When talking about the technical requirements of young elite players Dick Bate, National FA coach, listed the following attributes:

• “quick feet” with and without the ball
• a ‘tight’ but varied first touch even when on the move
• space and time-making skills
• the ability to protect the ball with the body on receiving or in possession.
• Subtlety and ‘feel’ to distribution skills, allied to deception when needed, often with short back lift
• The ability to operate alone, and with team mates in crowded and tight areas- combination plays* etc

*The last example of combination plays is discussed at the end of this article.

(Source ‘Insight, issue 2, volume 4 Spring 2001.)

Dick Bate goes on to say, “ I would say that the best European and South Americans are well advanced in those skills above- what’s more, they’re teachable and can be learned.”

Here’s the crux of the argument. How can these skills be learnt. Coaches don’t often argue about what has to be learned but how it is taught.

Non-elite players should also look to develop these skills, aided by their coaches of course. Arsene Wenger talks of, “wanting players to express what they have within themselves”.

So, how do coaches allow players to be free and coach them these technical skills so essential for development. The first thing a coach should do is identify what areas they need to develop in their players related to their players’ abilities and age. Once a coach is happy with this they then need to establish/develop a development programme to help them achieve it. Devising a development programme is not easy but assistance can be gained by purchasing such a programme or material that will assist you. Working to a plan is essential. All coaches need to plan and evaluate sessions.

If you are not experienced enough or don’t have the time to develop your own programme search around and see what other coaches do. Attend courses, read material, watch videos. Alternatively buy a development programme as a starting point and adapt this to suit your needs.

The most important thing is to HAVE A PLAN. Know what you want to achieve and HOW you are going to get there. Once you have done this you can then start to ‘tinker’ and alter sessions.

Your players can learn to become technically more advanced but they need your help and even if you haven’t played the game players will look to you for guidance and assistance. When they do don’t be found wanting.

In this week's session on www.soccer-expert.com we focus on combination plays

Combination Play

Key skills to be learnt:

Pass and support
Movement
Creative one and two touch
Interacting with others


If we look into how young children learn from an early age we find that they are very selfish, they do not want to share things toys, sweets/candy and even their families i.e. mummy and daddy. And yet in soccer we expect players who are introduced to the game to come in and start to pass the ball (share it) with all of the other team members. To take this on further, if a child fails to pass the ball they are ridiculed for being “greedy”, “hogging the ball”. What we suggest is this tells us that these players have the ability to keep the ball, so instead of negative feedback we should actually praise them and use them as a model for good practise.

The soccer-experts will develop the skills in young players so that they can stay with the ball as long as they want before they introduce the notion of sharing (combining/passing) the ball with team members. They will call this method of combining with others, “combination Play”. The notion of getting children to share things has to include the idea that something else will take the place of the item that they have to give up (another toy) or that the same toy will return very quickly.

The sessions will demonstrate that the environment will lend itself to players giving the ball up when they have no other option but that is to their advantage as they will get it back very quickly allowing them to continue to develop.

The soccer-expert team our trying to work along side the natural learning process, appreciating the basic instincts of young people and encouraging them to take control of their own learning.

Combination play will start off at a basic level or sharing with a partner and mastering that relationship before moving onto small group work before focussing on the small-sided game.