After this module we’ll spend some time looking at different aspects of a playing philosophy, like attacking, defending and set pieces. But before we do this, we’re going to focus on three great examples of how a well-defined playing philosophy can benefit a team or club.
Jesse Marsch
In 2015 Jesse Marsch was hired by New York Red Bull in Major League Soccer. Known for their high pressing style of play which looks to force turnovers and take advantage of transition moments, Marsch’s Red Bull team won the league in his first year in charge as he was named MLS Coach of the Year.
After arguably the most successful period in club history, Marsch was hired by parent club Red Bull Leipzig as the Assistant Coach, joining former star player Tyler Adams who developed under Marsch in New York before being sold.
Marsch went on to become Head Coach of RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig before replacing Marcelo Bielsa as Head Coach of Leeds United in the Premier League.
During his time at New York, Marsch delivered a presentation on on the Red Bull style of play throughout he club. He explains how it benefited the academy and eventually the first team. When Marsch joined Leeds he immediately hired his Performance Analyst Ewan Sharp, who spoke with us during his time in New York.
Man City
Similar to the Red Bull Group who own multiple clubs around the world, Man City are the parent club of ‘City Football Group’. Among commercial and other financial benefits, the group looks to develop a near-identical style of play through their clubs and benefit from being able to move players between them.
Matt Pilkington was formerly the Head of Academy for New York City FC, before becoming Head Coach for their U23 development team. In the first video included here, he spoke with us about their playing philosophy. The second video offers an insight into the inner workings of the Analysis Department at Manchester City, as well as how it benefits their younger players.
Philadelphia Union
In late 2015 the Philadelphia hired General Manager Earnie Stewart. His task was to restructure and improve the club which had traditionally struggled in Major League Soccer.
Rather than the ‘explosive’ immediate impact Jesse Marsch had on the Red Bulls, the Union project was more of a ‘slow burn’. They focused on implementing a long-term & club-wide style of play which is now beginning to come to fruition.
Stewart left the Union to become Sporting Director for the USA National Team, and was replaced by Ernst Tanner, who is a contributor to many of the APFA courses we offer. Since Tanner took charge, no team has won more points in MLS.
The Union won the league in 2020 and are now consistently in the top few places in the table. On top of this, their salary budget and transfer spend is among the lowest in the league, meaning they are the most cost-effective and efficiently run club in MLS.
They also develop a large number of homegrown academy products including Brenden Aaronson who ironically, was sold to Red Bull Salzburg before joining Jesse Marsch at Leeds.
Throughout this period, Head Coach Jim Curtain has remained in his role and is widely regarded as one of the best in Major League Soccer. Curtain also features heavily on our APFA courses and has won the MLS Coach Of The Year award twice.
The task for the two playing philosophy modules is to describe your personal playing philosophy. How would you like your team to play and why?
Some things to consider:
Are we one of a number of coaches in a club? If so, does our club have a defined playing style we’re supposed to be working towards?
Is there a certain style or philosophy that’s more suited to our league or competition?
What are our overall goals? Player development may require a different style of play compared to a results-based team.
What limitations may define our style? Player age, technical ability, tactical understanding etc.
Use the comments section below to interact with other coaches and share thoughts and add your playing philosophy to your coursework booklet.
Coaching a JV high school team, I look to prepare the players for the style of play our varsity coach uses, primarily high pressing with counter pressing elements, as well as chance creation favored through wide areas.
However, we run into some challenges because we are significantly better than our conference competition, but are more middle of the pack compared to our out of conference opponents. This has led me to create two playing styles, the one mentioned above, as well as being able to switch to a compact ‘defending as a unit’ style where we are comfortable sitting deeper and using our pacey wingers to get forward once we win the ball and have the opponent vulnerable.
Above all else, we are trying to promote adaptability as well as individual technical development in the offseason, to help elevate our players to a level where we can potentially play our more front-foot high-pressing style no matter who we are coming up against, which we have had some success with pressing more out of a mid-block as a nice medium between the two.
Coaching at a youth club, where developing players is our main priority, we have to ensure that we’re keeping our long term development targets in mind. We don’t have a 1st team manager who’s playing philosophy works down through the youth team and I wouldn’t consider our environment to be results driven. This being said, I think there is a lot to take away from these two examples at New York Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union. Having a clear, defined style of play from top to bottom only will benefit the development of players in our club as they move up in age groups and will have different coaches throughout their time at the club.
