I used this phrase today after a game my squad had played and won. I knew they were capable of winning. The Club's coaching staff knew they were capable of winning. Even their parents knew they were capable of winning. I don't think my squad knew, and their opponents certainly didn't think they could win.
This brings me to Stoke City (and Hull City) and Liverpool in the 2008-2009 season. This was the season for Liverpool to win the Premiership. That season Liverpool had three of the top ten goal scorers in the league (Gerrard, Torres, and Kuyt), the one of the best shot stoppers in the league, a good coach and great game form. The team could defend, pass, attack, and clear. In 38 games they had 27 goals against, and only two losses. On paper, and on the field, Liverpool was not a team to lose. They beat Manchester United twice, and the evil of Empire of Chelsea two times as well.
But they didn't finish first.
In 2007-2008 season Hull City and Stoke City qualified to play in the Premiership. The pundits and broadcasters gave them little hope of staying up, and being quickly relegated to the Championship Division. They were middle of the pack teams, with journeyman players for the most part, who if they were to stay up had to beat the teams around them in the table, and one or two games from the top five teams as well.
Stoke and Hull should not beat Liverpool. Liverpool, by all accounts should have beaten them. Handily. Remember they beat Man U and Chelsea. Yet in three of the four games played against Stoke and Hull, Liverpool tied Hull once and Stoke twice. Why, because Liverpool thought it was a free ride, and Stoke and Hull didn't. Stoke and Hull didn't play above their ability, they played at their ability, and Liverpool thought it would be business as usual.
They also lost a game to a team that was relegated, Middlesborough, between Champions League matches at Real Madrid.
So in four games, they acquired three out of a possible 12, and they lost the league to Manchester United by six points.
The game is always played in the "now". It isn't played on a "stat" sheet, or a record of wins and losses from a previous season. It is this moment, the one a team plays in any given game that gets the result.
What does this mean? Simple. Play every opponent believing you can beat them and that they can be you. A good team, working hard for a common goal can beat anyone on any given day. If you don't prepare for that, and if you play like that, you will be Liverpoo 2008-2009, and tie the teams you should beat.
A simple 4 v 4 that can be played in the"now" is one I call the "six second game". It is played like a normal game, with small goals, but with an additional way to score. If a player loses possession of the ball they have six seconds to get it back, or the other team gets a point. This encourages quick transition from offense to defense, tackling, shielding, as well as standard passing and movement. It also encourages personal responsibility for ones mistakes in the course of a game.
Walk On
Hal White
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Pushing your teammates and making a better team
This is an odd title for a piece on Liverpool and team training, but in the process of reading a biography on Shankly, and watching my squad train and play a game this week, I considered what are a players obligations to their team, their team mates and themselves.
Shankly was reported to have said to a player who reported that he had injured his knee, "No son, that's not your knee, it belongs to Liverpool Football Club".
Now as harsh as that sounds it is correct. The true player is responsible to his club, squad and team mates. He owes it to them to be fit, to play fit, to play their very best at every occasion, to report injury to allow other players to fill in, and most of all to push and encourage their team mates to be the best.
An example of this is readily seen at Liverpool in its present set up. Kuyt, Saurez, and Carroll, and to a lesser degree N'gog, all play in the same positions. But in any give day only two of the four will start. How do they push each other? They train hard, and push each other. They test their defenders, to test themselves and to to make better defenders. They train at game speed. And what does this accomplish? It gives the coaching staff options in making team selections. It improves the players abilities, it keeps them competitive, and it makes them better team members, because it is all for the overall improvement of the entire team.
Team members are obligated to train and play their hardest, at all times. It just makes for better players. In the run of a season, a good fullback will make a striker team mate quicker with the ball, and a smarter passer. A fast striker, will train a defender to become smarter, more patient when jockeying, and more pragmatic in their tackling. Each part will improve the other. Players do not like to be shown up individually, and by being repeatedly pushed, and sometimes outplayed, they will get better, bit by little bit.
My keepers, and I am blessed to have two keepers, each and every practice, take one another on with penalty kicks, little games involving free kick techniques, throwing games, as well as making suggestions to one another in how to work with their defenders and what to do in certain game situations. What they really want to do is be the #1 goalkeeper for their team, AND they want to know that if they aren't in net for a game that the other keeper is good enough to play in their place. They are both good enough to #1 because they push each other so well. More players could learn from their example.
The training session below is one that represents the ethos of Liverpool football, and I think football in general. It encourages hard, fast passing, penetrating runs, lots of touches on the ball, defending and shooting.
The rules are as follows:
1. No forward passes, only lateral(sideways) or backwards
2. A ball may not be passed higher than 6 feet in the air.
3.The field is 45 long x 25 wide.
4. 5 players per side
5. Last player back is the keeper.
The game encourages challenging defenders, supporting movements/position to receive passes, and because of the small pitch, many touches and lots of running (fitness). As Shankly said"Great to be alive, all you need is green grass and a ball!"
Shankly was reported to have said to a player who reported that he had injured his knee, "No son, that's not your knee, it belongs to Liverpool Football Club".
Now as harsh as that sounds it is correct. The true player is responsible to his club, squad and team mates. He owes it to them to be fit, to play fit, to play their very best at every occasion, to report injury to allow other players to fill in, and most of all to push and encourage their team mates to be the best.
An example of this is readily seen at Liverpool in its present set up. Kuyt, Saurez, and Carroll, and to a lesser degree N'gog, all play in the same positions. But in any give day only two of the four will start. How do they push each other? They train hard, and push each other. They test their defenders, to test themselves and to to make better defenders. They train at game speed. And what does this accomplish? It gives the coaching staff options in making team selections. It improves the players abilities, it keeps them competitive, and it makes them better team members, because it is all for the overall improvement of the entire team.
Team members are obligated to train and play their hardest, at all times. It just makes for better players. In the run of a season, a good fullback will make a striker team mate quicker with the ball, and a smarter passer. A fast striker, will train a defender to become smarter, more patient when jockeying, and more pragmatic in their tackling. Each part will improve the other. Players do not like to be shown up individually, and by being repeatedly pushed, and sometimes outplayed, they will get better, bit by little bit.
My keepers, and I am blessed to have two keepers, each and every practice, take one another on with penalty kicks, little games involving free kick techniques, throwing games, as well as making suggestions to one another in how to work with their defenders and what to do in certain game situations. What they really want to do is be the #1 goalkeeper for their team, AND they want to know that if they aren't in net for a game that the other keeper is good enough to play in their place. They are both good enough to #1 because they push each other so well. More players could learn from their example.
The training session below is one that represents the ethos of Liverpool football, and I think football in general. It encourages hard, fast passing, penetrating runs, lots of touches on the ball, defending and shooting.
The rules are as follows:
1. No forward passes, only lateral(sideways) or backwards
2. A ball may not be passed higher than 6 feet in the air.
3.The field is 45 long x 25 wide.
4. 5 players per side
5. Last player back is the keeper.
The game encourages challenging defenders, supporting movements/position to receive passes, and because of the small pitch, many touches and lots of running (fitness). As Shankly said"Great to be alive, all you need is green grass and a ball!"
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