 Round Pegs, Square Holes and the Youth Development Dilemma!Written by Bluetaff on Wednesday, 11th Mar 2015 12:20 It has been discussed at length the pitfalls of round pegs and square holes – a ‘problem’ that appears to have been borne of the Roy Keane era only to manifest itself in Paul Jewell and lately Mick McCarthy. The central issue at present as we suffer a dip in form is the position of right-back, the current incumbent, Luke Chambers, is a central defender clearly out of position and should be replaced by Jonathan Parr so the clamour goes – ignoring the fact that Jonathan Parr plays primarily as a left-back, not so much round peg in a square hole but maybe a square peg in a rectangular orifice? But how important is it for players to remain in their favoured or more recognised positions? The issue of position clearly warrants more merit in the UK than over on the continent where teams from Ajax through Barcelona at club level and Spain, France and Germany at international level have reaped rewards from a fluid and often ridiculed (in the UK especially) approach to formation and movement on the pitch. I’ve posted before on the failures of UK coaching and the approach to football generally in favour of a continental approach, the financial stick the Premier League wields over the football world ensures our place at the top table but are we there on merit? Following the European campaigns of our top teams this year certainly points to a decline in our ability to compete, not only with top teams in Europe but with what was previously been seen as ‘mediocre’ opposition. Don’t get me started on the national team… But back to the initial point here, the Dutch vision of 'total football' came from a requirement to compete with the defensive football strategy as seen by the dominant Italian sides of the 1960s as they developed the ‘catenaccio calcio’ system. Many will be aware and some will remember the rigid defensive play that permeated through football well into the 1980s in Europe that relied on strict discipline and man-to-man marking. Countering this approach required something different and in the 1990s director of FA coaching Charles Hughes developed a coaching plan first devised by Charles Reep in the 1950s that stipulated a minimum of three passes (modified to five by Hughes) as the most effective way of scoring a goal. The book [i]The Winning Formula: The Football Association Soccer Skills and Tactics[/i] was borne and we had our first coaching manual based on long ball football. In 1992, between jobs, I started along the FA coaching route with my FA Leaders badge feeding onto what were then Level 1 and Level 2 under the tutelage of Newcastle United youth development coach Barney Jones and alongside John Carver. Our ‘bible’ was the Charles Hughes book and coaching drills which didn’t find favour with myself nor Barney and John but as the course was structured around the FA approach, we were obliged to follow - reluctantly. Having come from a continental football upbringing, I returned and attended coaching schools in France and Holland with the initial plan to coach at the youth level. This dream never materialised however the lessons I learnt resonated with me and it started with total football. Although the birth of what became total football started long before (and by English coaches!) the renowned coach, Rinus Michels of Ajax identified that with such limited resources they could never hope to compete with the European powerhouses and a new approach to combat the defensive play needed to be found. As opposed to the English approach that came later – Michels looked to prey on the weaknesses of the rigid system on the ground. Michels made his players move to different positions on the pitch during the match, the fluidity of movement caused significant problems to the man-marking system as the players were obliged to follow. It was a simple solution but one that required a completely different coaching methodology. Strikers were coached to defend and vice-versa, players were taught the fine details of positions they were previously ignorant of and at youth level all players were required to rotate in and out of different positions throughout their development. As well as an excellent striker – Denis Bergkamp excelled as a left-back as he progressed through the Ajax development system. By fixing on a 4-3-3 system, the players could alter the shape themselves through their coaching and awareness. Switching from left to right, dropping back and pushing forward became normal and confused other teams with their passing and movement whilst delighting neutral fans. The Dutch national squad, heavily loaded with the now successful Ajax team, picked up on the system and managed to reach two World Cup Finals in the 1970s and its star Johan Cruyff found himself in Barcelona where he took the lessons of total football with him. Barcelona developed the system further to great success. Cruyff was asked once to explain what total football was all about; he simply stated “attackers could play as defenders and defenders as attackers. Everyone could play everywhereâ€. For a good coach, there are really no round pegs and square holes. Here at Town, Mick has performed wonders with a limited budget in turning round a relegation threatened club into promotion challengers, he has used only a small number of players from a very small squad and yes, he has played players out of position – more often than not through necessity than anything else. The issue lies lower down through the club, the coaching of the younger players that will give them the ability to be more flexible around the pitch – this can be rectified through time, patience and investment. As we flirt with promotion I do hope that a longer term view of our progress is developing at the club, one that shows the importance of youth development and integration into the first team squad not based on a typical British approach but on something that lies across the water. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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