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June
It is coming up to the World Cup and the whole nation is focussed on the Socceroos.
The style that the team is now playing is quite different to Australian teams of the past. We are now playing a much more European brand of football under Guus Hiddink while still displaying many of the attributes that have made Australian players so valued around the world.
The great thing about our recent victory over Greece was the manner in which Australia kept the ball. That is the key to winning games. The team that has the ball the most will usually find themselves winning the game (not always though). The important thing was that the ball was kept whilst always looking for an avenue forwards. There is little point retaining possession in your own half for minutes at a time. The aim of this game is to score goals, so possession should be retained while probing for an opening in the opposition's defence, not just for the sake of it.
Watch Brazil when they are in possession of the ball. They keep it very well but are always on the lookout for the opportunity to go forwards.
Try and incorporate this into your game. Do not force things by knocking early or difficult balls forward. Be patient and a better opening will occur if you keep moving the ball around.
I hope everyone enjoys the World Cup and good luck to the Socceroos!
May
The local league is beginning to get into full swing this month. Teams have finished their pre season and putting all their hard work onto the field.
I am often asked what is the most important thing for young players to practice if they want to become professional soccer players. The answer is quite simple. Basic technique.
There are some fantastic players in the world today with some sublime skills, but everyone of those players has their basic techniques perfected before they start working on the more trickier skills.
By basic techniques I mean dribbling, passing, controlling and heading the ball. A player must be able to control a ball well, regardless of where it comes to them and how much pressure is on them. Good players seem to have so much time on the ball because they are able to control the ball to where they want it with their first touch. It is when players need two or three touches to control the ball that that gives defenders the chance to close them down.
The same goes for passing a ball. If a player is able to pass a well weighted and directed pass to another player it gives them more time and space to decide what to do next with the ball.
So whenever you are practicing a brand new skill don't forget to spend some time to work on the basics. It will stand you in good stead in the future.
February
Well, unfortunately for the Perth Glory our season is over. We just weren't able to make up the gap to the top four before the end. I am sure though we will bounce back better and stronger next year.
On the positive side though, all the teams will be starting training again in anticipation of a new season. I hope everyone is raring to go.
To continue on the theme of passing, I now want to touch on the importance of players without the ball.
When you do not have the ball, it is important that you stay alert and try to make yourself available for a pass. To do so you must find some space in which the ball can be played to you and move towards that space. As you are moving you should call for the ball to let your team mate know that you want it.
It may be that you do not end up receiving the ball. Don't worry. You will have given your team mate an option to pass to and you will have also created space for your team mates to get the pass instead.
So remember when you don't have the ball you need to stay alert and make runs to help the player with the ball by moving into space. If you can do this, even if you don't receive the ball you will be helping out your team.
Keep practicing
Jamie
January
I hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. Over the next couple of months all teams will be starting their pre season in anticipation of the season ahead.
This month I want to talk about passing. Passing is the cornerstone of our game. If a team is unable to pass the ball effectively and keep possession they will find it difficult to put any kind of pressure on teams. Some people may think a good pass simply goes close to one of your team mates but there is much more to it than that.
A good pass is firmly weighted and usually along the ground. A well hit pass along the floor is the easiest ball to control. This in turn gives your team mate more time on the ball before a defender can close them down.
It is also possible to pass the ball to a team mate who is marked by a defender. The important thing is to play the ball to the advantage of your player. That means that if the defender is on the right hand side of your team mate, you would play the ball to the left so your player is able to reach it but the defender can't.
By practicing your passing you will find that your team will maintain possession of the ball longer and will become a better team.
Keep working hard.
November
During the off season it is a great opportunity to get ready for another soccer season. You are able to work on things that you may not have had time to during the season.
Always give yourself a couple of weeks away from the game before getting back into things, but then make sure you keep yourself active. Indoor soccer is a great game over the summer, but make sure you wear good shoes to minimise the risk of getting injured. Have a kick around at the park with friends. As it starts warming up, find a shady area at home and practice juggling.
Whatever you do over summer though, make sure you enjoy it. Your aim is to go back to training fresh and eager, not tired and overtrained!
September
It was time for our weigh in at Perth Glory this week and it reminded me of how much people take their diet for granted, including professionals.