When looking at the teams within our club, I think our medium sized talent pool provides some limitations to our style of play. Our club practices primarily in public parks, with inconsistent grass playing surfaces as well. Because of this, I think we are a more defensive first club with the attacking style relying more on the individual players within each age group, rather than an attacking system . When we travel outside our state, to play larger clubs regionally, we will tend to have less of the ball but can still find results against larger clubs with efficient play off the ball.
Some considerations when devising a philosophy for an academy is to make sure that it has focus on individual development, rather than purely focusing on the team. You also want to make sure that you are not rejecting lots of good footballers just because they don’t fit your style as an academy.
My playing philosophy would be based on looking to control as much of the game as we can.
In possession this would look like having a good positional game. Looking to work the ball into advantageous situations through quick switches of play and working the 1v1 situations out wide for dangerous cutbacks and follow up.
Out of possession the idea is to defend in a block and always compact. Looking to prevent the opponent from playing through the middle and forcing them out wide to press the aggressively.
The Transition moments are very important to try to win the ball back quickly and aggressively as possible by compressing the space around the ball. From there the objective would be to look for forward options or switches to attack through the wings.
All of this would define the playing style that we would look to implement and would be worked towards by developing players to be able to transition seemlessly up the age groups. Emphasis would be placed on developing the tactical understanding of the players and promoting their creativity and natural ability.
Quick Summary of Playing Philosophy
ATK – Maintain and dominate possession, with the main intention of playing forward as quickly as possible to create a goal scoring chance when possible.
DT – Immediately press with 2-3 closest players, while surrounding players begin to organize the defensive structure/cover teammates pressing
DEF – Compact defending with quick switches from one side to another to close out the opposition’s ability to create threats in our central channels
AT – Controlled possession forward as quickly as possible and to maintain possession and threat within the oppositions half, if not clear counter is available.
Playing Philosophy
– Organized, and compact defensively to make play predictable.
– Fast transition on both sides of the ball. att to def – initial pressure and numbers around ball and the behind the ball. def – att – vertical runs into gaps of defense and look to get to goal as soon as possible. If its not on to go to goal then possess in opponents half and create numbers up in wide areas.
– Get the ball into opponents box as much as possible and create havoc.
– Short passes to draw defense in and quickly attack another space. ex. Build from back in order to create space in attacking half with less defenders.
– Scrappy in both boxes.
My playing philosophy:
– Aggressive high-pressing is a law – win ball high and prevent opposition from playing comfortably – often man-to-man & prevent overloads from opposition.
– Counter attack on transition – similar to Red Bull style of creating chances quickly.
– Short passing a priority – easier to make and retain possession.
– Look to play in opposition half – aggressive structure with high line and GK to create overloads in possession.
– When playing in defensive third – draw/bait high press to create transition-style attacking situations with use of overloads to play through press.
– When defending deep, use compact structure to force opposition wide and overload ball side to prevent overloads.
– Can be effective in most leagues of various levels, but environments of high altitude and/or temperature could make this more difficult to uphold, as well as leagues with heavier schedules (would be effective in LOI where I’m based as schedule is generally wide-spread).
– Play-style requires high levels of determination, stamina and work rate to maintain aggression.
– Younger ages may cope with this style more comfortably due to levels of stamina required, although seasoned, reliable pros will be effective for their work rate and determination.
– Importance placed on overloads and short passing puts less weight and reliance on technical ability – although 1v1 specialist wingers are appreciated!
Overall, a heavy emphasis on control via aggressive pressing, short passing and numerical overloads in possession.
My personal playing philosophy is;
– Purposeful possession and efficient counter attacking that creates quality scoring chances
– Aggressive pressing with defensive organization that denies quality goal scoring chances
– Simple and effective set pieces that create and deny quality goal scoring chances
– Relentless work ethic and tenacious attitude towards competing
Age and level of the team I am working with at a given time dictates how intricate and detailed this may go. Along with environmental affects such as high heat and altitude, this can affect how much the team is able to press and maintain that high intensity. As well as game loads, if it has been a condensed game schedule, we may sit back into more of a block defensively to invite teams to have to play around us, understanding that ideally we will be switching the press on and off throughout the game.
