Space in Soccer

One of the aspects about my current position that I am beginning to really enjoy is teaching the game of soccer on a basic level.  When coaching high school I had come to rely on a majority of student athletes being relatively experienced in the game through years of travel and club soccer. Most of my current team's experienced has been in recreational soccer.  I am finding myself explaining and teaching on a simpler level than I am accustomed to doing at the high school level.  And I am really enjoying this as I embrace the process.

Space

One of the most used words in coaching soccer is SPACE.   It is used in a generic sense with a variety of accepted meanings dependent on context. Coaches and players alike are generally able to identify which definition to apply based on the situation being discussed. Of course, when the concept of space is first being introduced players are taught to "spread out" in order to find open space.  Spacing becomes important and how to utilize spacing becomes a focus of basic tactics. As our tactical understanding evolves we teach how to consciously create and deny space.  Throughout this process our use of the word space morphs.  This is what I want to focus on today.

Space is such a generally accepted and overused term that many soccer glossary's donot even list the word among its contents. There either exists an assumption everyone knows what space is or no one knows how to properly define what space is.

For me, it seems reasonable to look at space from an individual perspective.  Personal space might be considered as that which the body or its parts can reach without moving from its starting position. In my estimation that is a very narrow definition of personal space.  I prefer to elaborate upon it just a bit.  How much space does a player require to effectively maneuver in and play the ball? The answer to this question more realistically defines personal space for soccer players, in my opinion.

To descriptively define this space I think of it in terms of an individual's technical and tactical radius. This is a term that is, I believe, being adapted by US soccer.  Of course, each individual will have an unique technical tactical radius.  The more technically proficient and physically balanced a player is, the less space he will require to play confidently on the ball.  A colleague refers to this as spatial management which is great nonmenclature to be sure although it would probably not resonate with youth players all that well. At the heart of this matter is two relationships every high school player should have an understanding of 1) space and time  and 2) space and pace. In other words, a players awareness of space in relation to technical ability and tactical decision making.

What of other kinds of space?

Open space is easily recognizable. Neither players nor the ball are in open space. Ideally, from an attacking perspective, the ball carrier and a teammate will recognize open space with the ball carrier playing the ball into it and a teammate meeting the ball in the available space.

This leads us to idea that space, like the game itself, can be a living breathing entity that is constantly being created, destroyed and morphed to one teams advantage or the other.  When a player makes a purposeful run to open space for a teammate, the space created is live.

When an area of the field is congested or clutter we think of that space as being dead. Think bumble bee ball in you little play or some styles of channel play that see an overload of players in a single channel.  We could also visualize a pressing defense that seeks to get as many people around the ball and into passing lanes. All these are examples of what I refer to as dormant space. The space is not
dead, but is of little use at the moment.  Yet, it can and will be reawakenedthrough ball movement / player movement and game situations.

In other places on this blog we have written about negative space.  This is the space behind the backs and in front of the goalkeeper.  Attackers love to preserve this space until they can take advantage of it at pace.  Defenders seek to deny negative space to attackers by constricting it in relation to the threat level opponents present.

The overriding theme in this article is recognition that space is alive. Within the boundaries of the pitch space expands and contracts around the ball and players. Spatial awareness aids in the efficiency of ball and player movements with timing being a critical element. These things must be taught and developed in order to play at the highest possible level.

Take Standard Training Exercises and Repurpose them.

I have been reviewing video from past NSCAA convention sessions looking for different ideas.  One thing I have noticed is many of the clinicians use generally accepted exercises or drills for their demonstrations. I have no problem with this. In fact, when addressing a coaching audience at a coaching clinic it can be good to utilize activities most might be familiar with to build a foundation from which you can teach to explore other options.

This morning I reviewed a session on Speed of Play and Speed of Thought presented by Ian Barker from the 2014 NSCAA convention.  Far be it for me to criticize an established talent like Ian Barker. He presented a solid session working through a progression of activities focusing on combinations and patterns to increase speed of play. In approximately 50 minutes there was marked improvement in the demonstration team.

Now, 50 minutes is a limited amount of time. It would not be realistic to expect every aspect of Pace of Play to be covered in the allotted time.  That said, the one thought that kept running through my mind while watching this session is "if all we ever do, is all we've ever done. All we'll ever be is what we've always been."  I had been using the same progression of activities with teams for well over a decade.  It wasn't until I modified the activities and more importantly the points of emphasis within the activities that my teams made real progress with pace of play.

