Building the “play”
Football has one truly magic thing, the singularity in which every person perceives the sport, the way his team plays and even the way he likes to play with his friends. In fact, we identify groups of supporters, coaches and so on with certain clubs because the connection between the people and the Club’s culture is the way we express ourselves interpreting the game.
The place we were born, the way we played as children, the Club’s where we played, the experience as coaches, and our vision about Football are a part of the fingerprint of the coach. This fingerprint starts in the personality, in the way the leadership is established regarding the values, beliefs and life experience of the professional.
In this case, I grew up in Lisbon in a working class typical neighbourhood, where we played Football in the street in a place close from the area’s main club (Clube Oriental de Lisboa – as seen in the video above) where we all dreamed we would play and, and I was not different. In Marvila, our area, people fought honestly for their lives, waking up early and arriving home late as my family did. So, from an early age children understood that if you want to stand out from the crowd you have to work hard (value) and, if you do it, you achieve something (belief). Education in a way of respecting everyone was promoted (value). We were kids from the street and good, honest fun revolved around street football, it was the best, playing with the ball, dribbling and shooting (trying to imitate our idols), doing tournaments and searching how to win.
After this comes the “sports education” where I was lucky enough to have good coaches that taught me how to build the passion in a daily work basis. The same coaches were key, in implementing the way we, as a team, enjoyed to play the game to win, a way that gives more pleasure to the players (and also more important, building bonds outside the pitch, isn’t it a goal of Sport?!…).
Ultimately after “gathering” all these “variables” sharing information with coaches helps to follow the changes in this Sport. The fingerprint, in its essence, stays unchanged but the flexibility & analysing Football nowadays is a must in a world that progresses quickly and competitive.
This is the base of the fingerprint as professionals which we can add the experience as team captain and coach. Ultimately, I like teams that work hard and are serious in the sessions as well as enjoying their football, acting as a unit outside and inside the pitch with clear team values building a relationship of respect and trust. With enjoyment, the team has to have possession of the ball but at the same time the objectivity of arriving to the box and availability to work without the ball because the main objective of the game is to score/win!
The identity arrives to the team at the first contact between players and the coach so it is vital to start working the phases and principles which are the key for winning regardless of the coach’s beliefs about the game. In pre-season and, stating the example of one fingerprint, a good possession game with intensity, creativity, playing with pace, attracting opponents to create free spaces and objectivity in finishing are the start for the offensive ideas. Defensively the availability press and react to ball loss is key, but also to understand the pressing moments to recover the ball quick or reshape lines dropping. Offensive organization and defensive transition are the moments that receive more focus and in which the exercise design will take more of our focus.
A good “first impression” is an important way of establishing relationships, even in this ever changing world. This first moment helps to deliver clearly the main ideas and to make the players understand who is the coach that stands in front of them and, mainly, the person who is going to help them to build the future towards success!