My preferred playing philosophy is based on a slow build up using short passes and finding the right moments to play forward and get past the opponent’s defensive bloc. When we lose the ball, we look to press immediately to win it back, force a turnover or break up the play. Defensively, we like to be compact in the middle forcing the opponent wide and then pressing to win the ball. When we win the ball we look for the quick counter and if it doesn’t work we look to maintain possession. The club shares a similar philosophy as the first team, but the principles of play and objectives are broken down based on age and level of play.
My current club does have a playing style that is based on being the best attacking team in the league. We train to be the best attacking team in the league via building up from the back and attracting an opposition to create quantitative, qualitative, and spatial advantages for our attackers to exploit. Against the ball, we look to press higher up the field to force turnovers for our attackers to go to goal, and we also focus on being a compact unit against the ball so we can force turnovers regardless of where we are positioned as a defensive unit, so we can win the ball back and use the qualities of our attackers in transition. Finally, set pieces are an extremely important part in winning matches and we must be efficient in both to be the best attacking team in the league while also defending them well so we can win games.
Our league has limitations on our ability to press due to some of the weather demands in the US in the summer it can be hard to high press for 90 minutes in 110F degree heat. Also, our league tends to be more direct against a high press, so dropping our defensive line of confrontation can actually be more advantageous to winning the ball higher up the pitch and executing our goal of winning the ball in the attacking half to then use the athletic and/or technical quality of our attackers to create chances.
My personal playing philosophy would be based on control. It is important my team takes control of the ball and control of space on the field. I believe controlling the center of the pitch through a numerical advantage with simple, technical, and cerebral players is the best way to control the ball, space, and ultimately each game.
In possession, this looks like playing out from the back which is heavily predicated on creating plus one situations and finding the free man to progress play forward. Players must be confident playing under pressure and must have the technical ability (especially a great first touch) and cerebral understanding of the game to know when, where, and how to pass the ball to a teammate/move off the ball in a way that we can progress play forward via that pass or the next pass. With the advantages we have created in the first two phases of the game, the aim is to create space for our dynamic attackers to exploit in 1v1 situations in wide areas, so that we can cross the ball from high % areas. If this process cannot be completed in a high % area, then we restart the process from step 1, but just higher up the field and maintain possession in the attacking half with an emphasis on switching play from one side to the next simply to create 1v1 situations in wide areas. Players must have the physical abilities to meet these demands as well.
Out of possession, we understand that our emphasis is on taking the ball back from the opposition quickly, if that cannot be achieved then our next focus is to control spaces on the field and where the opposition can play the ball. Our defensive philosophy is based on proactive reactions to the ball being turned over (counter press, rest defense). When done well this will help us control the ball and space again. When we cannot win the ball back quickly, we focus on being compact to control space to limit space between the lines and over the top so we can ultimately win the ball back. Ex) In a high press against a team who builds, this may look like committing an extra number forward form the back line so we can go man to man and keep a team in their defensive half.
I would describe my playing philosophy by dividing the playing style into three phases: defensive phases, attacking phases, and transitions.
As a defensive unit, I would like our team to limit the amount of space through which opposition teams attack us. It’s all about communication to prevent runners from moving closer to goal and preventing creative players from finding them. Defensive solidarity is the first thing I would focus on in my playing philosophy. This would be done by defending as a team, calling strikers or wingers back for support if needed. The tactics would focus on having more players in midfield compared to our opposition and restricting space for opposition players in the space from outside the box to around 35 yards away from goal. The main defensive line will have the responsibility of watching movement of the forwards and supporting their players when required. If you don’t concede, you can’t lose. Defensive solidarity and not leaking goals is the number one priority in my playing philosophy.
As an attacking unit, I would like my team to not only support its creative and technical players, but also focus on flexibility and movement. Allowing wingers to take risks, get in 1-on-1 situations and drive towards the goal is important, but so is trusting them to make the right pass. Effective forward movement and runs from deep by both midfielders and full backs are helpful in catching defenses out. My attacking philosophy would focus on the attacking unit to move into half-spaces in and around the box, and not fixated on a particular position. If the striker believes he can get space on the left wing and effectively attack from there, his movement out wide will not be restricted. In summary, my attacking philosophy would be to trust the creative tendencies of my players and give them freedom in attack while focusing on movement and positional flexibility that will allow the players to demonstrate their creativity in breaking down defenses.
