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John,
My experience with girls soccer (watching) resembled slow motion nails on a chalk board. Gives me the chills just thinking about it.
Your team…LOVE IT! Your team’s speed of play is the highest I’ve seen for girls at any level! It’s sick! Possession around the back is awesome! Possession is the midfield is great!
Surprise possession in the attacking third (especially when a team sits) needs work. It’s pretty much obvious that everyone who plays possession struggles with the final third and it will probably always be the most difficult side of possession to develop.Your team needs to get a little more comfortable moving the ball around in the offensive third, which is something I think they are capable of doing. I would try to start choreographing this concept into your pattern play work.
Try to visualize with me here, if you can. I wish I could draw it out, hopefully I can explain it well enough. 🙂
What I always stress is getting more possession in the center of the field about 10-20yds above the opponents back line – I call it the “hub”. We want to find the pockets between and get it to our center mid face up to the field. It actually doesn’t matter where their back line is, just 10-20 yards in front of where every they are. Most of the time they sit on the top of the 18yd box, but it’s more dangerous when they push higher up on you, because there is more space behind.
This is one of the most dangerous places for a good center mid to have the ball with their head up. When they get the ball in the center of the field, about 10-20 yards in front of their back line w/ their head up:
1. They can play it over the top. 2. The can dribble down the middle and possibly take on the center back. 3. They can combine with the center forward. 4. They can put in the outside forward by splitting the center back and outside back. 5. And maybe most difficult to guard, the outside back can come flying around for an overlap.So when I’m trying to build out of the back, we don’t try to go straight to goal, we try to get the ball into the “hub”. That’s are big launch point for multiple different patterns of attack. Once we get there, it’s GOAL TIME!!
Obvious this has to be choreographed and practiced and the timing will have to be right.
I don’t know if I made any sense, but I tried. 🙂Lookin good John! Very good possession in the back. Not sure if your attack is a recurring challenge but I have this issue with my U11 girls. What has started to work for us is working a lot on basic 2v1 then 3v2 to goal (with a two touch max). We work these both in isolation then tactically on the pitch out of our formation. I had an indepth conversation a couple of months back (before the release of this course) with a very successful possession based coach on the girls side and he said that he has always worked very repetitively on 2v1 and 3v2. The suggestion was to work on 2v1 to goal until they are having at least 80% success with that then introduce 3v2 to goal.
I think this is a valid supplement to the attacking patterns in this course. In my experience in general girls need extra work to reinforce attacking mentality – creating, moving and anticipating. My girls have started to notice and exploit numbers up situations (especially 2 v 1 along the flanks and in the middle of the field). Any way just my two cents. Again, thanks for sharing!
Alfredo- Good point about the 2 v 1s at different parts of the field on top of the 18. Very effective tool.
Hey guys,
This is great stuff. I am Taylor’s dad. Please feel free to critique her or anyone else on this team. It will only help. Thank you for noticing Taylor and her play. I am a very proud dad.
Just to let you know most of my soccer journey has been with John.
I have been lucky enough to have him train our club teams, be his assistant for a couple of seasons, his videographer, and his friend. I have watched him evolve as coach. I am very proud of the coach he is and the coach he is becoming. I have been with him at his best and at his worst. He is far from perfect but he is well on his way to doing great things. His big growth spurt came when he found Gary and Brian. It has been a wild and crazy ride ever since.
I just wanted to give you more insight to who I am and how I relate to John. Lol this should of been in place of my lame introduction. Please feel free to ask me questions pertaining this team. I can’t promise such articulate answers which you guys have done, but I will do my best. My perspective would be coming from a parent or a fan in the stadium. So far you guys are spot on.
Thanks,
Pete
Combo’s on top of the 18… man… I can’t tell you how difficult it is to break a team down like that… but we try! Here’s a clip from the same game: http://youtu.be/XH9YX1b_yLQ
Makes sense, Alec. I’ve never described it like that, but I totally get what you’re saying. The ‘launch pad’ terminology is something that my girls might grasp.