As you watch the video look for opportunities to make some of the following coaching points or points of emphasis.

1) Know your next play before your first touch on the ball.

* This involves preparing to play the ball.
     Off the ball movement
     Properly positioning the body to receive the ball
     First touch being in the direction of your play or even being your play.

2)  Receive across the body whenever possible so the hips remain open to the field and you have options for play.

3)  Intentionally engage a defender as the ball carrier to create numbers up situations to exploit.

4) Efficiency and Economy of touches.

5) Ball movement is predicated on player movement.

*  Intentional movement to
     Create space for a teammate
     Into space created by a teammate
     To intentionally and purposefully move one or more defenders.

6) Know and utilize the Cues for Combination Passing

7)  Possession is not about moving the ball. Possession is about moving opponents so the ball may be moved more easily. We call it manipulating a defender or the defense.

8) Effective Communication.  Clear and concise.  Give a pass, Give information.  Be your teammates eyes when his are focused on the ball.

 9) If a teammate is under pressure move towards him to get in his vision and do so at appropriate angles for making / receiving a pass.

10) If a teammate is not under pressure clear the space around him so he make select a defender to engage OR better yet, clear the space around your teammate to intentionally isolate a defender to be engaged by positioning yourself to begin a combination passing sequence.

These are but 10 areas not (specifically) emphasized in the video presentation linked above.  It might be taken for granted that players already possess these tools in their tool belts, but in watching the video we see that is not necessarily so.  We often refer to items like the 10 listed above as the details of the process.  And it is important to remember that success is found in the smallest of details. 

Want to learn more?  Search this sight for any of the key phrases listed above OR if you want to see this in action, contact us a 567-204-6083 or tbrown@wcoil.com and make arrangements for us to come do a camp for you and your team.  Thanks for reading! 

I'm a Rambling Man.

I suppose it is due to a wave of nostalgia that swept over me when our youngest son completed his last season of high school soccer?  My thoughts have been wandering back to the days when our sons, hardly more than toddlers, began playing the beautiful game and back again to these last days of our youngest sons high school career.  Those thoughts have not taken a direct path, but have strayed here to there and from child to child.  This article will likely ramble about just as much as I attempt to formulate some of these thoughts into cohesive ideas about this game the world refers to as football or futbol and that we know as soccer.

Having the analytical mind that I do the general premise behind this "typing out loud"  is to consider a better development model for soccer here in the United States. Not only am I considering how my sons learned the game and I along with them, but I am also attempting a bit of reverse engineering in studying foreign exchange students and foreign players in the MLS. It's an ambitious undertaking, for sure. Purely unscientific as well.  I am using my powers of observation, deduction and analysis in an attempt to find a better way.

Calm and poised are adjectives often used to describe how my sons play the game.  Grant came to this in spite of my coaching.  I think Grant would credit Graham Ramsay with helping him learn to think the game differently than many of his peers did and perhaps still do.  Treg benefited from my increased awareness of the similarities between my first love of basketball and my new love of soccer but Ken White had a huge influence on his play as well. Lance is the best of the lot in how he sees and interprets the game and his play reflects this.

Over the years we have had several foreign exchange students play for our club and with the high school team. Some of them have been quite good while others have been average at best. Still, all these young men, every single one of them, stand apart from their American counterparts in their ideas about the game.  I have long believed the foreign exchange students think the game differently than our own players do. Only recently have I began to consider the reason for this being their seeing the game differently than we do.  Therein lies what I will call the subtleties of the game. These subtleties of the game might be difficult for me to articulate to you in no small part because my vision of them is still evolving. Please bear with me as I try my best.

Simon was a JV player at Shawnee. Why he never played varsity is a mystery to me although I suspect it was because he was a cerebral player more so than an energetic whirlwind of physical activity. Simon had great ideas on how to play this game we call soccer. Decision making and quality of first touch are what set him apart from most of those around him.

The decision making aspect was indicative of Simon's vision or game intelligence. He was most definitely a game watcher as opposed to a ball watcher. His play was rarely frenetic. He was a player, who by US standards, might have been considered lazy.  This is one of the subtleties I am writing about - if you are a game watcher you don't have to have a constantly high physical work rate to be effective.

