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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
Here is an example that shows a little of what we’ve actually worked on in the attacking third: http://youtu.be/XH9YX1b_yLQ
Megan (blondie) is our attacking mid. She plays the first pass to our CF (Brooke) who is dropping deep to help. Brooke plays it back to Megan. Megan then plays to our left winger. Left winger plays final pass to right winger who is offside.
What goes unnoticed is that our right back just stood and watched. She KNOWS she should have been hauling ass up the line. Had she done that… maybe our left winger plays her through and we’re on side and we’re looking for a cross into the box with a shitload of girls waiting like ducks for bread at a pond full of old people. Another thing unnoticed is that our left back isn’t even in the frame. With our left winger pushed so far over… she KNOWS she has acres of space ahead of her and she too should have been hauling ass up the side line.
I guess it could come down to heat of the moment… they were excited. The game was crazy at that moment and we had chance after chance after chance to go forward. What we have worked on in the past is when we send both outside backs, which should have happened in this case, our holding mid just sits between our two CB’s who split out wide. It’s something we haven’t been able to work on recently though because we’ve had to back to square one with our new right back and new right center back 🙁
Thank you for the in depth feedback, James! Be careful though! Taylor’s dad is also a 3four3 member haha
We failed to show any type of urgency during that clip. I’m debating showing another extended clip from this same game when things were much different. The game completely changed and we were on the attack… out for blood!!!!!
The soccer gods were against us that day, though. We just weren’t meant to score. Our left winger ripped a shot during a scramble on a corner kick and our center forward actually ended up blocking a FOR SURE goal with her hand as she tripped over the goalkeeper and stumbled towards the ground. I almost cried when I watched the clip and saw nothing but net behind our forwards hand… and our winger just put her hands on her head in disbelief. We also had an obvious PK that didn’t get called and that same center forward missed a 1v1 with the keeper in the last 30 seconds of the game.
Here is a short clip from the same game we’ve been discussing. We had A LOT of moments like this, none as pretty though. So the urgency did change at a certain point… but it was far too late in the game and things just weren’t going our way. http://youtu.be/XH9YX1b_yLQ
Damn Andrew… that was pretty good feedback.
We have been experimenting with a CF that drops deeper to help us maintain possession in the attacking half of the field. Like I’ve said before (and most have commented here) we’re good at keeping possession in the back line, but these girls have always struggled moving that possession 30 yards up the field. Part of it is that our center backs don’t join us fast enough and we get way too disconnected through the different thirds of the field and they are also too content with dropping waaaaay deeper than they need too. Our GK also plays waaaaay too far back so when we turn to her for an outlet we’re consistently playing back to our own 6 yard box instead of the 18 or even higher where she should probably be playing. That’s sort of an automatic safety she has built in because she’s been beaten from a long shot before. But we get waaaay to stretched out when that happens and then it just repeats over and over again. We’re working on that.
What you noticed about our wingers and outside backs is pretty spot on though. We have been working on the wingers pinching in a bit, and outside backs getting forward (when they notice certain cues), as well as the CF dropping in. We completely failed at it this game though. We’re going to continue to try to get our outside backs forward, but we’re making a personnel change which will make us a bit more dangerous on the right wing with a girl who is NOT afraid to take players on. We’re most likely making a change at right back as well.
Both right back and right center back were JV players last year. Right back used to play right winger on JV, but spends the entire year playing travel softball, which is her main sport. So she hasn’t played for almost a year and she’s learning a whole new position at a much higher level. Scary to think about it like that! But she’s doing okay. Our Sophomore right center back played holding mid on JV last year and plays holding mid on her club team as well. She started the year as our ‘second string’ holding mid on Varsity, but when I lost our starting center back to a pair of divorced parents (player had to go with the parent living in a different state) I was forced to teach someone to play center back. She’s actually picked up on it really well. She’s the most technically gifted player on the team. I’m hoping she starts getting some looks from colleges soon.
The left winger in the video has this weird ability to meg any player, at any time, no matter where she is on the field. I’ve even fallen victim to her voodoo. The only problem is that she is a turtle. She has pretty decent technical skills, a great left footed cross, but no speed. My second choice left winger is on the upside of her return from ACL surgery. She has to wear a bulky brace and isn’t much faster than the girl ahead of her on the roster. So my hands have been a little tied there. I like the idea of moving Megan (our attacking mid) to wing. I’ve actually experimented with it before during our club season. Having someone else mention it makes me feel okay about maybe trying it again. We’ll see how these next couple of games go.
