Players often ask their coach after a game : How did I do? What do I need to do to improve? These questions are much easier to answer if players prepare the following before the start of the game.

 

• What were the individual targets / tasks you set yourself  before the game?
• What were the team tasks you wanted to get right during the game?
• What weakness did you want to feel had improved during the game, compared to the past?
• What strength / weapon did you want to have an impact on the game and did this happen?

 

• Players can then answer these questions themselves after the game (using game footage if available) and then go over their answers with their coach.
• Players can then also use this discussion to prepare for the next game, where the process is repeated.
• It can also be used to look at the current development cycle a player is in, and see if it needs to be tweaked or changed, as well as offer ideas for the next cycle. [ If you are not sure how to develop a 'development cycle' work through the links in the table below].

 

 

 

A really useful tool to use when setting game tasks at an individual level is the Individual Cycle of Football checklist.

Click on the links in the table below for more info.

Note : The I.T.C.F can also be called the

First principles of good play.

 

 

 

 

A lot of players with good technique are not good players because they focus too much on using technique in games.

They try to pre-plan the exact technique they will use in a specific moment in the game. This might make sense. The inside inside for example has very clear moments when it is effective, so if players look out for these moments, and then use the Inside inside effectively, they will look like a good player in that moment.

But really good players don't even give technique a thought.

Really good players see the game as a problem solution exercise. What is the problem and what solution do I want, and then instinct does the rest.

Good players have excellent technique (and have spent hours developing a great touch etc) but have got to a point where technique is simply a function of the solution they want.

There are some great pages in the resource that look at this in a lot more detail. Here are some links :

• Technical first principles
• Context and pressure problems

 

Simply Put :

The game at an individual level is an exercise of manipulating time and space to improve the position of the ball.

Technique should simply be an instinctively used tool in this process.

 

 

 

Otherwise use this table to move back through this section of the resource: