A fantastic article on the science of management

Yesterday i was at soccernet.com and came across a Damian Hughes article on the psychology of succeeding in team sports. The article is really about any organization that consist of a group of people who need to be lead to achieve success. Its a great piece that attempts to understand why England under one manager can suffer but under another thrive.

Here is an excerpt.
Capello has forged a sense of belonging within his squads, creating an environment in which players feel that they have an identity. He has insisted on simple rules, such as wearing official squad blazers and banning mobile phones from meal times, and ordered that his players eat together without any unnecessary distractions. There was even the alleged incident of his throwing a tray at the wall to express his displeasure when Emile Heskey ignored this rule in Ukraine

link to the rest of the story. 
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/feature?id=732672&cc=5901&ver=us

Ivory Coast Slams Chelsea for overuse of Drogba

From Soccernet.com:Ivory Coast coach Vahid Halilhodzic has hit out at Chelsea, claiming that the Premier League fixture congestion has burnt out his key striker Didier Drogba.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=721219&sec=global&cc=5901

What surprised me about the article above was my reaction to it.I feel for Vahid Halihodzic Ivory Coasts manager. But i also felt his reaction was naive. I  am being very ufair calling a national manager naive.They are all to aware of the realities club managers have to win.With inflated salaries and budgets.Results must be immediate and impactful.Leads built in the standings cant be squandered balanced against the notion that a club side manager must worry about one of his star players international responsibilities.

Nature always seeks balance.And a moderate balanced approach is always the bettter way.But when a star play the caliber of Didier Drogba is making in the huindred of thousands of pounds per week and his ability is irreplaceable how does a manager and club not squeeze every ounce out of their stars? Even when it comes at the expense of their own players health?

 Rafa Benitez zealous club rotation policy is one answer to ensuring players remain fresh for the long haul of a Premiership campaign.But Rafa has been under fire for never winning a Premiership campaign.If the idea is to win trophies while maximizing a players full abilities with the exorbitant salaries being earned then most managers are going to play their best players as much as humanly possible.Even if it comes at the expense of their best players.

 We know under the circumstances of incredible salaries and the necessity to win now their are no real choices for a manager at the club level.Especially knowing most managers have week to week existences.What other choices do most managers have? A winter break in England seems an impossibility so its a question players have to ask themselves as part of their thought process when not only choosing a team but also a league to play in. Especially in a World cup year.

 

 

Merry Christmas to all....And the best 11 of the decade

Merry Christmas to all....Been working long hours, so my blog has suffered from my absence.The blogging football world may have benefited though..:).

Dominic Raynor and the writers at Soccernet.com have selected their team of the departing decade.Click the link if your interested.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=717519&sec=reviewofthedecade&root=reviewofthedecade&cc=5901

Italy fared very well in this opinion piece.And deservedly so.It was a great decade with a European Final painfully lost to France in a Golden Goal moment along with a redemptive World Cup victory in Germany 06 against the same French side.Proving the soccer Universe also strived for balance this decade.

What made me most happy with this selection was the selection of Andrea Pirlo as the best Central midfielder in the last 10 years.Pirlo has always been seen as a great player but never mentioned in the conversation as the elite play making midfielder.

 John Brewin Posits that:

The deep-lying playmaker has been another position very much in vogue during the decade. Its best exponent, ahead of the likes of Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Juan Roman Riquelme, Paul Scholes and Juan Sebastian Veron, has been AC Milan's Pirlo. Metronomic in his rhythm and balletic in his ability to get out of tight situations, Pirlo won two Champions Leagues with Milan and a World Cup with his country during the decade.

   


The article wraps up with the Soccernet staff making its selections.A fair and insightful piece.

Merry Christmas

How to beat the 3-5-2 using the 4-4-2

From Moltomanager

Today's breakdown will be on the famous and very popular 3-5-2. 3 defenders, 5 midfielders, 2 attackers. It is a formation i run into with increasing regularity at the club and high school level.I confess i am a 4-4-2 guy. Footballs most balanced formation is easy to teach from in short amounts of training time. Just a few weeks ago i got into a passionate debate with another a fellow staff member at our club. What ensued was a fantastic 1 hour didactical debate on the merits of 3-5-2 and why he feels its king.

First off many and not all 3-5-2 advocates will argue that you only need to defend with one more defender then is attacking you. So the 3 defenders in the 3-5-2 are more then capable of handling the 2 attackers in the 4-4-2 and the 4-5-1. Two of the most common formations in football.

The 3-5-2 can be played three basic ways. In a zonal system, a zonal system with man to man marking with a sweeper and of course straight man to man with a sweeper. I am going to touch briefly on the strength's of this great formation and its weakness.



In the straight man to man 3-5-2 which i am seeing in less frequency to the zonal system the two central defenders will mark the two attacking forwards while the libero (freeman or sweeper) are not allocated any marking responsibilities and is instead asked to clean up for his two defenders while also having the freedom to charge forward into attack when his side regains possession.