In high school soccer it seems high physical work rate is valued more than high mental work rate. It's a work harder, think less approach to the game. This is the issue at the heart of the overly direct play that dominates high school soccer. With our foreign players mental work rate dictates physical work rate. That is one of the subtleties of the game I am writing about.

Quality of first touch is one of the areas where mental work rate dictating physical work rate manifests itself most and in the clearest fashion. Our exchange students have been very adept with their first touch on the ball.  However, their first touches on the ball have often been of an unconventional nature. One might describe many of these first touches as being executed with improper technique. 

This might be best illustrated by describing how another of our exchange students, Goncalo, executed in a warm up exercise known as breaking lines.  The basic concept of breaking lines is to pass the ball around the outside of a grid using proper sequences of touches. It is all done two-touch utilizing inside of the foot "reception" and the push pass in the following combinations:

Right foot first touch leading into a push pass with the right foot.  Right / Right
Right / Left
Left / Left
Left / Right

I need to backtrack to another idiom characteristic in foreign players. They tend to arrive to training and games in street clothes with their kit on underneath. 'Calo was one of the "worst" of the lot at this. He would even take the field for warm ups dressed in jeans and a polo.  Yes, I allowed this to happen and I will relate why a little further along in my ramblings.

I explained breaking lines in specific terms to the group and set them off on performing it. It wasn't long before my attention was drawn to Calo's touches.  It seemed he would use the inside of his foot when convenient but was quite content to use the outside of his foot or any other part of his body for both receiving and passing the ball. I watched intently for  awhile thinking I would stop the exercise and make a coaching point from one of Calo's touches.  I never did though.

Breaking lines is a warm up activity that I was using to reinforce proper technique with the players. Toes up, heel down, change the path of the ball when receiving. Toes up, heel down, strike with the ankle bone when passing. 

Calo viewed breaking lines for what it was - a warm up exercise. He utilized it as preparation to train or play with a focus on moving the ball around the outside of the grid in as efficient of a manner as he could. If that entailed using other techniques than the inside of the foot first touch or push pass, did it really matter?  This was Calo's thinking.  Effectiveness was preferred to adhering strictly to "proper" technique or technical excellence.  Another subtlety of the game.

As Americans we marvel at the creativeness foreign players often exhibit in their play.  We lament the lack of creativity to be found in American players.  The difference might lie in the difference between how we viewed breaking lines and how Calo viewed breaking lines.

When my sons play, they put on their uniforms at home before heading to the pitch. If it is cold outside they will wear warm ups over their uniforms. About the only article of clothing they put on at the pitch is their cleats or boots.  Foreign players often arrive in street clothes. Sometimes they have their kits on underneath. Sometimes they go to a restroom to change into their kits. As a general rule, they are always late arriving on the pitch to warm up.  I generally like a 30 minute warm up before a match. Our foreign exchange students seem to prefer about 15 minutes and more than once they have warmed up in street clothes.

I think, in part, it is a marvelous way to keep everything in perspective. These exchange students love the game of soccer as much or more than their American counterparts, but are not consumed with soccer. The game has its place in their lives, a big place in their lives, but it is not who they are. Soccer is something that they do, then it's back to their regularly scheduled lives. Perhaps another subtlety in the game?

Most American team sports are coach driven games. That is, a preponderance of the decision making that occurs in-game is scripted by coaches.  Football huddles up for the quarterback to call plays sent in from the sideline by a coach.  In basketball coaches often call out plays and defensive sets from the sidelines.  Even in baseball the "hit and run" or steal of a base is called from the dugout. Sometimes every pitch is called from the dugout. 

Soccer is a player driven sport.  There are limited opportunities for set plays. There are only general patterns of play to be used as a template.  No timeouts. The playing surface is usually 120 yards long by 70 yards wide with players spread over a good portion of it making in-game verbal communication from the sidelines a sketchy proposition at best.  In-game problem solving in soccer lies squarely in the realm of the player.

And here is yet another subtlety of the game.  For most American players soccer is a ball driven game. For our exchange student athletes football is a space driven game. It's as if Americans see one ball to be shared by 22 players while our exchange students see 120 yards x 70 yards of space for 22 players to play with a ball in.  That is probably about as clear as mud to many of you, so let me try again in another way.

