Proper preparation and planning prevents p*** poor performance, the seven Ps – a buzz phrase thrown about with abandon and used as a punchline in meeting rooms all over the English speaking world. I have used it myself many a time but what is pertinent and what is padding?

When looking at this from any perspective, you could quite easily claim any one word or phrase within that sentence to be both equally useful and useless. When I look at it from a footballing perspective the one word that jumps out at me is ‘planning’.

In order for a coach or manager to be effective in his role, he needs to identify when things are going wrong. But in order to do that he needs to first understand what is going right! He should have in his mind a picture of how his team will play; a plan. If the team deviates away from this plan then he knows he has a problem and needs to rectify it.

Big Mick does this very well, he has a plan in his mind as to how the team will perform and he has them drilled to execute it. In his mind, if the plan isn’t being followed or isn’t being effective he can change it either by modifying the plan or changing the players (note how he rarely ‘changes’ the plan).

The plan will generally precede the game, for very good managers and coaches they will produce a plan that will precede the season! A common mistake though from many managers of which I count the likes of Roy Keane as one, is that they mistake the line-up or system of the team as the plan. ‘A flat back four’ and ‘one up front’ are elements of a plan and are required within to incorporate the plan but not quite the plan itself. Unfortunately neither Roy nor Paul had a plan, but then you knew that didn’t you?

Are you bored yet? Mick’s plan is clear, and for anyone who has seen previous clubs of his will understand he has changed very little throughout his managerial career. It is a very effective plan, it’s a counter-attacking one. Thankfully at this moment in time it has worked for Ipswich Town in our fight against relegation. We may just achieve a push to a play-off place next year and it would be nice to be looking up the table as opposed to nervous glances over our shoulder.

But what of other clubs and their plans? Those of you that have read previous blogs and posts of mine will be aware of which side of the fence I reside on this issue and to which clubs I look for aspiration and inspiration – thankfully I am adding more and more clubs to this list, sadly Ipswich Town isn’t one of them... yet

As a youngster, I was taught the counter-attacking plan. Living in what was West Germany we were heavily dependent on defending as a team, as were most German clubs at the time. The counter-attacking plan was based on the key ingredients of defending in our own half ensuring that the defenders always maintained the play in front of them – by squeezing the attacking team we could ensure lack of space would enforce a mistake and then the counter would be on.

The decision to counter was made immediately the ball was won or even before through the build-up play. Good players will read the situation, calculate the probabilities, make a decision and act. Speed of thought and action is essential for successful counter attacks. It's vital that counter-attacking team’s use the few seconds that they have before the opponents can reorganize into their defensive shape. It is not though a case of speed across the ground, more a case of speed of thought – the best pass might be sideways or even backwards, this is the build up. The explosive exciting through ball or mazy dribble would come when the opportunity arose.

Learning how, when and where to run was the easy part but we were also taught when not to run which was anathema to us and me in particular. Managing fatigue and maintaining our shape would be critical and discipline was the main character requirement.

We were shown countless examples of how counter-attacking could be misused and English football was more often than not the prime example of what not to do. As a youngster, slurs against ‘my’ football very much played against the grain but over the years I have come to understand the criticism as I have witnessed English football slowly slide away becoming less and less effective.

Let me explain. In the generic English ‘fast-paced’ play, the nature of the individual is to win the ball at the expense of the team structure and immediately switch to attack. There is often no thought to building up the play, you simply get forward. This produces an exciting high-paced game based on opportunism. Unfortunately, a steady diet of this dulls the insight until the players are incapable of reading the most elementary football problems, incrementally building an illiterate football mentality.

English football was explained to me as the counter-attacking plan, minus the clever build-up play – very exciting but mind-numbing at the same time. Player awareness and thought was replaced with pace and strength.

Over the preceding years some clubs have adopted a mixture of a plan which better utilises the ‘continental’ approach but generally speaking, these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

‘Total Football’ was the phrase coined by the Dutch to headline a style of football which would incorporate the counter attacking and the playmaking plans. Nicknamed tiki-taka football in Spain it has been associated with the great Dutch national teams, Ajax of Amsterdam and latterly Barcelona.

By squeezing the play in the opponents half of the pitch, any mistakes could be built upon quickly – the risk is that you leave yourself open for a good counter-attacking team so you need to ensure that you have players that can, across all positions, read the play extremely well and are technically capable of moving the ball accurately and with a very high tempo.

