Spatial Awareness

High school soccer presents a vast array of problem solving opportunities for coaches.  In the best of programs there will exist multiple teams on a developmental scale - Varsity, JV A, JV B, Freshman and Middle School teams.  I've been there.  At the other end of the spectrum are high school teams with varsity only.  Sometimes these varsity only teams are even co-ed.  I've been there too.

As a new parent-coach back in the mid 1990's I inquired of the local high school coach what he believed most freshmen were lacking when they came out for the high school teams. His reply was"the ability to execute a push pass". As this man would become a mentor to me, I took him at his word. The youth players I worked with could all successfully execute the push pass when they entered 9th grade. When my son was being recruited to play in college I often asked coaches what they believed was the biggest weakness in most recruits games.  The answer was a near unanimous - "spatial awareness". If you have ever worked with a team of wide ranging abilities, you will surely appreciate this response.

My most recent club team and most recent high school team both suffered from a lack of cohesive and uniform understanding of spatial awareness. It's often said a team is only as strong as its weakest player on the field. There is a measure of truth to this especially as it concerns spatial awareness.

I often inform my teams the game is a living breathing thing and they must work on developing a relationship with it through listening and observing how it changes in response to ball and player movement. The boundaries and various lines affect this as well as the distances required on restarts.  Even the referee crew impacts responses to spatial awareness. So too do the technical ability, tactical understanding and physical ability of individual players.

In essence, spatial awareness is about the relationship between Space and Pace. In this context spatial awareness becomes about learning to manipulate the game to your and your teams benefit.  Using spatial awareness in conjunction with the principles of play is what formations and tactics are all about.  When a player is able to consciously recognize how to create space for a teammate and use space created for himself by a teammate, intentionally manipulating the game becomes a real possibility.  

These relationships are simple and yet very complex all at once.  Bringing someone new to the game up to speed with a player who has several years experience can be a daunting task. The difference in understanding of spatial awareness between a seasoned player of club soccer and a recreational player can also be significant. When players of widely varying abilities are all on a single team it can prove difficult to find common ground. This where ideas about a team only being as strong as its weakest player take root.

This is the problem I am seeking to solve going forward. Spatial awareness in soccer is something that begins developing at the youngest of ages.  Simple ideas like boundaries and which half of the field is to be defended and which half has the goal to be scored in are spatial awareness.  When a player comes to the game later in their youth the theory of these simply spatial awareness concepts might be known yet the practicality of them never experienced.  Extend that train of thought to the differences in understanding of spatial awareness between a recreational player and a club player or even an entry level club player and an elite level club player. This s a recipe for frustration all around for both players and coaches alike.

In past seasons I have relied on older more experienced players to mentor younger or inexperienced players in practical settings. I've come to question this approach as results have been found to be wanting.  I have also used a classroom and written homework approach using soccer journals.  The two approaches in combination have been effective.  The issue has been in players being steadfast in their commitment to recording what they are learning in their journals.  I must assume responsibility for this as in the interest of players being able to write down their thoughts honestly about any and all things soccer I have deemed a measure of privacy to be important to the process. I am being forced to make daily writing assignments mandatory and checked by the coaches.

I am also going to include more handouts and more opportunities for visual learning experiences. This will include instructional videos and analysis of videos of practice and games.  A multi pronged approach to the situation.  This is not an ideal scenario, of course. It is however a necessary one.  I would rather spend time on the field than in the classroom but must also face the reality of the situation and adapt what I do accordingly to be as effective as possible in coaching my teams.  

We Will

Sprint to set our defense

Execute our defense with multiple efforts to completion

Be strong to and strong on the ball

Play unselfishly with SPACE and PACE to create great chances

Dominate with our EFFORT plays

The MLS Discovers the Beautiful Game

Over the years I have been largely disappointed with the quality of play in Major League Soccer. My main complaint was the preponderance of direct attacking play that was pervasive throughout the early years of the league. It was much like watching a typical high school game on steroids. No imagination. No creativity. Brute force single mindedness,  U-G-L-Y soccer. Then along came the 2015 edition of the Columbus Crew Soccer Club.

I have no problem admitting my excitement over the Crew's play is based in large part in the fact Gregg Berhalter has them playing "my" system.  Of course, I do not actually claim ownership of the system of play the Crew are utilizing. I am merely acknowledging the fact I have been using the same system of play for the last five years. From a 1-4-2-3-1 alignment the Crew SC are combining disciplined defending with a free flowing varied attack. 

At the heart of the system is a conscious commitment to purposefully manipulate the opponents defense through both player movement and ball movement. Side to side. Forward and backward. A defense that must move with varied player and ball movement will lose its shape eventually.  This is when the Crew pounce on the seams created in the opponents defense.  Then, just as they lull you into defending their patient probing style the Crew changes pace of play and hits with a blitzkrieg direct attack.  I hate to constantly refer to Sun Tzu, but what the Crew SC is doing on the attack is utilizing fundamental principles from The Art of War.  

