Football Tactics & Strategies

Looking to help out our under 12s local footballing side, but I've never had an ounce of 'how to coach' tuition - I don't even play Football Manager! Most of my experience comes from screaming at the t.v. from my armchair.

Can someone recommend a good book on coaching and strategies?

Thanks

 You don't need a book mate, just ask Mac_Red, his footballing knowledge is far superior to anyone else's on the forum 

Even though I'd love to be a coach I don't have any experience at all, so can't be of much help. In case you're interested in the history of football tactics then I'd recommend you to read 'Inverting the Pyramid' by Jonathan Wilson. Not exactly what you're looking for, but a great read.

Even though I'd love to be a coach I don't have any experience at all, so can't be of much help. In case you're interested in the history of football tactics then I'd recommend you to read 'Inverting the Pyramid' by Jonathan Wilson. Not exactly what you're looking for, but a great read.

I was just looking at that book a few minutes ago. Probably read it after I've dipped into a tactics/strategy type book

Cheers

You don't need a book mate, just ask Mac_Red, his footballing knowledge is far superior to anyone else's on the forum 

Teambuilding: The Road to Success
by Rinus Michels

I coach under 14's footie with with myself and a few other coaches but I was there because I was a good footballer, back in the day .

You do need to read up on coaching and I can't tell you this or that should be best one to read or learn but one very key thing is that you make it enjoyable. Not just do a, b and c in one training session and that's it.

If you make it fun then it's 10x better, I can assure you of that.

I've ran many teams in my time so here's a few tips:

For a straightforward start go 442. The players at that age should understand roughly what they do in their position.

Tell the centre backs to cover each other if one goes up.

Tell the right midfield to cover the right back if he overlaps. Same left hand side. Right midfielders must be prepared to run up and down their flank all the time.

Tell your centre mids that they will mainly be playing from the D to the D (ie box to box) and must be prepared to run up and down all match tracking opposition players at all times.

Tell your forwards to keep on interchanging positions so the opposition defence don't know who to pick up and hassle the defenders so they don't have time on the ball.

Praise anyone who passes and give extra praise if they look to receive the ball after passing it.
If you are in any doubt about whether to criticise or not-don't. PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE at all times. Football is a confidence sport and happy confident players will play better. It is better to chuckle with a player about a clanger than vent your frustration.

After a few games, when you know the players, you can tinker. Don't take results personally-the players on the pitch are much more important than the coach. Enjoy coaching, don't over-complicate the tactics and the boys will enjoy their matches.

Teambuilding: The Road to Success
by Rinus Michels

^^^^^

Is the correct answer ...

Also, if you speak Italian: "Il gioco delle idee. Pensieri e passioni a bordo campo" ... Absolutely amazing football book ...

Thanks all for the tips and recommendations

Good stuff

Thanks all for the tips and recommendations

Good stuff

The Rinus Michels book I mentioned goes from kids and youth "basics" right up to top pro's, with importance placed not only on tactical awareness and different strategies, but also player mentality as well, which is often the difference between a good player and a great player.

I started coaching a youth team this season too. The Michels book should be very helpful for you Rush. I play football myself, so I use some of the stuff I used to do in training too. I do alot of training on the ball with them, maximise touches. And my kids seem to like that. I use 4-3-3 as a formation. It's very easy to explain, don't want to complicate things. One good steady striker. 2 fast wingers who cross the ball into the box, or go for the goal themselfs. And I put my best player on the attacking center midfield as playmaker/2nd striker. But communication is really important. I only started this summer, but already found out that some kids really need a different approach than others. Oh, and good luck with dealing with parents during games, some of them piss me off!

Gonna buy that book too. It's already on my amazon wish list but I didn't know it was that good.

Yup. Looks like that's the book to get

Great advice all

Another book I recommend is Coaching Soccer: The Official Coaching Book of the Dutch Soccer Association by Bert van Lingen. It's also on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Soccer-Official-Dutch-Association/dp/1890946044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317841841&sr=1-1 I'm also considering joining the Ajax Online Academy in the future: https://www.ajaxonlineacademy.com/. Because I'm very curious about their training.

