Cowshed

If a new coach came to a side you played in and significantly altered how the side played would this require a change in mentality?

Are you a coach?

I would say looking at the top five of the EPL. Arsenal down to Spurs there are teams playing there in clearly differing approaches x several formations. If I continue down the league to tenth there is more variety and more formations. This is a world away from England being a former footballing nation of long ball and 4-4-2.

This may be what you are stating but high possession teams generally do not defend with a low block, its the low possession counter attacking teams. Football is always evolving. England was once the Country of 4-4-2 and pomo. We are not now.

You have just agreed with me. I didn't state defacing a flag is a hate crime, I stated it can be because while we do not have not law that make desecrating a flag a crime, we have law that prohibit hostility aimed towards groups. Hence in my post I added this ? No this does not fall under the above. Was it insulting? Yes. This act caused insult. A response that was predictable. What was the point of Nike and the FA knowingly doing something that they must have known would have not been wildly welcomed? I don't see the point. Your post featuring a laughing emoji about this flag.

The two are linked. England are very good defensively, amongst the best when they play cautiously. Mr Southgate is attempting to be more offensive, playing higher and this has quickly led to the team conceding big chances. Versus Brazil England playing higher led to Brazil creating numerous chances in behind the advanced line. England also fared badly when they pressed up the pitch and Brazil counter pressed with Rice and Gallagher being caught frequently in advanced positions.

I posted that defacing a flag can be a hate crime. I also posted this? You ignored the this?. Could this, an American sportswear brand rebranding of our the St George be perceived as insensitive? The action has been unpopular. A reaction that should have been predicted. Yes I posted pictures of England and Bristol City fans St George flags because they are significant. The St George is clearly a significant part of fan culture and traditions. They are part of BCFC fan culture. You then posted a laughing emoji regarding the St George that required a lot of effort from City fans to purchase. I with my family and a friends took a small part in that fundraising. Here's that picture again of that flag/surfer twenty years on at recent game. I do think its cool. Of course it is you stupid bugger. You were metres away from me in the ground.

Tradition and part of fan culture.

Lovely.

That is not the flag of England.

Yes defacing a flag can be a hate crime. This?

Defacing a flag is a hate crime.

Malmo don't play with seven players on side. They have a back four and two deep lying central midfielders. Its not an unusual shape. The six players in front of the back four move across the pitch creating large overloads in attempt to progress the ball up the pitch. Any better?

Building from the back Malmo don't do anything exceptional, its quite structured, its a four two shape with splitting CB's wide FB's. 7-8 players are not specifically played down one side. They play from a back four and a double pivot. The pivot moves with the ball and so do the attacking central midfielders to the forward/forwards creating ladders. The ladders are the overload and this can be either side of the pitch or down the centre. The ball goes right the team flows (tilting) right, and if the ball goes left the team tilts left. In the second and final third is where Malmo look different.

A parallel. A driving licence proves a individual is proficient to pass a exam and a test, they can drive. this does not mean in future the individual does not drive badly, dangerously, recklessly etc. We don't allow people to drive cars without proof of a standard and knowledge. Football at each level has certifiable standards from grass roots up to the pro game to achieve. Football doesn't allow people to coach without proof of a standard and knowledge, standards that are not easy to achieve, taking years to reach pro licence level and through evaluation of candidates are not widely available.

Pep Guardiloa has not played the same type football from Barcelona to Bayern Munich to Man City. Bayern played a 4-1-4-1 and played with wingers who crossed to Muller and the Polish/German whose name I cant spell. Barcelona to Man City is more similar but Man Citys build up play due to having Ederson and changes in laws (post 2020) see the team having a wide variation, Man Citys formations in possession due to Ederson, Stones, Walker are very different to Barcelona and Bayern, they are playing a times with eleven outfield players with Ederson as a centre back. So. Mr Guardiola adapts and evolves his football to environments x personnel, its not the same club to club. Licences do not teach modern coaching modern coaching methods. Tutors across education will teach coaching methodologies, It is the coach who has to prove across modules that they can demonstrate proficiency in coaching. Motivation, man management is part of modules, but this is again a demonstration of knowledge and proficiency, this does not mean the individual is an expert and at the zenith of psychology. Modern coaching methods. Erik Ten Hag, De Zerbi have pro licences, so does Gareth Ainsworth. Hopefully you see where that goes.

