Union County United BU13/14 spring 2013

[andrew crollardParticipant]

Here’s a 13 minute clip from my BU14 team’s first game last spring season.

On offense we play a 1-3-4-3 with a wide diamond. On defense, my holding mid drops in as a second center back and my wingers drop back and in to be more of a 1-4-3-2-1. Depending on the matchup, the wingers stay high and the CF drops in to be a 1-4-3-1-2.

There’s some other videos of this team on my youtube channel, feel free to watch any of those. I edited this one to be in the same format as a lot of Barca USA’s, focusing on the 5-pass sequences. We’ve come a long way since I picked them up the year prior, but I know we still have a long way to go.

Sorry for the low quality videos, but it’s what I have (no parents were willing to tape for me this past fall season). Also, beware of the wind running across the mic on most of the videos, we played in 20+ mph winds almost that entire season except for the game in the first video linked.

Any and all critique is welcome.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by  andrew crollard.
• This topic was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by  andrew crollard.

[Bret AndersonParticipant]

Andrew,

Thanks for posting.  I watched both of the videos and it appears as though your team really developed between the first video and the second one (edited with 5-pass sequences).  In the first video there were some good moments of possession, but overall it looked like the team was less comfortable with spacing and movement.  In the second video it was a dominent performance and I was really impressed by your teams poise on the ball.   Even when the other team put pressure on your players they worked out of it and found an open player.  There was a lot of receiving across the body, and some really good combination play.  I particularly enjoyed the attack that starts around the 13:20 mark.  There are four or five nice passes that lead to a goal.  While I was at it I also took a look at  your team information on your club web site.  I liked your description of your philosophy and how you play.  I think I might use some of that myself.  I’ll let someone else give you some pointers for improvement….and this point I’m more on the receiving end of the advice.  Thanks again for sharing.

[andrew crollardParticipant]

Hi Bret,

Thanks for the praise. Unfortunately, a lot of the perceived development between the two games is down to the editing and also the quality of competition. The team in the first video has some decent technical players who would absolutely displace a couple of my starters. The team in the second video has maybe 3 or 4 kids who would even make my squad. That goal at 13:20 was my favorite all season as it was made of a lot of the things we worked on: 1-2 combination play, the CF dropping deep to collect the ball, wingers making central diagonal runs for a through ball, and finishing for accuracy instead of power.

For others interested, here’s the outline of our style of play. I pass this out to my players at the start and finish of every season. It’s just another opportunity to help the kids understand what we’re trying to do in a very general sense. With so many different types of learning, I try to utilize as many different methods to explain the ideas as possible.

[Walter LeBlancParticipant]

Andrew –

 

Enjoyed the videos.  I am looking for your outline but when I go to the link, I can not find it.  Is there any way i can get a look at it.  I am curious how you present possession soccer to your athletes as they seem to respond to it.

 

 

[andrew crollardParticipant]

Walter,

I’m no longer associated with that club so took down that particular section of the website. If I remember correctly, it was the list that I posted in the second half of this blog post: http://offballmovement.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-abridged-style-of-play-philosophy.html

I concentrated mostly on numbers 1, 2, 8, and 9 with that group since I knew their next coach in high school is a much better coach for defensive organization and tactics than I am.

I was in a bit of a unique situation with that group because before me only two of them had ever had coaching from someone who knew anything about the game at all. So, given that I would play with them and could clearly play the game, it gave me instant credibility in their eyes and they all 100% bought in to what I was doing. When I picked them up, they were the classic jungleball team where they launched it up to the two most skillful players.

I spent A LOT of time talking with those two players (CB and CM in the first video) about the game and showing them youtube clips of what the highest level of play is like in terms of movement and circulation of the ball. That was the biggest key, getting those to players to trust the other teammates so it was 11v11 in possession instead of 2v11. I think the videos show pretty well that guys like my left wing and right back in the second video were pretty dang weak technically so giving them some simple framework allowed them to play a hell of a lot quicker as they could just run through their first three options mentally instead of allowing them to just play and freak out because they didn’t know what to do other than “BIG KICK LITTLE TIMMY!” Basically, it allowed our better players (CB, DM, CM, CF, LCB, RM) to use them for 1-2 passing and to keep simple possession.

Feel free to ask any follow up questions. I LOVE talking about my product.

[Walter LeBlancParticipant]

Andrew
Thank you so much for the reply.  I found your blog after I posted on 3four3 and I love it.  I am greatly impressed with your videos and I agree you could see certain players with weaknesses BUT they still tried to possess “out of the back” and I am a huge proponent of that style of play and I am thankful for the guidance with 3four3.
I also enjoyed the breakdown of the LA/Sounder’s Supporter’s Shield game.  Roger Levesque who once played for Seattle is the only player from Maine (Falmouth) who made it really big in soccer and I have always followed Seattle due to Roger – I was a former varsity girls soccer coach in Falmouth and had the opportunity to watch Roger play in HS and in college at Stanford.

What I am mostly working on right now is how to market/deliver possession-based soccer to our community and my HS team.  We have developed shirts with the quote:  “We do not play the occasion, we play the game!”  on the front and  “Spacing + Communication + Awareness = POSSESSION”  on the back.

I really liked your idea of delivering Key Tenets of Play both pre and post season for accountability and will look to develop something similar for our youth program.  I will continue to use video as a coaching tool and yours is one that we will show.  I like that it shows some players with a lower ability level but still a commitment to possession play.

I will keep reading your blog and will keep in touch as I progress with the development of our product here in Maine…
Walter Le Blanc
Windham Boy’s Soccer

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Gary.

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