A study in the UK found that many professional players do not have enough energy stores to comfortably last them through a match. This means that the muscles have to find other energy sources to keep the body moving. These other sources aren’t as efficient as providing energy and so the player gets more and more tired.
Healthy eating is a must for everyone who wants to become a better soccer player. It is important to have a good balance of carbohydrate, protein and even fats in order for the body to work well.
In terms of being ready for a game, a player should have a heavy carbohydrate meal the night before an early game, or the morning of a later game. This should fill up the bodies energy stores.
A pre-match meal 2-3 hours before the game is a good idea as well. I like to have a couple of pieces of toast and jam, while other players will have a couple of bananas. What you have is up to you, as long as it is relatively light.
Make sure you drink plenty of water in the lead up to the game and save the sports drinks until once you start playing and burning energy.
By being smart about what you eat, you will find that you will have energy burn throughout the match, not just at the start!
Good luck to all of you involved in finals.
August
This month, I want to talk about something not related to tactics or technique. Instead, I want to discuss effort.
The best players in the world have fantastic skills, there is no doubting that. But what makes them so special is the way they apply themselves if something goes wrong. If Wayne Rooney loses the ball he works as hard as possible to win the ball back immediately. He doesn't shake his head and walk back to the half way line.
Great players are not necessarily identified by their first effort. It is often the subsequent efforts that show how good a player someone truly is. So next time you are playing a game and something goes wrong, do your best to rectify it as soon as possible. It may mean having to chase back 50m to try and win the ball but your team mates and your coach will appreciate what you are doing. It will also make you a more valuable player to your team.
Good luck for the final part of the season!
July
Well it seems that the team is finally coming towards the home straight. It has been a long pre season and we are all looking forward to our first game against Adelaide later this month, regardless that it is still only a pre season game.
The training sessions are now starting to shift towards fine tuning the different parts of our game plan, especially defensively. Now some things may depend on what formation your team plays but the basics of defending remain the same, and apply to all players.
The main objective of defending is to stop the ball going past you. This includes passes, shots or the attacker trying to dribble past you. If you can force your opponent to play the ball sideways or backwards, then as a defender you have done your job. Trying to effect this is essentially a balancing act. You must get close enough to the player so that if they try to pass or shoot past you, you can block it. However, if you get too close to an attacker it makes it easier for them to dribble past you.
Usually a distance of a metre between you and the attacking player will be enough for you to counter whatever they may try. The important thing to remember is to not over commit yourself. If the attacker looks like they are going to shoot, move to block it, but ensure you are balanced and able to recover in case the attacker is trying to dummy you. As you get more and more experienced you will be able to anticipate what an attaker is likely to do and make your move earlier.
Finally, remember that if you dive in for a tackle and are beaten you put yourself out of the game, so wait for the right moment to challenge for the ball.
Good luck and keep practicing.
June
Well, it wasn't the ideal start that the club or players were after. Good luck to Sydney, who have now qualified for the World Club Championships in Japan, but we were disappointed with our performance that night.
Now we have been left with another long break until we start playing again we are back into some hard training to keep our fitness levels up. As players get older they need to spend more time working on their fitness and ensuring that they keep it at a resaonable level during the off season or if they are lucky enough to get a break during the season.
However, in my opinion it is not necessary to do specialised fitness work with younger players. It is important that they focus on skills and techniques, rather than seeing how many laps they can run. Their fitness should be improved by continually playing games both during structured sessions and during play time.When I grew up, there was rarely an afternoon that went by without my brother and I having some sort of game between us. By the time it got dark both my brother and I were generally knackered. We were working on our fitness without even realising it.
So try to get your fitness in other ways instead of plain old running. You will find it's a lot more fun.
Keep practicing.
May
It was a great honour to be named club captain of Perth Glory for the upcoming season. When the gaffer told me that I would be the captain I was delighted.
I believe that one of the main reasons I was given the armband was because of my talking on the pitch. Communication during a game is vitally important and it is such an easy thing to learn.
Now when I say talking, I don't mean just trying to gee everyone up with a "C'mon boys!". I mean providing your team mates with information to help them play the game. At the bare minimum, whenever you pass the ball you should call out who it's for and what you want them to do with it. For instance, "Yes John, hold it." or "John, turn!". Giving a player this information means that they know what they are able to do.