Another book I recommend is Coaching Soccer: The Official Coaching Book of the Dutch Soccer Association by Bert van Lingen. It's also on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Soccer-Official-Dutch-Association/dp/1890946044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317841841&sr=1-1 I'm also considering joining the Ajax Online Academy in the future: https://www.ajaxonlineacademy.com/. Because I'm very curious about their training.

Nice. I'm curious about Ajax too. Love Dutch football. Been reading "Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football" lately, haven't finished it yet cause I'm a bit maniac about books, I'm trying to read 5 at the same time.

Oh, and good luck with dealing with parents during games, some of them piss me off!

You have to take a firm hand with parents straight away or they will become a right pain in the arse. It is too late leaving it 6 months when you've finally had enough.

Give yourself some space from parents. In England there has to be a respect barrier. Make sure they stay behind that and then you go to the other side of the pitch, away from them so you don't have to listen to their twitterings. If an uninvited parent joins you inform them that all parents should be behind the respect barrier.

If you hear them shouting instructions politely tell them you don't want too many instructions from the sideline and that it's important the boys make their own decisions on the pitch and learn from their mistakes.

If they try and join in your half-time/full-time team talks tell them boys are more inhibited to speak when other parents are listening so F**k off!

If they have a quiet word with you about team matters and you don't agree stick to your guns; football is a game of opinions and most are bollocks. You don't have to justify your decisions (eg subbing his lad) and trying to justify is often counter-productive.

Having said all that my current set of parents are absolutely top notch, supportive and helpful but it's not always that way.

Nice. I'm curious about Ajax too. Love Dutch football. Been reading "Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football" lately, haven't finished it yet cause I'm a bit maniac about books, I'm trying to read 5 at the same time.

That book title hits the nail on its head. I have wondered why people in my country are so obsessed with sticking to their own philosphy on football. Every weekend when I watch Dutch league games I see small teams like VVV Venlo, Heracles, Ado Den Haag and others play attacking 4-3-3 football. And not because it's effective, but because that's what people want to see, it brings exciting football and draws people to the stadiums. The last weeks a small team like VVV Venlo manages to play 3-3 against PSV, and 2-2 against Ajax, but when they loose they do loose big. It's so different from the EPL.

You have to take a firm hand with parents straight away or they will become a right pain in the arse. It is too late leaving it 6 months when you've finally had enough.

Give yourself some space from parents. In England there has to be a respect barrier. Make sure they stay behind that and then you go to the other side of the pitch, away from them so you don't have to listen to their twitterings. If an uninvited parent joins you inform them that all parents should be behind the respect barrier.

If you hear them shouting instructions politely tell them you don't want too many instructions from the sideline and that it's important the boys make their own decisions on the pitch and learn from their mistakes.

If they try and join in your half-time/full-time team talks tell them boys are more inhibited to speak when other parents are listening so f**k off!

If they have a quiet word with you about team matters and you don't agree stick to your guns; football is a game of opinions and most are bollocks. You don't have to justify your decisions (eg subbing his lad) and trying to justify is often counter-productive.

Having said all that my current set of parents are absolutely top notch, supportive and helpful but it's not always that way.

Some of them have been yelling too much, so I told them to tone it down a few times, and they have. Another started yelling negative things to his kid, like: What do you think you are doing!? And he cursed at the referee and opposition too. So I told him that he's either there to support his kid, or he's not there at all. He's been quiet after that. But it's a competitive team, we call it D level here, 10-13 year old, it's the 2nd team out of 11 at that level, we work closely with the first team. Most parents would like to see their kid in the 1st team. It's a big club, we have 67 youth teams, 18 adult male teams, and 14 women and girl teams.

You have to take a firm hand with parents straight away or they will become a right pain in the arse. It is too late leaving it 6 months when you've finally had enough.

Give yourself some space from parents. In England there has to be a respect barrier. Make sure they stay behind that and then you go to the other side of the pitch, away from them so you don't have to listen to their twitterings. If an uninvited parent joins you inform them that all parents should be behind the respect barrier.

If you hear them shouting instructions politely tell them you don't want too many instructions from the sideline and that it's important the boys make their own decisions on the pitch and learn from their mistakes.

If they try and join in your half-time/full-time team talks tell them boys are more inhibited to speak when other parents are listening so f**k off!