Part of this whole coaching education journey is learning how to communicate differently/effectively/appropriately with my teams. I remember watching the little Barca boys play and hearing Brian use the phrase ‘rocket pass’ when they were playing around the back. I was like whoa… that makes total sense! It’s those little itty bitty things that I like picking up on. ‘Launch pad’ is another one I’m probably going to start using. I like it a lot 🙂 It’s things like that which I can’t pick up on when I’m watching games on TV or online. I love hearing communication. Watching only gets me so far.
And follow me on Twitter you jerk!!! I follow you 🙁 haha But seriously it won’t let me respond to your direct message until you follow me.
Thanks Alfredo!
My captains came up to me last night after practice and said they want to battle each other at practice more often. I’ve always kept the starting 10 together for the most part and put them against a mixed bag of players and played 10v6, 10v7. My forwards said they want to go against our starting defenders more often… which makes sense… we literally have the two best defenders for 100 miles and one of the best keepers.
Your suggestion + my captains comments have sparked some ideas for me. Exactly what I needed. Thank you!!!!
Sure thing man. I’ve picked up a ton from your posts and happy to contribute. I need to video mine and post it here. In the mean time here is a video of the team from the coach I referenced that gave me the advice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFlrRW2ZlI
Here’s an interesting article about their style of play and development path – http://www.soccerbanter.org/andres-deza.html
John, a couple of comments, but first 2 caveats:
-I have watched almost no HS girls soccer in the last 20 years; occasional take in a UP or Thorns game. No ability to really benchmark.
-The vast majority of the teams I have coached or played on over the years played 4-4-2 or 3/5/2; where I saw some weaknesses in your team (transition to middle 1/3 to final 1/3) is an area I am not particularly strong in, particularly in 4/2/3/1 or 3/4/3 system.
1. Excellent out of the back; initially I thought your outside backs may have been a little high, but watching it a 3rd-time think they are generally where I would want them. Loved your coaching to the keeper (bring it into your box) . . . little thing but I need to communicate that to my little ones.
2. Arguably. Too many attempts at the winning through-ball, too early. Several attempts to get through to the right wing. Flip side of this – early in the game it is nice to get all 11 involved, and attempts to work them in with a through ball isn’t the worse thing in the world.
3. One of the challenges I see with your team is also one of your strengths; blond center mid is excellent off the dribble and turning. You might count her % in the final half though; some stretches where her pass was the give-away (she is also passing off the dribble and while I have not seen a statistical analysis I always assume those %s particularly in the final half are going to be lower). Potential solutions:
a) More time on attacking patterns in the final 1/2.
b) As others have observed, more work on tempo, when their back 4 is sitting like that. Hard to do early in game sometimes though.
c) Might play with where have your blond cm. Concerted effort to get her more isolated, facing the goal going forward (maybe think about some of the things they do to get Messi isolated). There were times I would have actually liked her to dribble more/look at combo with striker as opposed to the long-through ball or play to wing. How often does she dribble into the box?
d) Absence of speed on the wings. I do not have a coaching solution to this one; one of the great tensions in a possession-model of play is it still is great to have some speed on the wing. Without it, wing and player passing have to be that much faster on the mental side.
Edit – I misread Alredo’s post; Deanza force is a wonderful model!
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
Rene Gonzalez.
Hey John,
I will be following what you and your team does as I coach high school girls as well, but our season is in the spring. As noted above, the quality of play is there. I’m going to re-watch the video where I have more time to see what else is occuring off the ball relative to the opponent and your team’s positioning. Very interested in the sessions you have run for your team, especially as your season progresses.
Thank you,
Paul
Curious what you think of this video…
Context: Opponent is a U10 low division Rush team. Not a great test, but it’s some of the only video I have of this team.
I have three u9 teams. For indoor we mixed them all up. In this video there are 2 from my top team, 2 from my 2nd team and 1 from my 3rd team.The top 3 or 4 kids in this video – I have 15 more just like them. There isn’t a huge difference between the 1st and 2nd team.I’ve focused a ton on skill development up to this point. I know Brian hasn’t gone any younger than U10, so I’m just trying to get thoughts on what to focus on with this team.
