So why insanity? This drives me crazy that's why, and although I am not playing for or coaching Liverpool, I expect better. Why? Because I am crazy? Yes, in part, but actually because I keep expecting the team to improve much more than they have to date. They have the coaching staff, the manager, the proper ownership and the players necessary to be in the top four.
Einstein defined insanity this way,
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
For me it is expecting this from my team, makes me insane, I have to live in hope that the same things are not being done and the team will make it past Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal. They must have a plan.
But what about closer to home? What about the squad I coach? What is going on there? How are they training?
I have a passion for small sided game training (SSG's). I try to use them whenever I can to reinforce passing and movement techniques, as well fitness. Over the last several years I have achieved some successes both with teams and individual players, resulting in some minor silverware and some players being elevated to a higher level of competition. Pretty good.
This season, using the same formula that has worked in the past, in conjunction with some very able technical training provided by the Club, my teams and players are not getting the results, and not as many players are improving.
Is it me?
I think it is ( at least in part). The training has worked in the past, and worked well, but it is not working now, or at least as well as it did before. Why is that? Am I too complacent in my techniques and abilities, am I not keeping up to speed with my knowledge and training? This is very hard to answer honestly, but as a coach I have to look long and hard at what I am doing and how I deliver it. If it isn't working, I either have to find a way to make it work, or start from scratch.
As a person, we can become too comfortable with what has worked in the past, with a belief that it will always work. We always like to be comfortable, but we as coaches need to challenge ourselves as well. If we challenge ourselves by learning new sessions, or drills or SSG's we will be able to challenge our players on the training ground. We cannot allow ourselves to believe that just because it worked once, that it will always work. Sometimes we have to tinker with success, to make it more successful.
Is it the team?
Here is the tougher question. I do not like to blame players for their failures. My instincts are to look at myself and determine where I have failed them (nice old Catholic stuff there!!). But that is too pat, too simple. Players have to take responsibility for their actions and also be responsible for the consequences of their actions.
Why is this?
Let's be sensible and remember that there are only so many things that can be coached, and several drills can have multiple technical and tactical components. I have one favourite drill that I can use for dribbling, passing, turns, feints and defending, depending upon how I tweak it and run it. So with all the thousands of drills and technical sessions and SSG's, they all really work towards similar objectives. At some point the players must find the ways to maximize the results to be derived from a drill. The coaches provide direction, suggestions for improvement, and insert variations to maximize the benefits of the technique sought to be improved. But the player is the one who must work to get the most out of every drill they are participating in. Even Adams, Kuyt, Henderson, Gerrard, Maxi, Reina and others do the very basic drills at the maximum limit so they can be better the next time they play. If not they don't improve, and Fulham will beat them 3-0.
I said to my team tonight at the start of training, "If you like losing, keep doing what you are doing. Don't work any harder, don't pay attention, don't push your team mates, talk when you should be listening, watch the boys training on the other pitch, don't push yourself to the point of exhaustion, and you will continue to be right where you belong. Losing."
This is the madness, the players need to change themselves, push themselves and challenge themselves if they expect to improve and beat their opponents. If they expect to it by just being the way they are, they are insane.
Ultimately it is the player who is responsible for the success of their individual improvement. They need to squeeze every last bit of benefit from their training and push themselves to the limit at training every single time. If they don't, they are responsible for the consequences of their inactions.
YNWA
Hal White
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