Sunderland vs Liverpool 1 0 Strange goal (17.10.2009)

Torres o Saurez o Ambos

Saurez or Torres or Both?

So we got him. Ajax has 25 million euros, and we have Saurez. What is brought to the table?

If it is to have a second lone striker, then so what. If it is to set up the sale of Torres, then we are back to a lone striker and, then so what. But if they want to exploit yhe advantage of two strikers then the team would be effecting a real change.

Torres has been and will continue to be a true threat on goal. Saurez is a known threat as well, but not yet in the Premier League. My suggestion is pair him up with Torres until the end of this season (unless Chelsea ponies up the 50-60 million to buy him now), to gain some experience. Then if Torres still wishes to go, sell him, and start using N'gog as a regular second striker. I don't like him yet, but I also thought Berbatov was of no value, and I may stand to be corrected in N'gog's case as well.

So change things up to 4-4-2 or maybe go nuts with a 4-3-3

Training to Shoot

Avoiding the issue of technique, which in the case of shooting is a modification of passing techniques by passing in to the net, how do we encourage players to shoot?

As a coach my principle concern is to create situations where the player does the task without thinking. Boys are very easy, in that they don't think at all. Girls, well. they think too much, in shooting situations, this is bad and leads to passes when striking should occur.

I use one game in particular to encourage shooting with good results . It is called "wide pitch" and is played on a 20x 30 pitch with 1/2 to full size nets on the long sides of the pitch.

The teams are 4 v 4 plus keepers. Nothing special, but the field design encourages shooting from range, and crosses into the front of the net. if they aren't shooting add restrictions to encourage shooting such as maximum three touches, a goal from range is worth double, or that shots on target count for a point. With girls it is important to encourage and compliment the act of shooting, so look for an opportunity to stop the game and heap praise on the shooters instead of the playmakers.

Let them play, and make them shoot.

Walk On

Hal White

You'll never walk alone (Celtic supporters)

Sian Massey

Sian Massey, my new hero. Not because she didn't call the offside, but because she was there.

Barcelona pressing and passing game

What do they need to do?

Well Liverpool is starting , just barely starting , to do what they need to, which is win games, ugly or otherwise. Perhaps they were lucky to win yesterday, but maybe, just maybe they are making their own luck,and forcing the play and creating more opportunities.

What is different? Well style of play is one, and adjustments to positions and personnel are significant as well. Martin Kelly as right back is not a true revelation, but he is more diligent than Johnson has been all season, and appears to want to attack AND defend as required.

Johnson appears to be finding himself as a left back. Is a change as good as a vacation, well not really, because Johnson seems to be keen on relearning the requirements of his position. So a working vacation.

PASS AND MOVE

This game isn't rocket science, and consists of, I believe two essential principles;

1. Pass

2. Move

Both of these elements have been missing in Liverpool's game this season, until very recently.

A good example of the power of pass and move is found on the video link posted on my blog. Barca are the current masters of this game.

How do we teach our players this technique. Train them how to pass!!! Secondly, train them how to pass!! And train them to move after each pass.

A simple game is to play a normal 5 aside, but the one restriction is that after the player passes the ball they must move forward, and can only move into a "back position" after the ball has been passed by someone else. If they don't move, free kick for the other squad. It is hard work, but it teaches and reinforces the power of movement.

Pass and move. Do it.

Hal White

They Won!! But the real news was...

It was a great game for a Liverpool fan. The team attacked from back to front, the midfield looked to be on the prowl and Torres was taking chances and getting results.

NEWS

Meireles showed the form that has been expected of him since his signing and even without the goal would have been Liverpool's Man of the Match. What will happen when Gerrard gets back, I don't know, but King Kenny may wish to reconfigure his formation to have Meireles play more as an auxiliary forward.

Now this anathema to many Liverpool fans, moving Stevie G away from where he has been playing, but remember, he has more depth and ability than any other English midfield player today. He can attack, he can defend, he can hold, and he can cross. Meireles is more limited in his skill set but within that skill set, as was demonstrated yesterday, he can be devastating.

So Kenny is this the time?

