Managing the Game: Lopsided scores.

Lopsided results are a part of athletics. In this article I seek to provide ideas of how to manage games when such a result is anticipated or is occurring. It is much better to be proactive than it is to be reactive in such situations. Think of the reactions generated when one team puts a beat down on another team. No one really comes away happy, do they?

I believe we must honor the spirit of the game. For this to happen everyone must give the best effort they have on any given day - both teams - including coaches and players, the referees, athletic trainers, announcers, scoreboard operators, site officials, bus drivers, concession workers, parents and other spectators.  So, I believe there is an expectation and a responsibility for each team to play as they have trained to play in order to honor the game. Hold that thought for a minute.

How to handle blowout situations is actually a fairly common topic amongst soccer coaches. They happen frequently. Although it is the 15-0 type of score that generates anew discussions on the subject, the final margin is a relative matter.  I am going to list some ideas that often surface on what to do when one team is over matched.  These ideas come from well established coaches in the high school and collegiate ranks.

After reaching a plus 5 margin on the scoreboard coaches will often attempt to do one or more of the following.

1) Sit as many starters as possible for the rest of the match.
2) Place a restriction of completing "X" number of consecutive passes without the other team touching the ball before being allowed to shoot on goal again.
3) Play normally but insist every shot taken is high or wide of goal.
4) Mandate that every player must play only with their off foot.
5) Invert the positions of players - forwards go to the back line, defenders go to forward.  Change goalkeepers and attempt to get the teams goalkeeper a goal.

Personally I am not sure any of these are in the spirit of the game.

So, what do I do?

Well, first of all I have been on both sides of blowouts.  I always feel worse about being on the winning side of one of these games, especially if the team receiving the beat down has this happen to them on a regular basis.  I don't mind getting beaten by a large margin once in awhile for those lopsided losses can provide more than ample learning opportunities for the losing team.  I have often found the starting point for a turnaround performance from the ashes of such a defeat.

When I suspect a match might turn into a blowout in my favor I will approach the other coach to discuss each others teams. If he is self-aware and receptive to the idea we will work cooperatively to formulate a joint game plan.  Often times this will involve our team playing normally until a score of 5-0 has been achieved. At that point we will change gears and help the opponents to work on whatever aspect of play the opposing coach and his team have been focusing on in training.

For example, one coach was trying to incorporate target play into his teams attacking philosophy.  Simple enough. My team set a restraining line of 30 yards out from our own goal. Every time we lost possession we got everyone back behind the ball - a fundamentally sound defending tactic - and played shadow defense until the opponents advanced the ball to the restraining line at which time we fully engaged them. Then we worked on building our attack out of the back when we regained possession of the ball.  Teamwork.... being achieved through two teams working together. Both teams got to work on areas and aspects of the game that might be difficult to replicate in training.

A second example, we later put the withdrawn restraining line to use against a team who sought to draw us into their own end of the pitch to create counter attack situations for themselves. We sat back and waited on them to attack, which they eventually did only not the way they had wanted to. We forced them to alter their game plan against us. When we scored first to go up 1-0 against them we really sat back in our own half of the field. In this manner that weaker opponent help prepare us for a strong opponent.

I want to be clear that when I wrote of playing shadow defense a couple paragraphs earlier we did not play completely passively. What we did do was to allow the opponents target players to receive the ball in front of us.  They knew of and felt our physical presence while receiving back to goal. We just kept the opponent and ball in front of us containing and delaying the attack instead of attempting to challenge for the ball. We waited at our established line of confrontation to pressure to win the ball.  This is actually another fundamental defensive tactic we will sometimes employ.

Target play is designed to accomplish a couple of different things.

1) It allows the attacking team to transition fully into the attack by allowing players to get forward and establish a preferred attacking team shape.

2) A strategy behind passing to a target player playing back to goal is to hold the opposing backs in place and preserve the space behind them to be attacked through. That space has a name - it is called negative space. 

So, in playing shadow defense we allowed the weaker team time to gather themselves in numbers to attack us and by not stepping to meet the initial thrust made by playing to the target player we continued to deny them negative space. We made them work to get into and through the negative space behind us.

Everyone benefited. Both teams accomplished something positive out of a bad situation.

Other tactics I have employed include taking a player off the pitch and having my team play a man down. Red card send offs do unfortunately happen. Only twice in 21 years of coaching soccer for me, but they do happen. In older teenage groups I have on occasion found my team down a player or two because of player conflicts with church, work, prom, graduations and such.  Playing a man down when up big in a game is great preparation for when this happens in your future. 

Along with the opposing coach I have asked for a continuous running clock to shorten the actual length of a match.  In this vein of thought we also take no quick restarts and will allow opponents to set their defense before restarting the game.  It is also possible to use frequent substitutions to both shorten the game and allow the opponents time to rest, regroup and refocus.

Another tactic I will use is to move players from their normal positions, but when I do so I make them adhere to the expectations and responsibilities for the new position.  If I put a center back in at forward the expectation is that he will play back to goal, facilitate our teams build up and play team first soccer. The last thing I want is for the center back turned forward to stand with the opposing backs screaming to be played through.  That's not how our team usually plays attacking soccer and I refuse to allow bad habits to set in just so someone who doesn't usually score much can get a goal against a weak opponent.

Think about that... If you feel you must place a restriction on your team make it this one. Your team must score good goals from a build up of a team attack. Stay within your formation and system of play. Be true to the way your team practices to play. In this manner you actually build team depth and player versatility - both being good things to accomplish for your team.

Anyway, there are definitely ways to manage blowout matches within the spirit of the game. There are means to have both teams take positives away from a bad situation.

We have all seen the me-first player. The kid who is all about accumulating stats for himself.  The teams success is almost secondary to the individual accomplishments and accolades. Why in the world would any player take pride in scoring 7 goals against a weak opponent. Isn't a single goal against a quality opponent much more rewarding and satisfying?

What I advocate is to strive as two teams working together in the spirit of the game. In the end results and records will fade away, but the game will endure. It is our responsibility to make sure we leave the game a little better than we found it each time we step off the pitch. Lopsided results make this difficult, but not impossible to accomplish.