What drills of Gary’s do you think would be good to start with this group?
This spring I’m planning to really work on possession out of the back and see if we can get U9s to possess, which is pretty rare. For spring we will play 5 and GK so not a lot to work with.
Anyone tried to get their u9s to really knock the ball around? Any advise? Any thoughts on some basics patterns for 6v6. Should I even think about doing pattern play with U9s? Should I just keep them mostly focused on skill and worry about possession when they hit U10?
Love to hear your thoughts?Alec – quick info on me: I coach 3 club teams, two U8s and a U7 in St Louis. One of my U8s is very good while the other is middle of the road. All three play 6v6 (5 field players).
To answer your original question of what I think of the video: IMHO – it depends what you are trying to accomplish. A futsal/street soccer plan for 4v4? Then they are doing well – lots of moves, a variety of them, and some good individual players. The only tweak I would do is if it’s street soccer/foot skills as the main focus, then there should be no aimless kicks under stress. Make them play under pressure, put them in difficult situations, dribble too much in 1v2 situations to increase comfort on the ball, and continue to try moves they wouldn’t ordinarily try. Even if you want to play possession soccer, playing this futsal type format for a winter session is a good idea too.
To answer question on possession for U9s? Again, IMHO – Absolutely!!! My U8’s played possession this fall. Possession obviously is defined differently b/t opinion, but we play a U8 version of possession. We play out of the back, there is no aimless kicks, no clear it to gain comfort on the ball, I count 3 pass sequences (age and 6v6 appropriate), we look for switching the field/1v1s, and quick transitions. A good indicator for me is how many 3 pass sequences (age appropriate). Sound familiar? Mix in the 3four3 stuff with foot skills and 1v1s.
-Pattern play out of back, middle 1/3, and attacking 1/3. Just as Gary/Brian explain, kids are clueless about finding space if you do not show them with Cones. Walk thru, play 5v0 (no goalie for me at this age while possessing…maybe Spring), play 5v3 (1 pt for 3 pass combos), and 6v6. In 6v6, must get 3 pass combo before go to goal. It’s worked well for me so far. Ever watched U8/U9 kids try to figure out where to be if a coach asks them to play possession? Clueless. Many stand right next to the defender. The game isn’t the teacher and, yes, kids this age are more than capable of pattern play/possession.
-Passing combos: give/go, overlap, up/back/thru, thru balls along with switch the field.
-To avoid clear it, upon possession (trigger) have CF support ball side into space on the outside. Teammate automatically knows he should be in the area and to find the quick pass if needed. Another Pattern I added and starts quick transition.
-First, teach kids how to find space/gaps. This is what we did in the fall. Next week, we get back to it and will be using “lose your man” in addition to find space/gaps.
-Proper receiving (will try Rondos 4v0/4v1 and S-pattern starting next week). I had been doing same idea of drills, but probably not as effective. Big key for kids this age to play faster.We practice 1.5 hours, 2x/week. Still heavy focus on foot skills and 1v1s, but plenty of time to add 3four3 games. If beating a team bad in games, we move to 5 pass minimum before go to goal.
As you know most teams at this age play jungle ball. If you possess at this age, there are times you flat out embarrass supposed elite teams.
-Just look at the KS Rush team you played, the parents deserve a refund to the “let the kids play/figure it out approach.”In 6v6 my top team does a very good job, in a few 8v8 tourneys they struggled compared to normal b/c of the lack of practice of 7 field players. The middle tiered U8 team would be lost kids w/o the pattern play. They have longer to go, but really look forward to how they will look come May.
You have skilled kids. Do it.
Good luck.
PhilAlec – forgot to add…
When possessing this age, look how often your kids touch the ball, pass the ball, receive the ball, find space, use passing combos, do 3-pass sequences, take kids 1v1 (actually use foot skills), and your teams % of possession. Then compare it to the opponent.
DEVELOPMENT. -
This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
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