In terms of transitions, I believe attack to defense transitions are very important. Counter-pressing will be stressed upon, with the aim of winning the ball within 5 seconds of losing it. If successful, we hold onto possession of the ball, building the attack up again. If unsuccessful, the team falls back, trying to get back into our defensive shape and bring players behind the ball as soon as possible.
Overall, my playing philosophy will focus on keeping possession but using it effectively in attack, powered by strong movement, creativity, and flexibility; counter-pressing after losing possession with the aim to win the ball within 5 seconds; and defending as a team by restricting space for the opposition to attack.
There are two coaches for my team’s age group for our club. Myself as the Assistant Coach, and the Head Coach. This is the same for each of the other youth age groups and then there are two Technical Directors (my Head Coach is one of the Technical Directors).
We do have a defined playing style, though it is early in our season and our players had a different Head Coach last season, so we are still aiming to see the actions that make our playing style on an ongoing basis. This is a playing style that we believe is based on best practice, as there is not a playing style that is particularly suited to our competition therefore best practice should be followed. The overall goals of our playing style on the ball are to enable passing options to all of our players wherever they are on the pitch to maximise our ability to keep possession. Off the ball, we want to press intelligently so that we don’t leave too much space behind in our pressing, and to encourage the opposition to play into confined areas of the pitch through our pressing, team movement, and individual body shape, so that we can win the ball back more easily once the opposition are in these confined spaces.
The limitations of our playing style is that it requires a relatively strong tactical understanding in terms of where they should be positioned, where players need to have an ongoing tactical awareness of their decisions in games rather than acting out of impulsivity or spontaneity. We believe however that this will come through ongoing training and coaching, as the technical, physical, and psychological aspects of the game are already at a pretty adept level (though still obviously are constantly improved upon). It is the tactical side of the main four aspects which I believe needs the most improvement, and could potentially be seen as a limitation of our playing style but is something which I definitely believe will be beneficial as we persevere with it and our players become more proficient at it in this process.
In possession, my tactical philosophy emphasizes a direct and vertical style of play, prioritizing swift ball movement to manipulate the opposition’s shape and defensive lines. The objective is to create a dynamic and fluid attacking approach that exploits spaces efficiently.
Out of possession, the strategy revolves around an intense pressing game deployed strategically across various thirds of the field. The goal is to regain possession at the earliest opportunity and as high up the pitch as feasible, disrupting the opponent’s build-up play and limiting their options.
A key component of the tactical approach involves frequent and effective switching of play. This serves a dual purpose: destabilizing the opposition’s defensive structure and facilitating rapid transitions in both attacking and defensive phases of play. The emphasis on quick transitions contributes to the overall tempo and unpredictability of the team’s performance.
My coaching philosophy underscores a commitment to proactive and dynamic play, integrating possession-based strategies with assertive pressing and strategic switching of play to maximize the team’s effectiveness on both ends of the field.
my personal philosophy is that I want my teams to be hard to play against. difficult to break down and to score against and is known as a highly organized team. I want to be a strong defensive team that presses enthusiastically. I also want to have a very athletic team, a team that can run you into the ground. I would like to think of my team as more of a Jesse Marsch style, that wants to get forward quickly after winning possession.
The playing style and philosophy I prefer would be of a more proactive type, and that goes hand in hand with clubs like Barcelona and Manchester City. I would want technically and physically capable players to press high up the pitch. It’s not just pressing high up the pitch but with more control. Now the tactics and formation can change based on age group and manager but the important thing is Philo
The first phase of the play when in possession would be to play out from the back with the central defender wide and the goalkeeper acting as a third central defender. Fullbacks can go up, widen the pitch, or drift inside to play as inverted fullbacks. After that, there will be 3 midfielders who should be the most technically gifted players in the team, with 1 acting as a pivot in possession, 1 being in the No. 10 role, and the other one being a box-to-box midfielder. Upfront, there will be two wide wingers who will provide width if fullbacks have dropped inside, and vice versa. The central striker’s role would be to occupy two opposition center backs and make runs off the ball, whether out wide, through center, or drifting deep, to make space for other players to run.