THE REAL NEWS

I hope everyone noticed one of the assistant referees yesterday. It was a woman. This is a great development in the officiating program in the FA (Canada has had female officials in major tournament's in the past). There should be no issue from anyone about the gender of an official whether they are in the middle or on the lines. We have a shortage of officials world wide so all associations around the world should encourage the training and use of female officials.

Who knows they may have a more calming influence on the more dramatic scenes on the field, and, if they are like my mother, they will just ignore histrionics of a player rolling on the ground, because they can always tell when you are lying.

Walk On

Hal White

King Kenny

This is not news. This was the obvious safe choice in a staunching a very bad wound at Liverpool. Roy Hodgson was doomed from the get go thanks to Hicks and Gillett, and because of Rafa's poor recruitment over the last part of his tenure.

If Liverpool are going to get back in the top four it will not be next year, or even the year after but most likely three or four years down the road. It will take a revamping of the squad, player recruitment and academy development. Kenny Dalglish is only the first band aid in the long term recovery of the Club.

The Spine.

Liverpool's spine is weak. Carragher is at the end of his career and the current central backs are not up to the premier league pace. This leaves a huge gap between Reina and Gerrard. The first emphasis must be on the back four and a holding midfielder. If there are no central defenders, then there will be no success. Reina must stay, Gerrard must stay, Kuyt must stay, and Shelvey has a role as well. Skrtel can be rehabilitated with the proper partner , but it needs to be someone very very solid. Torres, I hate to say is expendable in this circumstance. He is a truly great striker, but if his sale results in the acqusition of the players to prop up the spine of the squad, then it is a good sale, because the ball isn't getting up the pitch to him nearly enough now.

King Kenny has to build the squad starting in the back four, in particular the central defenders. His initial task can be focused, fix those four, keep us in the top ten, and keep building the team from the academy up.

Walk On.

Hal White

Can anyone coach this game?

As I sit here drinking a very nice cup of coffee from New Orleans, and play fetch with my cat, Charlie Watts, and review the world's soccer news and my coaching notes from my current squad of players and previous teams, I ask "Can anyone coach this game?". This is not a rhetorical question but a philosophical one as well.

It is well understood that that game has many technical components, first touch, placement of non kicking foot , how to head the ball without suffering serious injury, amongst others . Do these things need to be trained, or just refined.

For example if you leave a child with a ball and a net, what will happen? The child will start shooting at the net. If the net is a smaller net, say 2m x 1m, it is a relatively small target. Just pounding the ball will result in more misses than goals. As time goes on the child will stop using the toe, and experiment with other parts of the foot, instep, , outstep and laces and achieve greater success.

Now if you have two of these nets and six children you have a game and a measurement of success. Goals scored and shots missed. They will train themselves to shoot on target.

The role of the coach is to find the means for the player to teach themselves how to do it, and then reinforce and improve the correct technique that the player already knows.

I coach several players who have a tremendous instep strike, but believe that they will break their toes if they strike with their laces (toe down, lock your ankle, follow through). As a result they will not take free kicks, penalties, and often pass the ball when they should shoot. Yet in technical drills involving volleying, chipping, and long passes they strike the ball with their laces. Why is that ? Because instinctively that is how the ball is to be struck to accomplish the task in the drill. They barely realize that they are striking the ball with their laces.

The challenge for the coach is to find the means to have the player self train the technique, and reinforce it in a game type situation, that has limits that encourage the technique. The game situation compels the use of the technique, and the player, once in the game , will, hopefully use the desired technique without thinking .

For this particular issue a "volley ball" type game is helpful. Set up a grid of 50 x 20 m, with a zone in the middle of 10 x 20. In the outside grids (20 x 20) have four players. They can pass to each other on the ground, maximum three touches per player, and they must chip it over to the other side to attempt to score. The Coach (or three or four players) are in the center zone ensuring that ball travels over the coaches' head . Scoring as in volleyball. Commend lace strikes, and reinforce that it CAN be done.

No one can coach this game on their own. The game itself is the best teacher. The coach has to use that. It takes patience, good humour, and some thought to bring out what the player already knows.