Straight man to man defending is too difficult to employ at the youth and high school level.To accomplish such defending you need physically strong players with speed and great ability. Rare at our level. The simple rule to employ when deciding to play zone or man is this.If your bigger faster and stronger.Play man and overwhelm your opponent.If your neither of those things play zone and defend collectively. 11 as 1. Some coaches don't know the difference and pay dearly for their ignorance. Me in my early 20's.



The weakness for me of the 3 defender system in the 3-5-2 is the lack of cover the system provides compared to the 4 defenders in the 4-4-2. In the 3-5-2 the defenders must always stay on their feet,remain between the attackers and the goal and avoid giving the center forwards time and space to turn to goal. With average athletes that can be a daunting demand of young players at your level. If your Germany circa 1970 till present not so much.(See the Kaiser, Franz Beckenbaur)



What gives me the shakes most about the 3-5-2 is the wing back play.5 midfielders out numbers the 4 midfielders by 1 in the 4-4-2 and by 2 players versus the 4-3-3. Fantastic stuff right. True, but its those exact wing backs that give me pause if i am employing the 3-5-2. The wingbacks will asked to play forward to provide attacking width for the formation, this tactic leaves major swaths of the perimeter behind them for my forwards to run into to receive the ball.

Remember the three defenders playing in a zonal system will be asked to protect the penalty area leaving the edge of the box to the corner flag open for easy ball retrieval. A tactic i use very frequently against the 3-5-2 with great success.


Last year my girls went 3-1 against 3-5-2 teams.By simply asking my Attacking mid to play long balls into the corner for my outside midfielders to run onto or one of my forwards to play with an overlapping left or right back we overstressed the back three defenders in the 3-5-2. Forcing them to turn their backs to their own midfield and play blind.

By also outnumbering the opposition in the corners 3-2 and 3-1 we made life very difficult for 3-5-2 teams to work their way out of danger when possession was regained. While also creating simple combinations of tic tac toe play between one of our forwards and an outside mid and an overlapping fullback. Giving the opposition a longer field to play out of.

Look at the above photo and you can see corner flag to penalty area space that can be exploited.

When watching your favorite team play or national side play do they play a 3-5-2? Do you see the strengths and weaknesses of the formation?

end of part 1......to be continued

Sven does funny without the puppetry

Sven Goran shows some personality.By the by the shorts have to go.Or maybe its 1977 again and i didnt get the memo.

With the imminent firing of Siena's Marco Giampaolo we must ask did he forget how to coach over the summer?

An adage in coaching i used to hear often about any manger who's team began to falter after a good season was "He became dumb over night" Referring to a coach or manager who led a side to great results one year but followed it up with disastrous results the following year. Many may be thinking this about Marco Giampaolo who only a few weeks ago received a ringing endorsement from Don Fabio Cappello.Cappelo said of Giampaolo that he is one of Italy's new generation of talents.

Since those kind words Giampaolo's Sienna have lost their seventh match of the young Serie A season. Now according to reports out of Italy Giampaolo sits ready to be fired today.So what happened? How does a young manager with such promise become dumb over night?

First off no manager is dumb at the elite level it can just seem that way sometimes.His ability to manage people can always be questioned but we can assume that to climb the professional ladder each man with a "A" Licence is not unqualified or an impostor. Personally i will always feel that a managers is only as good as his Jon's and Joe's and to an important extent also his X's and O's. But without the talent success is almost impossible.

For Marco Giampaolo the losses over the summer of Juan Zuniga and Houssine Kharja should be seen as a primary reason for Sienna's dire troubles. Give him some talent and we discover Giampaolo is not dumb anymore. Whats left for a manager who looses talent but cant adequately replace his losses?

Sienna are not a disorganized side.Giampaolo's strength is his ability to defend building stout well organized sides with high levels of concentration. Was it an issue of motivation? Its hard to sell your players on the idea of victory as the losses pile up. Did Sienna loose its conviction? Put that in the same category as motivation. Did Sienna loose its team Harmony? When you loose your better players and the winning stops the finger pointing starts.Winning solves all problems, so was it as simple as tactical naivete? Again all systems of play work better when a manager has the men to execute the orders. Not all soldiers are created equal. Even Fabio Capello has failed.Odd to say with all his success.

The curse of Italian football is the penchance to panic and replace managers too quickly. The blessing of Italian football is most of those same fired men will be given other chances to get better at their craft and make right. I expect the same for Marco Giampaolo.I know he didn't get dumb overnight.

Why substitutions are made so late in games

My son asked me why managers wait so late to make all three substitutions in games. Great question.

Its quite simple really.A manager will make the appropriate change to strengthen his or her side.Replacing a weakening player for a stronger player. A Good manager will try to exploit a tactical weakness he or she may may see in an opponent.Conversely a substitution will be made to strengthen a side who may be exploited.

But one of the biggest reasons a manager will save his changes for so late is because if all three allowed substitutions are made too early in the game, say at the 50 minute mark or 60 minute mark and one of his players gets hurt then that team will be forced to play a man down for the remainder of the contest. No manager wants to get caught in such a scenario. So its a matter of rationing your players out while balancing out any tactical ambition you hoped to gain from changing a player. Too Early you run a risk of being caught short handed.Too late and any ambition of changing the face of a game could be wasted.

