Is It The Barca Way For Football Development In The ACT? It Should be!

Well if it isn't, it should be.

They are the perfect training aide for National Football Curriculum. Who wouldn't want to play like Barcelona? The number of triangles they create in quick time, the willingness of every player off the ball to work to provide the next best option, the hunger to retain the ball and then win it back quickly if its lost, are attributes you would want in your team, every team, not just the representative teams or development programs. Every Junior coach should analyse the Barca style, Capital Football should make it their business to get as much vision of their games, edit it to provide a training resource to coaches and clubs.  If the Junior Clubs mandate the use of the 1-4-3-3 this season, the National Football Curriculum will really take off and the Football leap ahead.

Parents take note - look to have your child trying to play like this and their coach advocating and training to play in this style. Its fun! The best that Football can offer - next to the enjoyment of playing a truly beutiful game with your mates.

If you get a chance, find a video fo the recent first round game between Barcelona and Arsenal. It was nothing short of Football heaven. An inspiration for the season ahead here in the ACT at every competitive level in junior commmunity football.

The Les Murray Blog from that wonderful Football program "SBS The World Game", contains a terrific article on Barcelona - http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/les-murray/blog/1048057/Is-Barca-the-best-in-history#add

Les Murray had this to say:

Is the current FC Barcelona the best club team of all time?

"...Sorting through the images that are in my mind, and the experiences that I’ve had as a student of the game for more than half a century, I’m having difficulty resisting the supposition that this Barca is not only up there with the cream but may be as good as it gets.
It’s important that I qualify what I mean here. I’m not talking about the greatest club in the world, based on trophies won, achievements made over prolonged periods, star players paraded etc. I make reference only to the unique excellence of this current Barcelona, the one under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, which is yet to complete its third season.
Greatness in football is defined by many things. But the greatest point of distinction and respect, is when a team becomes a singular reference point for all that other teams admire and want to become. This is the Barcelona of today, in a way and to an extent one has rarely seen in the long annals of the game." ....

"The stars have aligned, creating a product that is the envy of all clubs and will be remembered and nostalgically recalled fifty years from now. By and large it has a team that was not bought but organically fashioned from within, and by a technical ideology which, though inspired by the Dutch, is now distinctly its own. This is important when making comparisons for too many great teams of the past were assembled by the cheque book.
This fact promises the greatness of the current Barcelona some serious longevity, which brings us back to the original question: is it the greatest club team of all time? "....
"What I can and will say, is that the Barca of today is the finest club team I have ever seen. I would guess that many would take the same view, including Craig Foster who I’m sure would shamelessly concur. And I’ve been around more than twenty years longer than him.

I rejoice every day at being alive to witness the infinite beauty of this Barcelona and sometimes have to pinch myself to see if it’s all real."

Here is a couple of video clips of Barcelona to inspire you:

COERVER® Coaching to offer World First Diploma in Youth Development in Canberra.

Sourced from Coerver Coaching media release.

Coerver are world leaders in the area of Football individual skill development. This course is a rare opportunity.

Alfred Galustian,(pictured below) Co-founder and International Director of Coerver Coaching will deliver Coerver Coaching’s World First Diploma in Youth Development in Canberra on 5/6 March, 2011.

 

Coerver Coaching is the World’s Number One skills teaching method. Australian football continues to develop and increase its focus on the technical elements of our players and this is a great opportunity to learn with one of the World leaders in technical development.

Alfred Galustian is the Skills Specialist Advisor to the English Premier League (EPL) to train the EPL Clubs’ Academy Directors, including Coaches from Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle United and West Ham. Alfred is also the Technical Advisor to the Football Federation Australia, as well as to the Japanese FA, French Football Federation and Chinese FA.

Coaches will explore the Coerver Coaching World's Number One skills teaching method and identify the key elements in technical development for our Youth players.

Alfred Galustian said, “This is a very exciting development for Coerver Coaching and Australian Coaches. The modern game is fast, exciting and increasingly skilful. Players are often coached in teams, on team patterns. What Coerver brings is that individual component, the ability for a Coach to improve his or her players’ individual skill. Increasingly it’s individual skills that can make or break a match and win the game.”

Coerver Coaching, was started by Alfred Galustian and former Chelsea player Charlie Cooke in 1984. Coerver Coaching currently operate in 28 countries including Australia, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

To register contact below:
Jason Lancsar

COERVER Coaching Asia Pacific
e. contact@coerveract.com
m. +61 421907788
w. http://www.coerveract.com/
w. http://www.coerver.com.au/
 
The co-founders of Coerver Charlie Cooke (left) and Alfred Galustian (right) talk about the Coerver method.

