It’s a hot topic in youth football that rears its head regularly,
not one that’s as contentious as sideline behaviour or the intricacies of
coaching, but still vital in the scope of player development. Take these
players for example:
Player 1: over 75 England caps, over 400 Premier League
games at centre back.
Player 2: over 100 England caps, over 400 Premier League
games at centre midfield
Player 3: over 100
England caps, over 400 Premier League games at left back
Player 4: over 50 England caps, over 400 Premier League
games at centre forward
What have they all got in common, other than fantastic
careers? Well, all of them throughout their youth career played in a different
position to the one they made full-time careers in. Player 1 spent most of his
time in centre midfield or as a forward, Player 2 played most of his youth
football as a defender or wide player, Player 3 played as a striker and winger
most of the time and Player 4 played as a winger.
For young players, the benefits of playing in different
positions are massive. Developing a whole round game understanding is a vital
part of the education of young players and something that as adults we can help
develop reasonably easily. To develop pictures in your mind of different
scenarios linked to things that might occur in the game is really important.
For example, I played my main football career at
full-back and had all the game on the inside of me, nothing to consider
elsewhere and developed certain pictures in my head of how to play. I have now
dropped down a few levels and playing for my friend’s team, he asked if I could
play in the centre midfield. WOW! I need a map to play in there! The game is
going on behind me, on both sides as well as in front of me and having never
been exposed to understanding how to play in different positions I find it a
real struggle. It’s just so different. Equally, when there had been injuries in
other games and I was asked play in a different position I simply never had the
experience to perform well enough in a different role for the team.
We need to allow players the flexibility to be able to
play in different positions and ensure they recognise that it is in their best
interests of helping them get better. As a coach, that is our role, to focus on
the long term player development. This is a story from one of our senior FA
coaches;
I’d worked with the
team for a few years and got them to a position that they could take ownership
for their own development. It was an U18 fixture and I can recall our centre
forward after the first period coming over and saying “please can I play in
centre defence next quarter?” I replied “of course, but I need a reason why”
and the player replied “I have seen their striker causing problems for our
defenders and would like to play against him to see if I can learn from his
movement to then use it in my own game.
Two things strike me from that story. The first is how
smart the player is to recognise that he can learn things to develop his own
game and puts the development of that above winning the match or scoring goals right now. The second is how good the
coach must have been to have worked with the team to foster in them that mindset
and to take risks in the game for their development, over and above the outcome
of the game.
The challenge is to get past our own ego first though! We
have to put aside the score sometimes and recognise that we have to put the
player’s needs first. This has to be done on several levels; first of all,
managing our own expectations about when things might not go as well on a
‘team’ basis as it would do when playing all our best players in their best
positions, and also managing the parents.
This is an education aspect, for the parents and the
players. Once the children know it will help them become a better player, they
may grumble a little but they will understand as long as you are consistent
with all the players. You can’t then play your son or daughter as striker every
game if you have declared a policy on rotation of positions! Equally, managing
the parents is an important aspect too, explaining to them why you are doing
this and the rationale behind this is imperative. If you suddenly just spring
this approach on them without forewarning there is likely to be a bit of push
back from them, so explain to them the approach at the start of the season.
So what are the options in terms of rotating positions?
It will depend on the format of football you are playing, number of players you
have available of course. The challenge is developing a policy you are
comfortable with that meets the needs of the children and the club. Some
questions to consider:
Q. How often do players play in a different position?
Q. What information do you give them prior to the game about
different roles and responsibilities?
Q. What games do you select players to play in different
positions? Tough games or easier games?
Q. How many positions will they play in a season?
Q. How long will they spend in one position to start to
understand this before trying a different one?
There are lots of different ways to approach this and as
a coach it’s important you understand what and why you are taking the approach that
you are. For example, what are the benefits and tradeoffs of playing a
predominantly left-footed player on the right side of the pitch? How do you
manage this before you put them there? Do you show them You Tube clips of
Lionel Messi and explain the benefits of being able to cut in to dribble and
shoot? Do you show clips of Steven Gerrard scoring goals with both feet to
highlight the importance of being two-footed and practising your weaker foot?
How do you manage the self-esteem of the player when they go down the right
wing and then kick it off the pitch because their weaker foot isn’t very good?
How do you manage the other players and parents when they kick it off the
pitch? (The answer is you praise them for being brave and trying their weaker
foot!)
There are lots of things to consider, it’s not simply a
case of dropping players into different roles and expecting great returns.
Things take time to learn and develop. Top developing professional clubs
recognise this too – Ajax, for example, rotate youth players around a triangle
of three roles in one season; playing right back, right centre back and right
midfield in their 4-3-3 system.
So the challenge for you as a coach is not to pigeonhole
children from a young age. Just because they are big today doesn’t mean they
will always be the biggest and therefore they don’t always have to play in
central defence! Develop a policy with your club, involving all the different
groups to do what is best in the development of the players.
That simply has
to be the focus – developing a long term love of football and an all-round
ability to play in our wonderful team game.
Nick Levett
FA National Development Manager (Youth Football)
@nlevett