If they have a quiet word with you about team matters and you don't agree stick to your guns; football is a game of opinions and most are bollocks. You don't have to justify your decisions (eg subbing his lad) and trying to justify is often counter-productive.

Having said all that my current set of parents are absolutely top notch, supportive and helpful but it's not always that way.

My younger brother used to play football and my dad was a nightmare to his coaches, the worst kind of parent you can think of, in that aspect. He even shouted different instructions to my brother, for example once he told my brother that he had to be on midfield when his coach had him at right midfield. My brother was a bit scared of my dad so he listened to him, not the coach.

Only after some very difficult convincing, my dad agreed he should shut his mouth, or just don't go to the games at all. My brother is very talented, easily among the best in the championship he played, but he was a bit shy of trying different things cause at any time he could listen a shout of disapproval from my dad. It was awful. Now he left football, says he's not interested in competing and only plays for fun. My dad probably played a part on it.

I liked when I was the only family on my brother's matches, we had a ritual he would come talk to me at half time and I would give him some tips and encouragement never anything like my dad.

That book title hits the nail on its head. I have wondered why people in my country are so obsessed with sticking to their own philosphy on football. Every weekend when I watch Dutch league games I see small teams like VVV Venlo, Heracles, Ado Den Haag and others play attacking 4-3-3 football. And not because it's effective, but because that's what people want to see, it brings exciting football and draws people to the stadiums. The last weeks a small team like VVV Venlo manages to play 3-3 against PSV, and 2-2 against Ajax, but when they loose they do loose big. It's so different from the EPL.

Have you ever read The Blizzard? It's a quarterly football magazine, featuring some of the best football writers around. The man who started it all is Jonathan Wilson, the author of the book about tactics I mentioned earlier in this thread. You can buy the online version for as much as you want (£0.01, for example), I'd highly recommend it.

I think it's on Issue One that Simon Kuper (Financial Times columnist and co-author of Soccernomics) writes about the politics of Netherlands and its football. It analyses how your country has been politically more right-wing and conservative of late, and compares it to the pragmatic football your national team played in the last World Cup. I don't know anything about Dutch politics so I had to take his word - but it seemed like a very well written piece.

With my Dad hat on, it is very hard to stay quiet when one of my lad's is not 'getting stuck in' or concentrating. A good point made on an FA coaching course was that boys switch off in matches (for 5-10 mins at times) and they must be allowed to do so. In the long term it's better to say nothing and let them come off with a good feeling about the game.
Another pointer that surprised me but seems to be true is that they prefer to be praised for trying hard rather than going on about a brilliant goal/tackle. 

Have you ever read The Blizzard? It's a quarterly football magazine, featuring some of the best football writers around. The man who started it all is Jonathan Wilson, the author of the book about tactics I mentioned earlier in this thread. You can buy the online version for as much as you want (£0.01, for example), I'd highly recommend it.

I think it's on Issue One that Simon Kuper (Financial Times columnist and co-author of Soccernomics) writes about the politics of Netherlands and its football. It analyses how your country has been politically more right-wing and conservative of late, and compares it to the pragmatic football your national team played in the last World Cup. I don't know anything about Dutch politics so I had to take his word - but it seemed like a very well written piece.

Hadn't heard of it before no, but looks very interesting.

I know Simon Kuper, he writes in Dutch too. Does he just compare it to our politics or does he think it's somehow related? It's true our politcs shifted to the right after 9-11. First with Pim Fortuijn, and now Geert Wilders. I'm very unhappy with that. But the tactics at the World Cup were due to the manager and the players. Most of the people in the Netherlands were actually unhappy with those tactics, even if they brought results. But at Euro 2008 the Dutch team played a great tournament against France and Italy, but that turned into a big deception for them against Russia and left a very bad feeling witht he players. And in 2010, Sneijder had just won everything with Inter and Mourinho, in a very opportunist style of play, and everybody knows how important Sneijder is for the Dutch team.  So the players and manager were open to try a different approach. But my country was very surprised, because they played attacking football throughout the qualifications and preparations. They got alot of criticism for it here during and after the tournament.

I'd recommend Simon Kuper's books such as Ajax, The Dutch and the war and football against the enemy