WEB SPECIAL - soccercoachinginternational.com

1 Extra Article1 Technique/tactics I train a lot with positioning and match drills. With a lot ofdifferent position drills I want to train the things that went wrongduring the last match. This can differ from week to week. Half thetraining is based on technique the other half on tactics. Thesethings can t be separated. When you know where to put the ball,but you don t have the technique to put it there, you won t getanywhere. When you turn it around it won t work. When you havethe skill to put the ball anywhere you want, but you don t knowwhere, you won t achieve anything.

2 That s why I ve started thisseason focusing on technique and during the season I veswitched to focus more on tactics. During my match preparationtalk it s the other way around. At the start of the season I wasusing my board a lot, now I don t use it that often. During halftime I use my board a lot to visualize some match situations. 40 year old Sander Strik has, after coaching several U17 andU15 teams at different clubs, now for the first time taken con-trol of the U15 team from Oss 20, a Dutch amateur club. Strik,who has coached various age groups for the last 15 years (atthe age of 15 he was already training the youth keepers), hasdeveloped a good outlook of the problems and the possibilitiesthat each age group has.

3 Typical problems you have to copewith at U15 are laziness, stubbornness, attitude and a lack ofdiscipline. They are willing to talk about football, but not on thepitch. Most of the time they are spoiled, but when they arriveat the club they have to do things. They must take turns to pre-pare the pitch and wash the shirts. They want to train and to betrained. They should do something to accomplish that. That swhy I think the U15 is a very hard age group to coach, but onthe other hand it s a great challenge to work with such a focus on this.

4 I keep on pointing out their failures and try tochange their behavior. It s not easy, but they are showing pro-gress. I have noticed that there has been a change since the be-ginning of the season. It s disappointing that we ve started theseason with 17 players as three players have decided to quitplaying due to disciplinary : Rob Robben U15 s are a very difficult age group to coach Sander Strik, U15 coach Oss 20: To enjoy playing soccer , you ve got to take risks WEB SPECIALE xtra ArticleChristmas tree When I have a strong and good striker in my team, my favoriteway of playing would be the so-called Christmas Tree.

5 Thisway of playing is ver y hard to notice for the opponent. The backsof the opponent should sag. When they refuse to do that a lotof space will be available up front. The problem for the opponentwill be: who is covering who. This way I will be playing with onefor ward, two attacking midfielders, three midfielders and fourdefenders on a line. The for ward should get possession andplay the ball to the attacking midfielders. The attackingmidfielders have to pass the ball to the outside this system is played like it should be its ver y effective.

6 Quality soccer Because I don t have a strong striker in my team, I usuallyplay with my other favorite playing style: 1:4:3:3. I use a solidway of playing. I want to build up from the back. I also focus onkeeping the ball on the ground. I m ver y keen on good qualitysoccer. With a good individual move or good passing play inmidfield and up front we should get a numerical my defense has the ball, the midfielders should be closeto the strikers. I want to create some space between thedefense and the midfield. That way my central midfielder cancome into the ball.

7 When his opponent doesn t follow him hecan control the ball, turn and pass the ball to the striker. Whenhis opponent follows him their will be space available for thestriker who should tr y to become available to receive the ball. Playing the ball to the central striker When tr ying to get free to receive the ball only two things canhappen: your opponent follows you and you won t get free toreceive the ball but their will be space available for the otherplayers, or your opponent won t follow you and you get the freespace to receive the ball.

8 And that s the problem with our just won t get it. Our for wards have to get into action whenour midfielders have possession of the ball. Before that they justhave to pay attention. They shouldn t move too fast, that way theywill close down all the space. It s all about running and have to look at what you re fellow players are doing and reactto it. The central striker should be the first person who gets in topossession when we are building up. It sounds a bit strange,because most of the time in that area the space is limited, but I wantthat to happen because then there will be space available on the my wingers get inside their opponents follow them, my midfieldershould use the space available on the wings.

9 When my winger sopponent doesn t follow him, he will be free to receive the ball. 2 Diagram 1: The Christmas TreeDiagram 2: Way of playingExtra ArticleWingers start on the sideline The problem with our team is the attack. They all can play quietwell, but they just don t know how to run and create space. Theirsoccer intelligence is not high. Defending and building up isn t theproblem, but as mentioned our for wards keep making the wrongdecisions. You should say that 1:4:3:3 is more predictable than1:4:4:2 because you have more players running, but I don t wantmy wingers to stay on the sidelines.

10 They have to start at thesideline. From that position they have to start playing. I train thisby playing 6 v 6 on a half pitch. I divide the pitch into 2 areas; mywingers should always start outside these areas. There are, whenthey receive the ball, two possibilities. They can control the balland give a cross or they can start to dribble towards the inside ofthe pitch. When the last option is used, the player who passedthe ball will become the winger. That way they will change a s what I think is important, because each player should knowwhat is asked of them (See exercise 1).