Now out of possession, the team would be more structured as everyone would be pressing in the zone. If it’s an opposition goal kick, then the striker will work as a pressing trigger, pressing diagonally to block off the passing lane on one side and move the play to only the other side. When losing a ball in the opposition’s final third, it would be a counter-pressing approach where players would have to win the ball back as soon as possible. After winning the ball back, it would be ideal to play it back to slow down the game before building up the play, but if they win the ball near the opposition penalty box, then they have a license to try and score a goal. One thing to keep in mind is that if the counter-press approach does not work and the opposition is near the halfway line, then the team needs to drop back and start the organized press in their half. This would be the ideal way for me to play. To achieve this, a lot of things need to be properly placed.
Starting with the academy, they need to communicate this playing style so they can develop the training session accordingly. Small rondos, quick play training, and zonal training would be some of the examples that academy coaches would be going through. This will be important as having a homegrown player will cut down on the cost, which can be invested in other departments. The sports analysis department needs to analyze matches in this style of play to find the weaknesses and strengths of the home team and the opposition as well. The scouting team needs to find players who are technically sound and willing to work hard, as the tactical aspect can be taught during practice if the player is willing to work hard.
There comes a time when the team will be playing against an opponent with the same style but far more superiority. During this time, it will be important to stick to the ideology. The defenders need to control the ball and not just clear it for the opposition to attack again. Midfielders need to take time and not panic when they are in possession and can’t find any gaps. sophy. As long as they are trying to win the ball back quickly, build up from the back, interchange position to give other players time and space, and try to control the turnovers, it would be ideal.
I would like my team to have a clear identity – you know what you are watching – KPI’s are bespoke to the identity of the team and allow us to objectively measure our performance. This is critical and can be built over time – it can be fluid and can be added to as we learn about our team, however there are non-negotiables.
We would need players that our adaptable to allow for interchanging of positions. In possession, a proactive team that controls momentum within games through possession – we are brave and are not afraid to play under pressure. A team that builds the attack from the goalkeeper to commit opposition players forward before breaking lines and exploiting the space behind them. Possession is generated through clear positioning and structure but does include rotations to create spaces and open passing lines – it doesn’t matter who is in the position as long as certain spaces are occupied in certain moments in relation to the ball and the structure is maintained to give us the solutions we want. We constantly search for superiorities in the field.
Out of possession we would like an aggressive counterpress and pressing team that plays in a very compact manner. Our compact organisation with the ball facilitates our ability to counterpress effectively without the ball. We look to control momentum by stopping the opposition dropping us back into our organised defensive organisation by regaining the ball as quickly as possible when it is lost.
Club and coach must be aligned and committed to play this way as it can take time for players to adapt, and mistakes can be made. This must not affect our process and must be treated as learning opportunity as opposed to a reason to change. In the most recent league I worked in, there is a significant amount of man-orientated defending and I believe a possession-based style that includes rotation within a playing structure can allow for overloads to be created by dragging opponents out of position and exploiting spaces created by them. Although a significant amount things can be coached, recruitment strategy should be aligned to playing philosophy which does demand intelligent, adaptable players that are comfortable playing under pressure and have good fundamentals – awareness, passing, receiving, in addition to being extremely hard-working and selfless out of possession when counterpressing and pressing. Player age could be a factor considered in the recruitment strategy and younger players may be best to target to best meet the demands of the game model. With this style of play, player development must be prioritised in the youth age groups and mistakes must be expected and used as learning opportunities for the long-term goal of producing players who can thrive in the first team environment and game model.
My playing philosophy would match a lot of the playing styles I have watched while growing up. I enjoy teams that implement positional play. Having set structures and patterns through the phases in possession to play through lines and break through the opposition. This would be done in a 4-3-3 shape, a system which allows for flexibility when attempting to create overloads during the build up phase through to finishing in the final third. The team would need to be athletic and technically strong.
During build up, the objective will be to create a 3-2 shape by using a full back inverting to create a back three or a midfielder to drop in and a full back inverting inside or with both 8s dropping in. Width will be key to this build up, with both wingers staying wide and high when the ball is in deeper areas to allow for direct play if necessary into the wide areas but also to stretch the back line to open lanes through the centre of the pitch. The striker will look to drop in as a false nine when necessary to overload central areas creating a diamond in midfield, and then midfielder runs from a box crashing eight or an inverting winger can be used if the defensive line follow the strikers movement.
