CPSC

Since the uploading into the club's wedsite is not ready, I thought that it would be a good idea to post my PSC on my blog too.

Post-Session Comment, 6 May

Master the Ball, Control the Game

It was a hot and dry day for soccer and the turn-out of 23 was good for a thorough training session of 2 main components, including at least 3-level of progression.

Dribbling and Warming-up
- Straight-lined cones
- Jagged cones (s-curve)
- Passing and Receiving (wall-pass, 1-2)
- Dribbling with a passive defender

Ball Control Technique (Discover your ‘Sweet Spot’)
- Individual ball-control technique
- Technique with team awareness
- Technique against goal-keeper

I hope that you realized in the last 5 sessions that you are not only training to improve your technique, but also on how to be an intelligent player. From my observation of this current team, there are 7-8 skillful players but only about 2-3 ‘intelligent players’ and this is not enough to form an intelligent team. Players with good technique and skill do not mean ‘intelligent player’.

Let’s use a few well-known skilled players as examples.

J Cole, Pirlo, C Ronaldo, Arteta, A Lennon, Pennant, Fabregas.

Let’s put aside team preference and imagine you are a team manager able to get any 2 of these players. The condition is that both players have to be ‘intelligent players’. You almost seem to know the qualities that enable him to be more ‘intelligent’ than the other. Discover what it is and implement it into your game.

My personal comments on the list of players:
- J Cole is a bag of tricks and speedy, but until he is more effective, I am not sure.

- Pirlo is a master class. He pulls the string, the tempo and controls the way Milan plays. He can do without Kaka, but Kaka cannot do without him.

- Ronaldo is a player who suddenly became effective. All dribble and fancy in the past, now he is an assured creator and scorer.

- Arteta is an artist full of flair. However, he is one-dimensional now that Gravenson is no longer there for support.

- Lennon is a bag of energy, young and enthusiastic. Only.

- Pennant is so one-dimensional that he will only start or end a match, but not both, unless soccer has rolling substitution.

- Fabregas does not have the best natural body movement, not the strongest but sure on the ball and picks the right passes.

So what makes an ‘intelligent player’?

Even not-so-skillful players can be intelligent players. Here are some pointers that could improve your game. Think about how you could add to your game.

- You are the ‘master of the ball’, controlling with awareness and intention
- You can make better decisions, individual and tactically
- You control the tempo and the type of game that the team plays
- You understand the tactic used during different ‘moments’ of the game
- You don’t act cute or be a clown and let the team down


You need a visual example? Watch Pirlo during the Finals