Just so you know how spot on you were… our left back switches between LB and holding mid for her club team 😉 Not sure if I would make that move with this team though. She’s too one footed.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m looking forward to watching your videos when I have time. They’re kind of long so I want to make sure I set aside the appropriate time needed 🙂
Hey Paul-
We actually do have several cues that spark movement from our wingers and outside backs as well as our center forward. (I’m not sure if any members are opposing coaches so I won’t reveal those cues just yet!) haha
We failed to get our outside backs high up the field and failed to get them support when we did get the ball wide to them. They had no options in the box and no one as an outlet. We basically left them on an island. At halftime I told the girls if we got the ball wide and high and were able to send in just a couple of crosses, I thought we would score. Second half came and went without any of those opportunities happening. Our wingers didn’t much for our width either. We made a change about 30 minutes in and put in a girl who’s job was to stay wide and high… and she air balled, too.
So we spent tonights practice working on our cues, as a program, inviting the JV team to train with us so they can begin to understand them as well. I’ve really scaled back the focus the last couple of weeks to just one or two things because I tend to get overzealous and cover 30 topics in 30 minutes. I can see their heads slowly starting to explode. 3 months just isn’t enough time to teach everything that is needed 🙁
Speed of play is a huge problem. We play a lot of small rondos (3v1, 4v1, 5v2, 8v2) and they move the ball lightening fast. When we train at practice they move the ball pretty quick. Then during the game its like the field has glue on it or something. We did work on that tonight because that was a problem in our last game. When switching it across the back, the passes have been too slow, so by the time it gets from left to right, we no longer have an advantage because defenders are meeting/beating us there.
Brian-
Thank you for the feedback. That is exactly what I want from this forum.
I agree with what you’ve said. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told the girls “we’re okay with keeping the ball in our back line in our own half, now lets move all of that up up about 30 yards.” It just hasn’t clicked for us, yet. In the back we don’t get as much pressure and the passes are easier to make and the space is easier to find. And no one knows how to shut down our holding mid. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a baller and deserves a lot of credit. She is great at playing between the first two lines of defense. Other teams are just clueless when it comes to denying her the ball.
Every 10 yards we go up the field, we encounter a new set of challenges. We struggle when we’re surrounded. We do rush, like you said. We get overwhelmed. At halftime yesterday I told the girls “I can see the wheels turning!” Because at field level… you can see their eyes looking around and I know they see the right options.
What we didn’t do much of in the clip was get the ball wide in final third. That was the case the entire game.
I’ve never used a whistle.
I’m not sure if it’s an official translation but I’ve always thought of RONDO as meaning playing AROUND defenders. So in 4v1 you’re playing AROUND 1 defender. Again- I’m not sure if that’s exactly correct :-/
Eric-
I think it’s awesome that you realized these guys are doing something different and decided to jump on board… especially after losing to them! I feel like most coaches that my teams beat just look for ways to discredit our style, not actually understand it. They make fun of us, sometimes even mock us. It’s even worse when they beat us and ‘disprove’ us.
I’d love to hear more about your experiences against them.
I think I understand what you mean by ‘dead’ and ‘live’ touch, but I’m not toooooo sure.
What your player should be doing is creating space by checking away, and then to, and then taking their touch into the space IF they have time and little to no pressure. What is more helpful is instead of taking a ‘dead’ or ‘live’ touch, the players should make a pass after checking back into the space, especially if they are under pressure, and then immediately use a different space.
Tom- one thing I’ve picked up on, and preached since, is the use of visual AND verbal cues.
Show and tell!
I’ll let Gary answer your question as to what they instruct their players to actually say, though.
Just tell me when, boss.
Cameron! Dude! Good job at taking the initiative and getting started so young. Even though you don’t have a team right now, you’re going to be better prepared when you finally get your chance. Just remember, take it slow at first. Don’t expect your kids to look like the U11’s in a matter of weeks.
And kudos for taking over for your high school team. I had a very similar experience. I remember handing my coach a roster a couple days into tryouts and telling him ‘just go post this!’ haha I knew I would end up hating the guy. Little did I know the bonehead would turn to refereeing when no other school would hire him. He’s given me a yellow card every time he has refereed one of my games! I take them all with a smile 🙂
Cheers dude!
Nice work Alec!!! I think I remember seeing a different video of you guys somewhere on YouTube. Forgive me if I’m wrong, you guys have a little trailer that discusses the core values of your club? Pretty high quality production? I remember your logo sticking out as something that I liked.
Does your entire video not have sound? (I watched first 5 minutes) If not, you should at least put some music to it or something. Watching in silence is no fun.
Can’t wait to interact with you man.
