Coaches at all levels of the game will at some point come in contact with a team that lacks cohesion.  Cohesion refers to the togetherness and unity of the team; it is often highlighted as a ‘good team spirit’.  A lack of this can have major effects on a team’s performance.

There are many examples from the professional game. Where teams who have quality individuals, do not perform to the levels expected from them.  This can be down to cohesion within the squad.  As a major contributor towards performance, a modern coach should always monitor their squad for signs of cohesion.

Signs

A team with good morale and cohesion can be identified through the behaviour of the players when in the group.  A cohesive group will talk freely amongst each other, whether about task or not.  Small groups or ‘clicks’ can be apparent but do not define the team dynamics, as each small group is able to speak and interact with all members.  These players often refer to the team as ‘we’ or ‘us’ and work towards a collective goal.  They often are aware of the team’s aims as a whole and what they need to do to get there.

A team lacking cohesion will often form small groups which alienate themselves from others, preferring to only interact amongst themselves; these can be players or coaching staff.  Players are often focused on individual success and say things like ‘you’ or a specific player when identifying faults or problems.  Communication is often minimal, especially between coaching staff and players, lengthening the gap between players.

Solutions

Sports psychologists suggest that using team social events and ‘bonding’ exercises are a good way to ‘gel’ the team together.  These can be very effective, especially when bringing in new players to a squad.  This kind of team activity can improve the morale of the players and often lift tension and prevent stress occurring.

It is very important that each player understands their role within the team; this is where communication plays a major role.  In order for a team to perform as a unit, each part must understand their individual tasks.  This can be highlighted in training through patterns of play and focused session plans.  It can also be identified through clear and specific instructions; the delivery of these is the most important issue.

A coach must be very careful how they impart knowledge, praise and negative feedback to a player.  It can have an adverse affect on players if an individual is highlighted within the group, or if a player is excluded from praise.  By taking the time to speak to the player face to face and one on one; the coach implies that the player is important to them.  This is the ideal time to give out specific praise and fill the player with confidence, but also to provide constructive criticism and redefinition of their role.  This will help to ensure that each member understands their specific role within the team; it will give them better ownership of their tasks and their relation to the team.

Feedback

How a coach delivers feedback is very important psychologically to a player.  Be too negative and the player may feel unwanted and ineffective; be too nice and the message for improvements may not get across.  It is this balancing act that a coach must deal with and there are methods to help deal with this.  The ‘good – bad – good’ strategy, consists of giving the player some praise, some constructive criticism, followed by some praise.  It is important that this information is specific and highlights exactly what the player needs to do improve their performance and conform to their team role.  An example may be ‘great work rate from you in the first half, excellent pressing of the ball.  I noticed we were looking to play the ball behind too many times, when there was time to get the ball down and play short and wide.  Be aware of your space and look to play wide early to feet when you have the option.  You are our engine in there, so keep us ticking over with your passing ability.’

Another way to help reinforce job roles and ensure that feedback is being received, is to check understanding; getting the player to repeat their role or to acknowledge their new role.  This can be done with simple questions and can be very quick, highlighting that the player understands what they need to do know.  This may be ‘how many times did we play it long in behind without creating a chance? LOTS, what else can we look to do? PLAY SHORT, which areas have we been creating space in well? WIDE AREAS, so where are we looking to play to now and how? PLAY SHORT AND WIDE.

It is important that an individual feels valued by the players, the coaches and the team as a whole.  Utilising some or all of these techniques can help to achieve this.

In order to affect our players through coaching, we must be able to give them detailed and accurate feedback of their performance. This accuracy enables us to challenge and improve our players in the right areas. The use of match analysis is what gives us this information. Whether you are a grassroots coach or a premier league manager, we all perform match analysis to some degree. While the premier league have a team of professionals with in-depth knowledge of the game coupled with state of the art technology, most coaches are limited to themselves or an assistant to gather information. Does this mean that teams at this level do not need or have a purpose for match analysis?

As a coach, we watch our team and scan the game for problems, weaknesses and strengths. This is often done sub-consciously as you watch and manifests itself in your half time team talk or through in-game instructions to your squad. These can be minor and major in nature, depending on your level of knowledge and your philosophy or coaching style. There are problems with this method of analysis and often potential solutions are missed or more importantly misdiagnosed. Human error can have a major effect on the quality of the information that is gathered, therefore not allowing us to provide true solutions to the problems. In order to improve the quality of this information, records of incidents within the game can be kept.

There are two kinds of analysis, subjective and objective. The former being the method used at every level of the game, as mentioned above. The coach themselves and what they see from the game and the players. The latter is objective, which uses facts to highlight certain elements of the game, which we can draw strengths, weaknesses and potential solutions. The information gathered by this type can be invaluable to a coach, highlighting areas that they may have missed, or even backing up their views with hard facts. In the heights of the premier league, they use video analysis for the same purpose, often using this to show the players themselves, helping to create a solution. The majority of top flight clubs also use ProZone, which gives them an in-depth number break down of the team and each player and their performance in a game. As a grassroots coach you can also collate some information, not to the extent of a professional team, but still important to the improvement of your side. This need not be complicated and does not have to be done every game or for the whole game, it can be used as another tool at your exposal, an extra assistant if you like.

