Jake Pickles

Boxed in: How the thirds of play impact creativity in football development

If you’ve ever worked in football development, you’re probably familiar with the concept of the pitch divided into thirds: Build, Create, and Finish. These three words have been drilled into us for decades, forming the backbone of countless game models, curriculums, and footballing philosophies. Often viewed through a positional lens, even the England DNA frameworkContinue reading “Boxed in: How the thirds of play impact creativity in football development”

Amongst the Chaos

ControlIs our addiction to control destroying our most creative players? It seems we may have strayed further than a simple need for control of the ball; we want to decide every single moment, every movement, every position, every thought. We want to control the player and their every move. Only, controlling each player’s actions comesContinue reading “Amongst the Chaos”

Knowledge of or knowledge in?

Knowledge ofOur team has a game this weekend. The players need to know how to press the opposition. We have three sessions to make sure they know how to press correctly. It’s easy right? There’s plenty of set pressing structures out there; Man City with their out of possession 4-4-2, Newcastle with their extremely highContinue reading “Knowledge of or knowledge in?”

We need to talk about technique

There is nothing better than witnessing the perfect touch, a ball plucked out from the sky and stopped dead in it’s tracks. You hear the crowd in awe, that’s what we pay our money to see. For the special players, it’s a regular theme; Marcelo trapping a ball that’s flown from 50 feet in theContinue reading “We need to talk about technique“

Toco y me voy & Escadinha CLA practice

Relational play is becoming ever more popular and thanks to the likes of Jamie Hamilton’s article, ‘what is relationism?’, our understanding of these emergent patterns within the style is ever improving. But how do we coach them? Firstly let’s have a look at what each of these interactions look like in practice. ‘‘Toco y meContinue reading “Toco y me voy & Escadinha CLA practice”

Another cog for the machine

Cogs‘Back foot…’ ‘Side on…’‘Play the way you’re facing…’What if our impatient cries for control are killing the creativity of our most exciting footballers? For over a decade now, positional play has ruled European football. We all know the history; Michels, Cruyff, Van Gaal, Guardiola – all who gave birth to a world now riddled withContinue reading “Another cog for the machine”

The Raumdeuter: Investigating the game

In 2011, Thomas Müller gave an interview on a German talk show, where he was asked by the host to describe his role on the pitch. He responded with the word ‘Raumdeuter’. While not particularly strong, fast or technically gifted compared to other players of his calibre, this newly coined description of Müller’s role characterisesContinue reading “The Raumdeuter: Investigating the game”