The system will be flexible down to the player profile, however build up will look to be done to create a 3-2-5. If a full back is particularly good at going forward, this will allow for a winger to come inside and play more as a 10 or a inside forward deepening on their profile. If a full back is more defensively solid and not as effective in the final third, he can tuck in and act as a inverting full back to create the back three with the winger staying high and wide in front to create width in attack and to allow them to be isolated 1v1 against the full back. If you have two very good attacking full backs, a centre midfielder or defensive midfielder can look to drop in creating the back three, the two 8s become the 2 and the wingers can invert to become the front 5. The system is flexible to different formations however the build up shape always looks the same, just down to player rotations on the pitch.
Out of possession, an 8 can break out of the midfield three to create a front two, creating a 4-4-2 shape. The idea will be to be aggressive in the final third, looking to win the ball high up the field and quickly attacking goal after winning the ball back, once the opposition break through out press, we become compact and narrow in shape, small gaps between each line and we sit in formation making the opposition go wide and then squeeze them in the wide areas by shuffling across as a unit.
I have played many different systems over the years, but if I was going to start from scratch and create a playing style and philosophy, it will be an attacking based style. Although, many different league throughout the globe have different playing styles that sometimes can be implemented with great success or others will not assimilate well within the league. Therefore, coaching in this region (North America), the players I would tend to look for will be players that are creative and physical. With these players, the philosophy is to play with attacking numbers overloading in the opponents half to contain their play and try to win the ball high up the field. One key detail about each players is pace. Players with creative ability and have speed. The ideal player squad will always contain players that are more on the younger side with less veteran players who are passed their prime. Looking to have more youthful players on the squad ranging from 18-27 years old.
The system would be a 4-1-4-1 formation with the technical players usually starting in the back with the speed and creative players at the front lines. Having players in the back with technical ability and fast reaction times (processing information quickly – decision making) will help get the ball out in pressure situations quickly to the attacking lines in front. Ideally the style of play is to get the ball forward using minimal amounts of time – create vertical passes to teammates – players will receive the ball in stride, then looking to make that killer through pass in the final third of the field usually centrally to break the opposing teams backline. Throughout the field, players will always look to make quick passing sequences with teammates in proximity (minimal touches – one -two passing, give-and-go’s). Speed, creativeness and technical ability will be the core of our player development.
Limit possession to make less sideway passes or backward passing. Possession is not the key role for the players on the field in our system because it will allow the opposing team to shift and maintain their shape with our continued possession. We want to create moments of chaos from pressure and our speed to close down opposing players. This will cause the opposing team to play faster than usual and get them uncomfortable Ewing on the ball when being pressured often. Disorganization and opposing team’s structure will breakdown consistently.
From the clubs viewpoint: Finding players will be a little more easier once the standard of your system is created, implemented and then, played over the course of a season or two. Consistency, team understanding and a culture of players that understand and will buy into the system. Most importantly player development and producing players from the farm system properly will compensate for spending large amounts of money for players in the transfer market keeping coast down and more emphasis of player development at the youth level in the club.
Therefore, philosophy and our playing style is to be quick on the ball (quick forward passes), getting up the field with supporting numbers (overload), and playing through the lines with creativity and using our players with speed to create scoring opportunities from the middle third of the field to the final third of the field.
There is a defined playing style at my club currently, however it is not completely aligned with how I would want to play the game. I tend to believe there are certain styles that lend themselves to be more successful in certain leagues, but I do think some styles can be universal. The beauty of soccer is that due to its nature and low scoring, there are many styles that can be successful. The hard part is committing to your style and remaining steadfast in the process even if results don’t go your way. Most clubs require results to be a big part of the equation. League structures with promotion and relegation certainly make it tougher on organizations that want to prioritize development.
Ideally, I’d like to play a style that focuses on field position. We would try to identify very athletic, hard-working and cerebral players to implement our ideas and principles. In possession, we’re looking to keep the ball in the opponent’s half and trying to win it back as soon as possible if it is lost. Our build up would be more direct and simplified. Defensive structure and organization (resting defense) would be a big highlight for this philosophy. Because of this, we would want to focus more investment into the back half of our team than the front half. We think of our money (which is more limited than others) will go further in this approach. Set pieces would be another big focus of this philosophy. I would want set plays for many different occasions to try and maximize opportunities to score and take advantages of certain predetermined weaknesses in the defense.
Describing your playing style and/or philosophy in a short paragraph is always tough but I would first like to break up my answer to this into two parts; firstly my coaching philosophy in my current role as a youth club coach, and second, our playing philosophy.
