Comments on: Possession Soccer: What does it take?

By: Gary Kleiban

Gary Kleiban — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:45:11 +0000

Hi Wayne and thanks for commenting!

I took a big interest in what you wrote and responded in a post:
http://blog.3four3.com/2010/05/14/more-on-possession-soccer-a-readers-comment/

p.s. Keep it up on your blog. We need more coaches doing this!

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:42:55 +0000

” a synchronized high pressure defense, it will be extremely difficult to hold possession. ”

If you look at the no 1 possession team in the world; Barcelona this is not true. If a team tries to play a high pressure defense against them they will be punished because they leave spaces behind them for Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and co to use. But if you play a low defense you give Barcelona too much time and sooner or later they will score, probably later if you also have defenders with patience. Jose Mourinho did both when Inter Milan outmanoeuvred Barcelona and he couldn’t care less about possession, because you don’t win games on possession.

Having said that possession football is beautiful to watch but it’s not always the right thing to do.

By: Gary Kleiban

Gary Kleiban — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:44:33 +0000

Hey Joel. Thanks for the comment!

100% on the money here. The most critical piece for a team to function properly is real time communication between the players. This is something that we emphasize over and over and over again to our guys – “Help each other”. Every single training session we run incorporates communication.

Unfortunately it’s usually one of the last things a player develops, if ever. Players usually need confidence to speak up. And that comes not only with their game, but also with intrinsic or learned leadership qualities.

Speaking at the youth level, it does take some time to get your team to that point. Not just for the simple “man-on, turn, time, etc …”, but all the other possible things. I’m talking years …

This is the ideal situation. Your players are now the “real-time” coaches – as it should be. A coach can then focus on the bigger picture during a game and make necessary adjustments.

Your “remote control” comment deserves much attention, as it can be both good and bad. Watch for an upcoming article on that …

By: Joel Snyder

Joel Snyder — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:14:32 +0000

I am new to your site and I am sure you mentioned it along the line, but it sticks out, when you talk about the coach’s ability to implement, one main area that gets left out of the drills is proper communication… I notice as players develop their own IQ, PROPER communication (2-way) from teammates can save trouble – “turn, now-go, back, etc..” youth players want to simply call out for the ball because they want a shot at a possession vs. being a good option. Lastly, the TEAM needs to provide multiple options around each ball, so that within the vision of the one possessing the ball they can easily make a choice to advance, hold, or play back. This creates a level of trust by the players in the system of possession play vs just a coach playing by “remote control”.

By: Gary Kleiban

Gary Kleiban — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:50:10 +0000

No prob Carlos. As I’m sure you know there’s all kinds of other details, but I think this at least gives a high level overview.

In Southern California, I can count on one hand the number of coaches who are capable.

By: CarlosT

CarlosT — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:23:33 +0000

Thanks for the great post, Gary. This has helped me resolve the paradox of why this kind of play, which seems so simple, is avoided by lower skilled teams. In the case of MLS, first touch is a skill that is painfully lacking in the vast majority of players and I’m sure that’s a big reason long stretches of a lot of MLS games descend into booting the ball back and forth in the air.

Unfortunately, I don’t get the sense that skills like that are seen as priorities when developing players in this country.