Triangles, Triangles and More Triangles - Where Did The 1-4-3-3 System Come From?

Sourced from http://au.fourfourtwo.com/blogs.aspx?CIaBEID=2308 by Gregory Parker, Jan 24 2011 08:51

Here is another short article on the 1-4-3-3 system of play.

A good summay of its evolution, but importantly, the author points to the critical element in this system of play (well any systen when it comes right down to it) - the need for players on and off the ball to constantly create working triangles. No triangles, no passing options - simple as that and kids need to get this geometric shape trained in so that it is a deeply entrenched preferential behaviour when playing and particularly under pressure of time and space.

The diagram illustrates the matter nicely. Start referring to the positions by their numbers - helps convey the roles and responsibilities for each position. This diagram has the midfield three players in "point forward" - that is positions 6, 8 and 10. The other configuration required by the FFA in later years is "point back".


Hope you find this helpful as we geear up to begin training all those junior / youth players arond the ACT.

Figure 1. A basic modern style 1-4-3-3 System



Where Did The 433 System Come From?


Did the Dutch invent the 4-3-3 system? No they did not. But they did give us "Total Football" and a whole different way to look at the game. Total Football utilized space in a different way, used a circular motion of players with take over roles, and pressing. Rinus Michels was the developer of this type of football, which placed heavy physical demands on players. Valeriy Lobanovskyi (Dynamo) in the early 1970s also had similar ways of looking at the game. Michels style of football was developed during his time with Ajax, which he then demonstrated to the world in the 1974 World Cup using the 4-3-3 formation. Michels would later take "Total Football" to Barcelona, where other Dutch greats followed. The Spanish have since developed a new style of football, based on this Dutch influence culminating in the 2010 World Cup win.
The 4-3-3 system can be traced back to the 1920/30s. Football was in a period of change. Herbert Chapman (Arsenal, Northhampton, Leeds) is credited with the development of the W M system. Football had now evolved from 2-3-5 to 3-2-2-3. By the late 1950s football looked different again with the evolution of the 4-2-4 system or use of a 4th back. While the initial developments leading to the 4-2-4 were devised by Marton Bukovi . The credit for creating the 4-2-4 lies with two different people: Flavio Costa, the Brazilian national coach and another Hungarian, Bela Guttman. By the 1962 World Cup, Brazil had developed the 4-2-4 system to such an extent that it resembled 4-3-3 when Zagallo would play back deep into the midfield. The great Alf Ramsey also experimented heavily with a 4-3-3 system in the 1950s and 60s. He was the last coach of England to win the world cup (1966). During the world cup final, however, he played a 4-1-3-2 (4-4-2?) system. That is another story. The formation seemed to evolve quickly over the 1960s and early 70s in different parts of the world. By 1974 the timing was perfect for Michels to unveil "Total Football" with a new variation of the 4-3-3 system. The system was evolved further by Cryuff and Van Gaal with the 3-4-3 variation.

The Dutch may not have invented 4-3-3, but they did give us "Total Football" which used a wonderful 4-3-3 system, a different way to view space, and a system to develop young players. The 4-3-3 is an exciting system and there are many different ways to play the system (not just midfield triangle facing forwards or backwards). It is not just 3 lines of players. It is how these players interact together and move, that determines how a 4-3-3 system works. It is more about individual and team tactics, than formation (the Brazilians understand this well). The 4-3-3 system creates more triangles than other systems (see figure 1) and is a great system for our elite youth teams to learn from. It can create a very attacking style of football, but again this gets down to the tactics of the coach. I have great respect for other formations as well. The 4-2-3-1 system appears to be better understood by community and representative players as an interim step or alternate formation, from my experience. The triangulation of the formation is perhaps the most important aspect here. To give a player 3 or 4 passing options in attack is very important. It all starts with the 6 and 7 year olds in 4v4 games.

Football tactics develop over time, sometimes together but in different parts of the world. Culture will play its part on how football is played, as well. The trends today suggest that speed and distance players cover in games will increase. Players may not be regarded as just a forward, midfielder or back but may have multiple roles. Are we seeing the development of a "total footballer"? The development of the "total footballer" will allow for new approaches and formations to the game. Learning the basics of the game will still be the most important thing in football. Which is the best training method? Game sense training, formation training, reductionist/didactic type training or a mix?