The reason I wanted to add context to this answer is that the role and philosophy on which you operate changes drastically based on the situation you are in. I do not have the luxury to recruit players into my current teams to help achieve a single and defined playing style that personally want the team to follow. My current club does not have a final destination for players at the top of our pyramid and so we find ourselves in more of a caretake role; preparing players for the future. Therefore, I believe the philosophy in which I operate under my current role to be one that works to produce critical thinkers and problem-solvers to help equip the players with the skills needed to adapt to any situation they find themselves in later in their careers. This includes the use of differential training methodology, constraint based small-sided games, and technical and tactical training that builds the players knowledge base that can be applied in many scenarios.
Within the context of this development philosophy, our playing style is one that follow strict, yet open ended principles that can be applied in many situations. It is profoundly based on the players ability to recognize and attempt to control time and space and have overloads both in and out of possession wherever possible on the field. We apply these overloads structurally down the central channel of the field in order to control the center of the pitch. This is an example of a principle that can be applied at any age and any stage of the development process through any system of play. The objectives which are included in our playing philosophy and provide a foundation for our training methodology include both in and out of possession principles. The in-possession principles include; possess to build phase (defensive third), progress and advance phase (middle third), create and score phase (attacking third). The out-of-possession principles include; emergency defending (defensive third), dictate and deny (middle third), and press to score (attacking third).
My philosophy in offense stage for the team I coach consist of:
Quick attack after interception.
Short/medium passes.
Wide play during build up stage.
Creating overload by using midfielders during build up.
Creativity and creating 1v1 situations for wingers and striker.
My philosophy in defense stage consist of:
High pressure. Making opponents to play wide and close them there.
Everyone should be involved in pressing, don’t leave zones between lines.
Prefer to play short, but if the situation is dangerous I don’t mind to play safe.
Little space between players.
Brave, self-confident play without fear of making a mistake.
There are a lot of coaches in the club, but we don’t have exact practical philosophy how to play. And I assume, it would be hard to implement, due to different level of teams. But, for sure, every coach try to play attacking and interesting football, giving players a opportunity to show their best skills and improve other areas.
Development of the players( on and off the pitch) is personally my overall goal now.
We like to dominate possession, allowing players to get high and wide. Be patient in the build up, don’t force anything which would lose possession, instead recycle the ball to retain. Look to get the ball to wide players for cut backs or box passes. Centrally the option should be there for a give and go to allow a third man run. Out of possession, win the ball back as quickly as possible and as high up the pitch as possible, regain our compact shape until we win the ball and once won, disperse.
The club’s focus lies in creating and finding the free man throughout all phases of the game. From the building phase to the final third, the objective is to identify opportunities to create a free man, thereby increasing our chances of bypassing the press and scoring. This analysis helps the coaching staff and analysts pinpoint areas where this strategy is not being executed on the pitch, allowing for better player development to achieve this goal. By mastering this approach, we can play against any team, emphasising our own style of play over that of the opponents. However, it’s important to acknowledge that this tactic may not always be successful when we possess the ball, leading to frustration when the opponent effectively manages to counter it.
The club wants to be possession focused. Ideally, the game starts in a 4-3-3. As the game gets into natural transition, it is critical to build from the back. Eventually, the team would form into a 4-2-1-3 or a 4-2-3-1. The difference is the intention to pin the back line into their starting positions or change on the fly to be unpredictable.
The limitations for the club is execution.
My ideal playing style would be one which seeks to dominate & control. This would require:Patience in possession. Do not force the ball forwards. Move the ball to try and create gaps in the opposition and then raise the tempo.
High level of technical proficiency across the squad.
Goalkeeper and centre backs given big responsibility in possession, looking to find pivot players and attacking midfielders and not being afraid to play under pressure. Make the pitch wide to stretch the opponent but ensure close connections for passing combinations through positioning to open passing lanes and through rotations.
Play a high line to squeeze the opponent and counter-press with intensity.
Attacking midfielders and wide players arrive regularly in the box and run depth as well as strikers.
Where possible, look to score from ahead of the penalty spot.
Principles I try to establish in my teams:
– Play out of the back and through central areas. Wingers can drop into half spaces to create overloads within central spaces.
– When looking to play to a teammate, can you play the furthest teammate forward that has control. If this is behind the opposition defensive block, even better.