Other clubs have taken note of this and are trying to follow suit. The likes of Liverpool and Swansea in the English Premier League are perhaps two that we most associate with this style that leans very heavily on the playmaking plan. They have all foregone the counter-attacking plan though as an option to a certain extent.

This playmaking plan though is the hardest to master and is beyond the capabilities of many teams. In order to play this manner of football certain key ingredients must be present within the team and within the squad. Not some, or in some measure, but all and in spades.

In order for the playmaking plan to be as effective as we see it with Barcelona, the players must have complete confidence in themselves and each other that the plan is correct and everyone is capable of carrying out their part. This is only possible when the players really know one another, when they play 'instinctively’, this can only work when the club is set up with the policy of using the playmaking plan throughout all levels of the organisation.

Youth teams will grow together in the same style until they reach maturity to move seamlessly into the first team, the evidence is there to see on the field as the Barcelona players are so in tune with each other that the players have a confidence and calmness in possession.

As with all aspects of development though there is a downside. This method on the pitch needs to be backed up with quality and if that quality dips then you have weaknesses in the team which can be exploited – consistently producing such a high quality level of player is difficult if not impossible and as such the counter attacking plan needs to be a weapon that can be readily deployed as well.

As Barcelona have developed from the playmaking plan, so we have seen that the German clubs have developed from the counter attacking plan and have now started to incorporate playmaking into the arsenal of weapons. This has placed them at a distinct advantage.

German football had dipped and fallen well behind the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. Few, if any of the club teams were progressing in Europe and the national team was faltering. At danger of falling behind the French Ligue, a change was in order.

After a disastrous European Championship campaign in 2004, Jurgen Klinsmann was given the task of picking up the fragments of the national team. Together with his assistant Joachim Loew, they set about identifying a new approach to German football. They made the brave decision to discuss with players and coaches the style of football they wanted to play, not just in Bundesliga 1, but in Budesliga 2 also. The results of the discussions led to a proposal laid out in only a dozen bullet points as to the style of play that German football would follow. It was to be based loosely on that which Barcelona were developing, but also leaning heavily on the natural culture of German counter-attacking football.

Klinsmann’s proposals were not met with much enthusiasm by the press, public or governing body and many of the top clubs were opposed to the proposals being forced upon them but he managed to get agreement that the Under-21 team adopt them in addition to his national team as he prepared for the 2006 World Cup. With the vultures circling after some heavy defeats, Klinsmann understood that in order to have his proposals adopted, he needed to ensure a successful World Cup campaign.

As the tournament progressed, the German style of football started to win admirers both at home and abroad and against a backdrop of doom and gloom they managed to reach the semi-finals before losing out to eventual winners, Italy. Klinsmann won his personal battle and with the press and public firmly in his corner, the leading clubs and governing body soon fell into step.

German football is built on the foundation of increased fitness levels with all German clubs now conducting tests every three months, the focus has moved from defensive counter-attacking to playmaking but they keep one eye firmly on the disciplined approach that has served them so well over the years.

The results are there to see, German clubs have been thrust to the front of European football with both Spanish giants humbled in the semi-final of the Champions League and it has come about extremely quickly – all it needed was a catalyst and a desire to change.

We have all been impressed by the dynamic approach of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke these past few seasons, the Spanish teams need to add another dimension to their game to counter it. English teams need to add so much more.

When the next footballing plan is developed, I do hope it comes from within these shores and more specifically from within our little corner of the world. Maybe Mick, with Bryan Klug and Marcus Evans's support already has the makings of a plan and simply needs the time and investment to bring it to fruition? I sincerely hope so. Category One might just be the first tentative step.

bluefeast added 17:07 - Apr 29 Great article , agreed a plan is of huge importance where there are a range of staff that all need to pull together. At the helm needs to be a strong leader. Plan 1 stay in the division. Plan 2 achieve play off berth as a minimum. Individual plan for week by week execution. In MM we have the perfect leader. Provide him with the tools and success can follow.
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Daleyitfc added 17:33 - Apr 29 Too much planning makes for a very dull game : I'd rather watch a 100 mph English league game than any boring foreign game, even if supposedly better 'quality'. If our national team EVER played the English way, we would wipe the floor with all other national teams, including the most boring team ever : Spain.
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Fatcatevans added 18:09 - Apr 29 What's the English way then Daleyitfc? run around like blue arsed flies and hump the ball forward. Spain and Barcelona are successful because they keep the ball. strangely enough that's quite important in football. To say Spain are boring after the way they tore Italy apart in the final of the Euros (4 nil) is banal. They comprise 7 Barcelona players who have for the last 5 years provided us with incredible football. But hey if you'd rather watch the likes of Stoke City so be it. Blue gaff is right about the german renaissance and its been coming for several years now. Unfortunately it's difficult to see where England's needed improvement will come from. Wilshere apart we have few players likely to dominate a game.