Gregg Berhalter has a deep understanding that the ball can and should be used to shape the game. In this system the ball is often used as bait to manipulate the defense before the defense is actually attacked. Possession is valued and viewed as a tool to be used to prepare the way to a goal scoring opportunity. The system being employed is a thinking players system and this is what sets it apart from the standard fare of direct play that has dominated soccer in the United States. 

It is no secret a steady diet of direct play is easily defended with organized defense.  Denying the negative space between backs and the goalkeeper is a relatively easy thing to do when that is all a defense is required to do. The typical response to being denying direct play is to play in the outside channels and cross the ball to the face of the goal.  Is it any wonder that scoring from crosses and corner kicks has been in steady decline?

Let's look at this from another angle.  The lack of creativity has long been lamented in this country's soccer play.  Is there really anything creative about playing direct soccer?  There simply are not many opportunities when play is direct and at a pace of as fast as you can go to goal. This is what happens when reliance on big, fast, strong persists. A king consideration to stimulating creativity is to provide opportunities to be creative. This is what Berhalter and "our" system is bringing to the crew.

I have taken to calling the system Space and Pace. 

When we think of direct soccer we visualize a ball being played through or chipped over the backs and into (negative) space.  This is the space the attack seeks to utilize. On those rare occasions when a breakaway to goal occurs everyone gets excited. Worse, everyone becomes convinced that if it worked once, it will surely work again.  And so a steady diet of through balls is the staple for the attack. 

Consider this; one of the designs of a good zonal defense is to bait the opponents into attempting to play through balls. This is a primary reason the zonal defense came into being in soccer - to combat direct play via through balls.  Why attack the strength of the defense?  The answer is in part because with the growing prevalence of zonal defenses many of them are not played properly.  I see this on the local high school and club scene all the time. A minimum of instruction is giving to the backs and usually early in the seasonal process. For the rest of the season, the backs are expected to know how to play in the defense.  The teams that play zonal defense well work on it every day. Not many high school or club teams devote the necessary time to honing their zonal defense.

Space and Pace is about using what the defense gives the attack. Zonal defenses are designed to keep the ball in front of the defenders. What's given to the attack is ... possession.  Watch the Crew move the ball side to side back and forth across the pitch before seemingly exploding towards goal.  They use target play to engage the backs and drop passes to create space behind the opponents backs.  Once again, the ball is the bait to draw attention away from the space that will be used and the player movement taking place to both open and utilize that space.  Their is an intentional engaging of defenders and the defense as a whole followed by intentional disengaging and switching of the point of attack. This places a zonal defense whose strength is in numbers supporting pressure on the ball under far more stress than a steady diet of direct play, It forces the entire defense to move as a collective. When the breakdown of a single defender within the team system occurs, this is where the attackers pounce.  It might well be a different defender each possession hence the varied and unpredictable attack generated by Space and Pace. 

My apologies for rambling on a bit in today's writing. As you can tell, I am both excited and passionate about what I have seen from the Crew SC thus far in the 2015 season.  I have seen first hand the effectiveness of Space and Pace from the high school and club teams I have coached. I knew it would work on the professional level and am ecstatic to see it happening with the Columbus Crew SC.  This is what our Pace of Play team camps are all about. Interested in learning more?  Contact us at tbrown@wcoil.com or by calling 567-204-6083 to set up a camp for your team.

Timothy J Brown
Founder and Director
Conceive Believe Achieve Soccer

Space and Pace

My stated goal is to learn something new every day. This fall season has lead to bountiful learning opportunities. It is my hope that I have taken advantage of at least a modicum of these. Sometimes a lesson learned long ago resurfaces to be reinforced. One such lesson is the focus of this evening's writing. I don't consider this a lesson forgotten and relearned, but it is definitely a lesson that has returned front and center due to others not having fully learned it yet.

An old soccer adage says Space = Time. 

A new coaching phrase I will be rolling out is Space and Pace.

Possessing the ball.

Possession of the soccer ball is valued for two simple reasons.  Discounting own goals, 1) possession is necessary to score the ball and 2) possession denies the opponent the opportunity to score the ball.

The reality of possession runs much deeper.  Through today's writing I am going to challenge you to think of possession in terms you may not have previously considered.  Let's throw some questions out to get your mind primed for what is to come.

How many possessions a match does your team average?

What do you consider to be the optimum number of possessions for your team in a match?

How and where is your system of play designed to gain your team possession of the ball?

How long does an average possession last?

Does your team typically win the time of possession battle?

When your team forces you to change.

We were recently asked a great question by one of our readers and friendly rivals; "How did you successfully coach two teams last spring with two completely different formations and systems of play?"  The questioner was referring to the fact we fielded two U19 nebs teams last spring. The "A" team played a 4-2-3-1 while the "B" team played from a 4-4-2 formation.

The phrase "system of play" is rather a generic one. It is commonly used to define the number of forwards used in a formation. The positional responsibilities of forwards can be different dependent on whether one, two or three forwards are deployed.  And there is a trickle down effect to the midfielders, back line and even the goalkeeper.  System of play can also apply to the teams general attacking philosophy. Does the team wish to counter attack?  Do they seek to play directly? Will the team be more of a build & probe team? 