Is this what the UEFA courses do, facilitate a manager to choose a formation and pattern of play and then validate it via assessment? In parts yes. The pro licence is proof of proficiency. It consists of modules that cover things like game related training, tactics, scouting, match analysis to contracts and agents. To gain a A, B and the non pro C licence you have to create a project which covers your football your philosophy, how you will coach, what your mission and vision is. That project and all its elements of training, its game approach and model of play could be 4-4-2 and playing like Dave Bassetts Wimbledon. During the project assessment will be made leading up to a game, during a match by FA assessors. They don't tell the individual how to play the game, they assess efficiency and competency. Is it pure coincidence that so many of the so called young, modern managers have similar possession heavy philosophies and playing styles? No. Its where the game has been heading for decades. England has absorbed influence from wider football as we have brought in foreign coaches and their excellence is mimicked, copied, plagiarised etc. The FA and Howard Wilkinson created blue print for the national game, the future game two decades ago. This saw a move towards more possession based football to create more technical players. England's U teams to the XI are competing at levels they did not previously. Its been adapt to succeed. Pep is a maverick. He is a free thinker. His football clearly has a lineage to Rinus Michels, Cruyff, but aspects are unique and remarkable in their unorthodoxy.

Rapid. Direct. Got a bit of skill about him. Good, very good 1v1.

I have gone through a 7 -16 coaching cycle, and numerous players I coached now have entered Western League, and couple higher as 16/17/18 year olds. I know one at Briz, one at Hengrove, two at Keynsham and now three who have recently joined Bishop Sutton. Bishop Sutton have had a horrific time, the team was absurdly poor at one point for the level it was playing, and over the last month with a new Manager they now are improving, with the sevens and eights they were conceding dramatically reducing. Bishop Sutton now are competitively losing e.g. 4-0 v top of the table Radstock with kids who will improve. The new manager has improved them, the kids have improved them, and hopefully they can with relegation gain some momentum now for next season, with players stepping up from their U18's who are a decent squad.

There it is clarity. Communication. The same way throughout the club cannot be the same. The pedant in me notes you cant play the same way when academy teams at early ages play seven a side, nine, and at U13 this becomes eleven. Through those stages kids are training through a syllabus that creates skills, they (kids) cant deal with lots of tactics and input mentally, this promotes slower learning, so young players are going through stages, like terms focussing on topics, using learning activities that drip in technical aspects and tactical aspects slowly over months and years. Through small sided games and in non competitive football players play a variety of positions, its development. The U16 - U21 to XI are not doing the above. They are not playing the same formations and are not approaching games with the same intent.

Exposing kids to variables systems of play, is wildly thought to be not beneficial. Young players lack the cognitive understanding. Episodic training does not create deeper learning versus periodized training. Bristol City don't train young players only one way, and most clubs do not either. Young players go through age related phases and the training reflects the age related priorities. Tactics at early ages are very rudimentary (understanding), skill creation is the priority. Players at early ages will generally play in multiple positions at academies, and development centres through foundation and youth stages. Post youth stage is professional development. Clubs do not play one system, systems are playing systems, variables of playing systems, and these playing systems won't be one formation systems. Even Ajax and Barcelona don't use one system.

Its also a curiosity as Lee Johnson would have been going through training that was episodic at BCFC. There was no one model guiding his football at BCFC. Lee Johnsons football had morphing styles. Football of styles means less time is spent on periodisation, the training jumps from topic to topic - Episodic. This means that training is less integrated, not more, and learning is as not as internalised (deep). Yes, really.

Table | Division One | Toolstation Western Football League (thefa.com) Bishop Sutton 33 games 0 wins 2 draws .

The poster used the word education. At u18 players are educated. Educated with the intent players play for the XI. At the U18 stage you would expect to see synergy in the football from the U18 's to the XI. Pleasing result. A difficult watch.

CFG has existed for ten years, There are 11/12/13 clubs in the group. Bolivar build up from the back, so do Man City so do New York and so do clubs who have been playing their variations of possession football longer than the CFG group existed. I recently posted the Liverpool decision making tree, those principles are used right across football. They apply to the teams in the CFG group. The principles were standard coaching methodology, but how those standards are applied widely differs. Bristol City may and do use similar principles to Liverpool, or Man City, or Brighton or any number of teams but the football clearly differs. Bristol City play very differently to Man City. The sub principles, that break down the approach to the football are very very different from the GK to the inverting FB's, rotating CB, the patterns, the lopsided formations .. That is unique. There is a cost issue with any approach to football. Being able to run explosively and have a high recovery speed post explosive movement is a skill. Pressing a ball for intensely twenty seconds one player takes ten seconds to recover another takes two minutes. That is sometimes called defensive tactical intensity. Think Famara v Bobby Reid. High DTI is prized by some teams because they need intense runners. Add pace. These physical elements have costs. Bristol City are not in the hes a great header of the ball, hes great one v one, hes positionally great, he is really strong, he is really quick, he can bring the ball out, he has range long, and all that market. Bristol City can prioritize elements of players abilities that most suit the football. Compromise can also be made where players don't have to be of a level across all their skills, Marlon Pack (yes midfield) distributed the ball efficiently, while many can run faster pushing a wheel barrow. That was synching aptitudes and that is what any progressing and successful team do. Improvement in key positions, better than average, good at key skills the team needs is not that elite market.