As a defender or midfielder, you also need to talk when your team hasn't got the ball. Tell players where you want them to go or which opposition player to pick up. As a centre-half a great deal of my talking involves making sure that my fellow defenders and I are close together and know who we are marking. It is a skill that players should try to develop as early as possible so that it becomes second nature to them.
It may sound loud to you during a game, but keep in mind that if you want to reach the top you will be playing in front of big, noisy crowds where you literally need to scream at players to get their attention.
So in your next game or training session, start talking. You'll be amazed at how much easier the game becomes with a bit of information!
Keep practicing and good luck for the season.
April
Train as you play.
It sounds a simple concept, doesn't it! Yet whenever I watch a team's training session it's not something I usually see.
I first heard about the concept of train as you play through reading about Bill Shankly, the manager who started Liverpool's domination of the European game in the 1970's and 80's. His idea was simple. You train as you play. That means no tracksuits, hats etc.
But more importantly, he meant that you approach your training as you would a game. Train with the same intensity you play with, don't be lazy with training drills.
This is an approach echoed by the new Perth Glory coach Steve McMahon. He keeps saying that in his whole career he played with only 2 people who could cruise through training and then turn it on come the game. They were Ian Rush and Gary Lineker. Other players like Kenny Daglish, Graeme Souness and others worked hard on their game everyday to ensure that come Saturday afternoon they were ready to play.
So don't approach training as a necessary evil that you have to complete in order to play. Training is conducted for players to learn, practice and prepare for a game. Don't leave out an important part of your preparation by not treating training as an important part of the game.
Keep practicing and good luck for the upcoming season.
March
Last month, I talked about how attackers can beat defenders with a relatively simple dummy.
But what about the defenders. With players like Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo running at them, how are they able to win the ball off them?
The most important part of being a defender is anticipation. You watch some of today's top defenders and more often than not they will nick the ball of an attacker's toe or force them into an error, rather than coming in for a huge crunching tackle. Paolo Maldini, in particular, was a great defender who only resorted to tackling if necessary.
To anticipate what an attacker is going to do you need to try and watch the ball. Do not be put off by the various step overs and tricks that a player may have. The ball should always be your focus. When your opponent moves the ball with his foot, you adjust to that movement.
Try to make the attacker make the mistake. Often when an attacker is dribbling towards you they may have a bad touch which puts the ball slightly out in front of them. That is the defender's time to react. If you are alert to the bad touch you would be able to quickly move in and take the ball away from your opponent without the need for a tackle. This allows you to come away with the ball balanced and ready to play the ball, rather than chasing after the ball or trying to control it from a tackle.
So defenders remember. Don't be fooled by the tricks, watch the ball and wait for the attacker to make the mistake. Most times this will lead to you regaining possession without the need to tackle.
Keep practicing.
February
I am often asked by people what I find to be the most difficult trick to defend against.
In today's game it seems that there are an increasing number of tricks and feints that attackers use to beat defenders. You only have to look at some of the wonderful skills that Christiano Ronaldo possesses to see how difficult it is getting for us defenders.
However, when it comes to the most difficult trick to defend against I tend to look towards Ronaldo's team mate Ryan Giggs and how he goes past defenders. Very rarely will you ever see Giggs doing a step over or other some such trick. His skill is simple and effective more in keeping with players of years gone by such as George Best and Stanley Matthews.
Giggs' main weapon to beat defenders is the simple dummy combined with running at the defender at pace. The dummy or dropping the shoulder is the easiest skill to master and still is the most effective.
As the attacker runs towards the defender with the ball he drops his shoulder and throws his body weight to one side. The defender, anticipating the attacker's movement will move to that side as well. As this is occurring the attacker brings his other foot behind the ball and takes it with the outside of the foot to the other side of the defender.
Simple yes, but very effective. The main reason that Giggs is so successful with this technique is because he is able to perform the move without losing his balance, whilst travelling at full speed. The speed is the key. If a player runs at a defender at speed, the defender is at a distinct disadvantage. They must run backwards quickly whilst trying to maintain balance and guess where the attacker will go. In such a situation the odds are firmly in favour of the attacker.
So my advice, practice and master all the dribbling skills you are able to, but never forget that speed and the simple dummy may well be your most effective move.
Keep practicing.
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