With the personnel available on our "A" team the 4-2-3-1 was an easy choice.  Lot's of good center midfielders, speed galore on the wings and a couple of strong, fast, physical forwards who could alternate up top.  To be perfectly honest we started the "B" team playing in the same 4-2-3-1 formation for sake of continuity within the program and between the two teams. It quickly became apparent the "B" team lacked the type of forward to effectively run the 4-2-3-1 so I made the decision to switch them to a 4-4-2 where two forwards share the workload and play off one another. However, this did not significantly change our system of play in the broader and general sense of how we wanted to attack opponents.

The single forward in our 4-2-3-1 was responsible for both the initial penetration of a defense and also for being a target player. As such he drew attention from the opponents back line wherever he was positioned in the middle third of the field - usually pushed forward on ball side. One of the three midfielders served as his direct support when he was played as a target. The two forwards employed in the 4-4-2 served the same purpose as they were deployed in a "stack" with one pushed against the opponents backs as a target and the other slightly withdrawn to be in support position of the target.  If not caught up in the numerical alignment of formations the actual system of play in the broader sense was basically the same. 

The real difference between the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-4-2 was found in how we covered defensive width in the defending third. In the former we played as a 5-4-1 defensively while in the latter it often looked more like a 5-3-1-1. Again, subtle differences with the defensive system of playing remaining largely the same.

I think it is important to note the phrase "system of play" as used by the questioner isolated the transitioning phase from defending to attack.  That is, with both teams, as we entered the attacking third of the field we attempted to do so with numbers up and little regard to formational alignment. We sought to create and utilize space by manipulating the defense with player movement and ball movement.  The only variable of priority concern was whether the opponent man marked or played a zonal defense. 

So, my answer to the question is we played the same system from both formations.

To further illustrate this point, the "A" team was capable of playing multiple formations while our system of play never changed.  4-2-3-1 was our preferred choice, but at times we looked to be in a 5-4-1 or a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 or even  2-3-2-3.  The point being, we look at a formation as our defensive set and our system of play as our attacking philosophy which after the initial transition phase from defending to attack is not predicated on a formational alignment so much as it is on space, support and pace.

Adjusting to the Speed of the Game

No matter the level of play, what distinguishes the best players from all others is their anticipatory skills. Over the years here at the CBA Soccer Blog we have devoted much time discussing the ideas of the game being played with the brain and the importance of being a game watcher. As a coach I spend a lot of time teaching players visual cues for various facets of play.  This spring our club team will use the mantra of Space and Pace as we pursue a style of play that allows us to play as fast as possible.

Space Equals Time is an age old soccer adage whose meanings are both overt and subtle at once. Obviously the time element concerns having enough space to perform a required skill successfully. Acquiring the space required to perform successfully in is a skill often overlooked.

When talking to my teams about possessing the soccer ball I used to ask them to think of the soccer ball as a golden egg. I wanted them to appreciate how precious possession of the soccer ball is in the game. Ideas behind this included reduction of 50 / 50 balls and expending our energy in maintaining possession of the ball.  Flash forward to the present and I stress the concept of Space to my teams as being of equal importance to possession of the soccer ball.  If the soccer ball represents the crown jewel of the game, then space represents the Tower of London.  The Tower of London is where the Crown Jewels of England are kept safe from those who would steal them.  Space is where teams in possession play in order to keep the ball away from opponents until a shot on goal is generated.

When we wrote of the malaise associated with Ballwatchingitis the idea was to encourage players to see more of the game than the 10 yard square around the location of the ball.  A broadening of a players field of vision is one means of improving in-game anticipatory skills.  With some of the cues we teach the focus is much narrower - the potential shooter's head going down to the ball, the soccer hop and the back swing of his leg are cues to be read indicating the goalkeeper needs to become set in his ready position, for example.

The point of today's writing is to impress upon you the fact adjusting to the speed of the game is a mental process even more so than a physical process.  Players need to gather and assimilate as much game related information as possible in pursuit of increasing the speed at which they are capable of playing the game.  Recognizing, creating and utilizing SPACE is a king consideration in this process and within this idea the identification of various cues that indicate specific play is crucial.

When training goalkeepers my mantra is The feet get the hands to the ball and while this is true, it is the brain that tells the feet the movements required to get the hands to the ball and the eyes that provide the information the brain requires to put the feet and hands in action.

Field players must take a similar approach in using their eyes (and all senses) to provide the brain with information that can be used to anticipate the flow or run of play.  It is the brain that puts the body in motion to make the play.  So it stands to reason training the brain is at least equally important as training they body in preparing to play the game.

Players, ask yourself when was the last time a coach devoted practice time specifically to training the brain?   Coaches, ask yourself if you are finding a proper balance between training the body and training the brain.  If you need help with this concept, contact us and we will be glad to help you out,

Space and Pace

Space and Pace

Soccer is all about space and pace.

The amount of space available

dictates the pace of the attack.