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budgieplucker added 22:39 - Apr 29 As beautiful as it appears to many on the eye imagine what the result would be if everybody played the same way as Barcelona. Stalemate. In fact the Dutch domestic game went down hill after the success of "total football" because of this, with crowds as little as 7,000 for the top league. Ajax were in the 70's what Barcelona are to the game today and there is no denying the skill and efforts from the Ajax training regimes and philosophy plus their practice even then of working with young players barely out of their nappies. The beauty of the game for me is contrasting styles and tactics. Sir Alf's great Ipswich title winning side of the 60's turned the game on it's head and he was dubbed the father of the modern game. At the beginning of that season how many of our Town heroes would have been considered strong enough to say get the Tottenham side or any of the other favourites to be pushing for the title. Probably none. Sir Bob had two very different side's - the side of the early 70's playing blitzkrieg type football converting defence to attack and scoring in two or three moves, compared to the boys of 81 who played a more cultured game. Muhren, Thijssen and Wark would have graced any top European club, but in their own way Viljoen, Woods, and Whymark were equally potent to completely perplex the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona with a more direct game. I sometimes think the game can be over analyzed. If you don't have the resources of a Manchester club then is it not still satisfying and getting more out of less resources. Ultimately the biggest and richest clubs will always have the best resources available to them. The fact that the Wimbledon "Crazy Gang" did so well in the top flight for so long and also that Tony Pullis' Stoke City have maintained a presence in the highly distorted Premiership for six years gives all clubs hope that here are other ways when trying to take on the elite and give the fans the pleasure of giving the arrogant a bloody nose from time to time. Whether Mick adopts a more direct and dogged approach or even adopts a more cultured approach doesn't bother me, at this point just the prospect of building a team that is together and fights for each other motivates my passion to remain a fan of a club that I have followed for 50 years seeing all types of football.

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Bluetaff added 22:52 - Apr 29 budgieplucker -- exactly, have a thumb! You have hit the nail on the head and that is why we love the game so much. If everyone played the same it would be dull. The Spanish revival will come to an end just as the German one will, that is the nature of the game but only by being progressive will you manage to replace them. My own personal view is that of 'OK Barca have pushed the boundaries, what next...' I would dearly love Town to be the next progressive club - you never know we might just be that but in order to challenge and feed from the top table we simply can't keep doing the same thing over and over again. Did Einstein not say that the definition of madness was to do the same thing over again yet expecting different results each time? Its not a case of over analysing though, as a coach that is the game of football - as a fan its slightly different. I believe that there is a style, method - call it what you will that incorporates the strength of the English game yet will be open to other cultural influences that will place English football at the top of the pile again. Can you imagine the pace of English football with the awareness of the Spanish game and discipline of German football?

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BillBlue added 09:49 - Apr 30 A well written and very thoughtful article which has given me a lot of understanding of the current pro's and con's in the football world. I can no longer go to football matches so cannot choose what I watch, that is decided by Sky and we are probably all aware they are the people who have destroyed English football, coerced by the weakness of the FA and the PFA that is. I have been unable to witness what has happened at the Town this traumatic year but am fully aware that a dramatic change has taken place and am beginning to think that big Mick and TC may be starting something which might just go a very long way. I am of the old school which insists all good football starts from a strong defence and what we have witnessed this year is the biggest turnaround that I have ever seen, from a team that willfully leaked goals to a team that probably boasts the best defence in English football. I must confess I have had doubts when reading comments from my fellow supporters about 'hoofing' the ball but after reading every report I have been able to lay my hands on after the Birmingham game I see wonderfully bright sunlight and am, currently, feeling very excited. Long may that continue!

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Lord_Mac added 10:01 - May 1 An excellent piece in my book. To analyse or not to analyse? I think in the end an organisation with a plan will always win out against one without one. Strikes me that the basis of any plan is continuity and a settled team, which is something that preceding managers couldn't grasp. Having all departments wedded to delivering the same plan is also an important point, and I think the Category One Academy is another key ingredient. Remember how Sir Alf gained a competitive advantage just by changing shirt numbers? There are easy points on offer in this division if we do our planning phase correctly.

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