Dedicating time

I am constantly torn as to what subject matter or theme belongs on moltocalcio and what doesnt. Between Roma and Gli Azzuri i constantly debate what theme or identity my blog should develop. Like me my blog has a meandering quality that would make a clown on a zig zag bike proud. I can go tactics to sometimes gossip to irresponsible speculation. See anything i have written about Rosella Sensi and the imminent sale of AS Roma that never seems to come about. Making the sale of Roma the most perpetually imminent football deal that will never happen.

What i would like to be doing that gives me less pause and more control is talking tactics. I can spend hours talking about a formation and the millions of ways to bring out its best based on talent and circumstance. This past week after winning our league title ( I was only an assistant on that side) i had the priviledge to talk to a few college coaches about our tactical philosophies. We spent two hours just looking at the 4-4-2 and ways it is the best and worst of formations.Factors are innumerable. That conversation above all reminded me that what i love best about football is the infinite ways it can be played.

So i will be dedicating more time to my other blog Moltomanager. At Moltomanager i will try to create a didactal heaven for those like me who love the game but desire more how our favorite sides won or lost. For me its about sharpening my skills and continuing to learn. I hope as many people will add their insights and views to make all of us who love football better fans and better coaches. In the end someone always has a better wheel.

I will post to moltocalcio often borrowing from Moltomanager.Bear with me.I am not trying to cut corners. Just can do so much.

Thanks Pep

Why Cassano wont make the team

Antonio Cassano will not make the national side as long Marcello Lippi is in charge of Italy.I hope i am worng, at 27 this is Cassano's last hurrah.For Lippi past is prologue and Cassano's history precedes him and he is now forever defined as the crazy one who pulls underwear over his own head.My words not necessarily the medias.But who are we kidding.

Antonio Cassano is brilliant,currently he has Sampdoria in first place in the Serie A. But Marcello Lippi has made up his mind that Cassano is too mercurial to allow into a locker room for such a high profile and very short tournament. What Cassano can offer as a play maker and goal scorer is out weighed by the idea that at any moment he can upset the apple cart and send the locker room into a tizzy.

Sampdoria's great play and Antonio's new found peace of mind will not dissuade Lippi. Ironically the better Cassano behaves the more the media will tout him to Lippi.Thus continuing to agitate the Italian manager and provide the same distraction to Lippi despite not even being on the roster. Cassano in his own absence will be the story in Italy and thus the distraction.The effects have even forced one time Roma teammate Danielle De Rossi to chime in this week saying;

"He [Cassano] is amongst all the Italian attackers who has the most talent, and the most fun," the Lupi midfielder was reported as saying on Gazzetta Dello Sport.

"But if we look at goals, those that already represent Italy internationally score more than him,"

Suzy Campanale of football italia is exactly correct when she writes that "The Coach is playing a rather dangerous game with Cassano and the media. The more the newspapers ask about the Bari Vecchia starlet, the less likely he is to call him."

What De Rossi should be talking about is what Italy will have to deal with this weekend.But instead De Rossi finds himself chiming in defence of his manager talking about a player that will have no impact on the pitch this weekend.

I am a fan of Antonio Cassano he is definitely troubled and because of that he gets my empathy and great sympathy, i hope as a human being he can find his center and just be happier or at least balanced emotionally. Cassano has payed a heavy price for his inability to control himself. Antonio Cassano would also make Italy more dangerous.His ability to distribute the ball and keen vision would create space for everyone thus making Italy more dangerous in the attack.

But the bottom line is despite his best effort's in a world cup year to be a good citizen Antonio Cassano's absence will continue to be the distraction Lippi will not want to deal with. And the better he play's and behaves the greater a distraction he will be to the Azzurri.

Something has to give and Lippi will have to make an important decision soon.Whether he is on the team or off the team Cassano is very distracting. Now the question becomes where will he be less destructive. I am hoping in a blue jersey.

Roma less sexy but more functional

Today was my first sight of Roma under Claudio Ranieri.The first thing that struck me about the new Roma was a desire to defend. Out went the champagne football in came the six pack.Collectively Roma look solid in the 4-4-2.They now defend in numbers and at times today looked strong doing so.The sight was almost startling.Roma are not as dangerous in attack now but they are far more reliable defensivley. Simplicity of attitude along with form and function are now the Roma and Ranieri way.

Yet despite Ranieri's desire to simplify Roma's movements and add numbers to defence Napoli did manage to strike first. Ezekial Lavezzi was fantastic in his effort to pivot and fight off pressure,the Argentinian turned and scored a low screamer right under the outstretched Labont who came in to replace the injured Bertagnoli.

The only familiar pattern from the past that continues in the present is Francesco Totti who scored twice today.The first off of a Vucinic pass to Perrotta that deflected to Totti.And the Second Totti hammered home from the edge of the penalty area.

Roma have thrown away the sexy curves and paint job and decided to become a plain but very functional automobile.They don't seem capable of their old football under the pragmatic and demanding Ranieri. But that's ok. Results matter in our world.Despite the lack of sexiness.