind Adebayor in attack. This change to 4-3-3 was only implemented because Aaron Lennon was still out injured Redknapp didn’t trust anyone else to step into his boots on the right of midfield without continuing to waste Luka Modric in this position. When the difficult run of fixtures began, Rafael van der Vaart was also unfit and struggling with injury. Against Manchester United and Everton, Redknapp went with a 4-4-2 formation and lost both in the absence of the Dutch creator.

As well as the injuries to Tottenham players forcing changes to their own team, there is also the suggestion that other teams had found a way to play against them. That they had found a way to counteract Spurs’ quick attacking style and attack them when the time was right. Chelsea demonstrated at Wembley in the FA Cup Semi-Final how to absorb Tottenham’s attacking play, limit them to just a few shots on target, and exploit frailties in a tired defence. Even during this game, Redknapp’s choice of substitution and tactical alteration in the second half directly led to Chelsea ceasing the initiative in the final 15 minutes and running our comfortable winners.

Tottenham need to capitalise on their improvement in the last few years and take this opportunity to develop themselves so that they can become title contendors. But to take the next step it is vital that they have a manager who is as tactically aware as they come. Someone who could mastermind victories in high-pressure games, implement suitable tactics for different opponents and positively change games with substitutions and tactical tweaks. There’s no doubting Harry Redknapp is a good manager. But as Kevin Keegan showed with Newcastle in 1996 – man management and motivational skills will get you so far, but you need that extra tactical awareness to implement a ‘Plan B’ or even a ‘Plan C’ when things aren’t going well or when teams find a way to play against you. I would suggest Redknapp has taken Tottenham as far as he can, and that they need a manager of the tactical astuteness of someone like Rafa Benitez to take them forward and compete with the best teams in England and Europe.

So whilst the uncertainty around the England job remains, Daniel Levy and the Tottenham Board would be wise to accept any approach from the FA to speak to their current manager.

Pictures courtesy of watchmeruletheworld.com and ladbrokes.com.