Performing this analysis can be very beneficial to a coach and can be conducted personally or by an assistant, a competent substitute or parent. As a coach, you can define the parameters for which your team is assessed; it can be very general or specific and detailed. These parameters are often described as triggers. Once these are highlighted, a simple bar chart system can be used, with the analyser simply marking each time one of the triggers occurs. For example, the midfielder plays a pass to the forward in the attacking third; this is one of the triggers ‘enter the attacking third’. Every time this occurs, it is marked down. This will give the coach raw data, telling them how many times their team has managed to get the ball into the attacking third of the pitch. If the team are not achieving this enough times in a game, they need to work on forward passing along with forward runs to make and create space. This is a very general example but can very useful. If the coach wanted to be more specific, the triggers would be more detailed in nature to catch more information. For example, the midfielder plays the ball to the forward, they turn and shoot wide. The information collected can be recorded as a successful entry into attacking third, successful turn and shot at goal, but off target. Now you have really specific data, on what your team does well in a game. This can be turned into information to relay instantly to your team, or something for you to work on in training for the future. If the team have a large number of shots on goal that miss the target, then they may need to work on some finishing.

The outcome can be very positive for your team, with little effort. Remember that as the coach, you can set the parameters; you can have four things on the list or forty. How you use the information after it is collected is the most important. There are a few important points to remember with regards to objective match analysis. It is not the answer by itself; it must be coupled with the coach’s subjective views of the game and analysed accordingly. Consistency in collecting the data is important, if you are going to evaluate three games, make sure the same person does all three. This ensures that the information is consistent, as even these triggers can be taken differently by each person. What is deemed successful by one person may be perceived differently by another, so the coach must clarify this. The information gathered can be used for short term solutions within the game, altering the performance of the team immediately. These are often things which can be changed easily and may involve changing team shape or personnel. Other more technical problems must be looked at in the long term and planned for throughout your season. Read season planning. From the analysis the coach may find that their team may have problems entering the attacking third regularly. This may down to the quality of their passing, their pass selection or how they create space; the coach must identify what the specific problems are and implement solutions in training.

Evaluation is good practice in all areas of coaching and is vital here also. Match analysis allows you to evaluate how your training plan has affected your team over a period of time, supplying the coach with important feedback. Wherever possible, periodic analysis can be a very effective tool for the modern coach, as well as great motivation.

The picture shows both a simple analysis and a more advanced and detailed example.

As a coach we plan our sessions, ensuring that we are prepared and can get the appropriate outcomes from our players.  But how many of us plan past this week’s session?  There are extensive benefits to looking further ahead; each team is different so how can we plan to meet the needs of our team?

The benefits of pre-planning can be seen at all levels of the game, whether it is short term or long term.  Arsene Wenger has often been described as a long term planner, with emphasis on players for the future.  This kind of philosophy is very long term and focuses on improving players and instilling a certain playing style.  This is at one end of the scale, with short term planning being at the other.  This can be improving players over a short period of time, i.e. before the next game.  The extent to which a coach decides to plan to affect their team lies solely with them and their philosophy.  By creating a season plan, a coach can incorporate all the major areas in which they would like their team to improve.  It can help them to organise their coaching ideas and deliver exciting and fresh sessions to their team.  Focusing on the season as a whole enables the coach to deliver training in all aspects of the game, continuing a player’s long term development.

When working with junior teams, the coach should always be aware of Long Term Player Development and work towards improving their players to become better players in the future, not just to win the next game.  LTPD is key to the production of quality players in this country.  Junior coaches and clubs have a responsibility to those children in their teams to help them become the best they can be.  Planning for the season is a great way of ensuring that all the core skills are visited during the season and that the children can develop in all areas of the game.

The time to create a season plan is as early as possible, preferably before pre-season starts.  This plan should include preseason fitness training, allowing you to bring your players up to their best football fitness for the start of the season.  Remember that children under the age of 14 need little or no aerobic fitness work, and more football specific work can be incorporated.  The plan should highlight the basic areas in which you will be training your team and to how much time is dedicated to each.  These can be general or specific, depending on the age and skill level of your team.  But all teams will have some core areas which they will cover over the season.  These can be strategically plotted and revisited along the season plan, keeping the sessions fresh and un-repetitive.  The coach can also plan in time to work on the team tactically, involving team shape and pattern of play.  By planning these in advance, they can ensure that their team gains enough time in each area and the coach can instil their philosophy and style onto their team.  Plans do not have to be rigid and can be fluid in nature, allowing for new ideas and sessions.  Each plan is different and can be written accordingly, highlighting general ideas or specific areas of coaching.  Each session must include some technical work, especially when working with children.

During preseason it is often beneficial to use match analysis, see article ‘Match Analysis – Why bother?’  The information gained from this kind of analysis can enable a coach to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of their team at an early point.  From this they can formulate the areas that their team needs to work on and incorporate them into the season plan.  Each session does not need to be planned out individually at this stage, just an overview of the areas to work on.  The detailed planning can be done as normal in the same week of each session, allowing the coach to be creative and fun with their session planning, increasing the enjoyment for the squad.

There is nothing wrong with a coach seeing a problem or weakness in their side on a match day, then planning to overcome it at training.  This can be done along with your plan by allowing flexibility and time in training for this.  Session outcomes can be changed and moved depending on how the season progresses.  The coach decides how much detail they want to include and to what extent they feel is necessary.

The picture above shows a basic plan which has some detail described in the technical and tactical sections.