SILENT P wrote:Baldrick wrote:Raleigh wrote:Spanish or Dutch style will never catch is SA on for when it comes to the crunch coaches in SA are still selecting players who are fast and strong over players who although are bit slower have a natural ability to read the game of football (ie have a football brain). The faster players I find generally hold to the ball far too much and try to take on player after player ending up losing he ball (due to their speed and size they hog the ball) where as the slower and smarter player tries to find space to receive the ball and quickly passes the ball on to a supporting player offensively or defensively in order to maintain possession. Which one will you choose?
Spot on. I've seen it time and time again especially at STIC and FFSA trials.
Doesn't just happen at junior level unfortunately, also at seniors
Although i agree with a lot of what you're saying, to say strength and speed means you're a poor footballer in a sense is wrong. Its the coaches fault. You look at the best teams in the world, the best players, the likes of messi, ronaldo, bale, robben, ribery, gotze etc.. pace, strength and dribbling are all key facets of their game.
The problem is coaches pick players with these physical attributes, and instead of teaching them technical skills to base their game around and use the physical attributes as an asset, they focus their entire development on using speed and strength. 'long ball over the top, out muscle/sprint the defender, score a goal'... but what happens when you cant out muscle/sprint the defender? do you have the intelligence, technique, skill to turn out, keep the ball etc? no. why? because you've never been taught.
Pace and strength are huge assets to have, but you still need a technical base. This technical base shouldn't have anything to do with the physical attributes, it should evolve around ball mastery and a tactical understanding of the game. Im an advocate of passing football, one/two touch football. I see alot of people call players who dribble 'hogs'. I dont like this. I encourage my kids to dribble. If you have the confidence with the ball at your feet to beat a player 1v1 then this is a huge asset. As coaches, we shouldn't discourage dribbling or running with the ball, rather teach the kids decision making. back to goal, opponent up your ass, then ofcourse pass. but if you receive it on a half turn facing forward with space to drive into, then by all means travel with it. Kids take what coaches say very literally, so its important to encourage flair and creativity otherwise you will be stuck with 11 players who know how to pass a ball, but all they can do is pass backwards or sideways. Nothing breaks the lines like a Central midfielder ghosting past his opponent and driving into the final third (yaya toure).