Something I noticed with many of the foreign players we have had on our teams is the idea of moving without the ball against the grain of the defense.  American players tend to stand waiting for the ball to be played through the defense to them or they are found moving in the same direction as the defense is while looking to receive a pass.  Instead of running full speed into the attack, many of our foreign players have moved more slowly looking for and watching space develop before moving strategically into that space when it is most advantageous to do so.  They realize there is only one ball for 22 players and the best way to have a teammate share the ball with you is to find open space (time) for you to play with the ball in.  Another subtlety of the game.

And this particular subtlety is one I have based our entire attacking system of play upon.  The general coaching phrases I have taken up are ball movement is predicated on player movement  and the purpose of possession is not to move the ball, but to move the opposition so it is easier to move the ball.  

In my mind, these subtleties of the game are what need to be introduced much earlier in the development of young players. The place to start is with coaches recognizing soccer is a player driven game. And for players to experience and explore the game from a perspective that soccer is game played with the brain. 

How about a fallacy of the game?

I have previously written about Truths of the Game. If we accept that there are indeed truths of the game then by extension we must also admit there are fallacies of the game.  Today, I am going to take a look at one of the great fallacies of the game:  A possession based system of play cannot be utilized without technically sound players.

This is an argument I hear all the time and one I have proven to be false time and again.

Let's begin by asking the obvious question: How "technical" do players have to be before they can play a possession based style of play? Is there some magical standard for technical excellence to meet before possession play can be considered and if so, what is that standard?  How is it defined?

Perhaps we need to look at a second question even as we consider the first, What is possession play? How do we define  possession play?

You see, this fallacy of the game is accepted because of an assumed logic attached to it. And we all know that to assume makes an ass our of u and me, right?  

Space = time.

This is a generally accepted concept of playing soccer. So, when it comes to playing possession based soccer shouldn't the question be: How much space / time do your players require to be technically sound?

Now, if your vision as a coach is to play a possession based style, your challenge is to help your team manipulate space / time in such a manner that they can execute technique proficiently or at least sufficiently in.  It stands to reason players and teams with weaker technical abilities must provide themselves more space / time to execute in. In this manner, through the use of tactics, any team can play a possession based style of play provided they understand how to recognize, create and utilize (manipulate) space / time to their advantage.

If your definition of possession is the ability to play keep-away under match conditions you are not likely to experience a lot of success without technically gifted players. But possession based soccer is not about being able to string 10+ passes together.  Possession soccer is simply the ability to move the ball into position for a shot to be taken and this should be accomplished by the fewest amount of successful consecutive passes as possible.

Simply find the path of least resistance to goal.  That requires identification and utilization of space and time commensurate with the technical abilities the players possess.  This is the fundamental attribute of any system of play.

Tactics are about manipulation of Space

Whenever two or more soccer coaches are gathered to talk about the nuances of the game talk invariably turns to formations, tactics and space. Formations are employed to accentuate certain and specific areas of space on the pitch that a team either wishes to deny to an opponent or utilize themselves to attack through. How a team manipulates space is its system of play. Specific tactical emphasis such as a pattern of play, particular combination play or purposefully channelling an attacker a certain direction serve to manipulate play towards or away from specific areas or space on the pitch.

In it's simplest form, when defending a team will want to deny space in front of the goal and when attacking will look to create space in front of the goal to be used only at the moment of striking a shot on goal. In a broader sense, manipulation of space must in each phase of the game and in each third of the field of play.

If a team wishes to attack directly they must preserve "negative space" between the opposing backs and their goal keeper until they are ready to play in that space. Target players playing in the seams between defending backs and defending midfielders are essential in keeping the defending backs high and negative space open while looking for vertical seams to attack through.

If a team is more about possessing the ball and building an attack, they will want forwards pushing the defending backs to create more space in front of them to possess the ball in. Possession teams are very much about changing the point of attack and forcing a defense to move laterally to create seems to attack through.

In summation, the coach needs to identify individual and collective strengths and weaknesses of his players. Then the coach must selection a formation that will accentuate strengths and cover weaknesses. Finally a decision needs to be made concerning space - how to deny space, how to create space and how to utilize space to his teams best advantage. This manipulation of space is what tactics are all about.