– In attacking transition if we are facing forward can we create a goalscoring opportunity right away. If not secure the ball and try to create overloads again.
– In defensive transition, can we regain the ball within 5 seconds. If not, can we delay until we find our defensive balance again and wait to win it.
– I do believe in individual creativity and problem solving skills. Being able to eliminate players on the dribble to create overloads is an important part to our system and our teams game.
At the club I work for, we do not have a club defined playing style we are working towards. Usually the club prefers teams try to play out of the back.
In the youth divisions, direct styles have a large advantage based on the differing athletic profiles of players. A high press, direct team will likely have some sort of success if players are weaker (especially in the U13 and below age groups).
The goals as a club are to develop players capable of making their own decisions and being able to play through and around pressure. Unfortunately this means you will have defeats against more direct, athletic teams due to trying to play out of the back.
I think player age, gender, game format, physically ability and technical ability all contribute to the style of play you are trying to imprint into a team. If a group of players are not gifted in dribbling, implementing a system that relies on wingers getting into 1v1 situations in wide spaces doesn’t make sense.
My club has a club-wide playing philosophy set by our Management Team. The club’s aim is to develop players who are comfortable on the ball and dictate play. We want our players to be able to identify numerical overloads, play in to space, show determination in attack/defensive transitions and enjoy their football, all whilst being the fittest club in the league.
As we are a top division, full time professional club, some of our players struggle to adapt to a full-time schedule. We also play in a unique manner to the rest of the league; thus some players find it difficult to implement the style we want to impose as a club, which can be frustrating. Some of the key things we try to focus on are:
1.Play out from the back on the floor whenever possible but feel comfortable enough to break the press with long passes/goal kicks if needed.
2.Push our wing back’s high up the pitch to create width and assist with the build into the 2nd/3rd phase.
3.Encourage 3rd man runs in to the attack to create overloads and surprise the opposition.
4.Good delivery into the box, with plenty of players in the box to respond.
5.Press high whenever we can and try to win the ball back quickly. Failing that, delay play to allow team mates to reset.
6.Maintain a solid defensive shape, especially with our rest defense.
My playing style is heavily reflected in the experiences that I have had working for particular clubs, most of which have been in tiers 2-6 in England. There is less of an emphasis on youth development and it is much more results based, placing an emphasis on physical dominance, both in the air and on the ground in duels. With this comes the use of set pieces as a way of scoring goals. 5 at the back and 4 at the back systems are both options, as long as there is a striking partnership up top. Playing styles in the lower English leagues are often limited by technicality, with most teams opting to play more direct rather than build from the back – pitch condition and player fitness levels all have a part in this, as well as perceived risk when playing out the back. With clubs that are semi-professional there is also the element of less time to implement more complex tactical ideas.
My playing philosophy would be to dominate games in possession, and look to score as many goals as possible. When out of possession we look to press immediately, and deny opportunities to our goal. I would love for my teams to be creative when in possession either on the dribble or finding their teammates in good spaces to progress. I feel if we’re able to create kids who are comfortable on the ball we give them a chance to succeed, and whatever level they desire to play at. The club I currently work for does not have a defined playing style. As the sport grows in our community there’s beginning to be more teams who want to build out, and progress through the lines. Our current goal is to develop kids who can outplay their direct opponent, and be good human beings on/off the field.
Having a defined playing style is vital to any level of the game whether that is grassroots soccer or a professional team. The playing style at the college or professional may be different to begin with when you inherit players that cannot execute the style. But you should be starting to implement parts of it and link it back with the use of video and data
I want my team to recognize and understand what ‘dangerous’ situations and areas of the field are. Defensively we want to remove danger quickly. Offensively we want to get the ball into dangerous areas when possible, and when that is not possible we keep it in ‘safe’ areas.
Most importantly we transition into organized spaces so that we are prepared to either attack or defend.
I’m personally very much in agreement as to the importance of establishing a “way of playing” within a club or organization or even just within your own team. I think it allows for communication to be clarified and simpler to understand as you can focus on bigger picture ideas and principles first and then narrow in more as players develop a common understanding. I read a while back about the difference between a “club” and just a collection of teams that where the same uniform and this common understanding of how we want to play and more importantly develop players is something that really resonates with me and that we are trying to create and implement in our small community youth club!