Coaching Education content provided by the NSCAA

Curing Common Coaching Problems
(Pt. 3 of 3)

Although each situation is unique, there are similarities 

By Dan Woog

Too many substitutions, too often
This is a mistake made most often by coaches who have never played soccer. Soccer is not football, where subs run in and out on every play bringing secret messages from the coach. Nor is it hockey, where line shifts every 90 seconds are de rigueur.

In soccer, it takes at least 10 or 15 minutes for a player to get into the flow of the game, to understand the rhythm of that particular match, as well as to figure out the capabilities of his particular opponent, the idiosyncrasies of the field, the weather and whatever else makes every game different. It also takes that long for a player's legs to feel comfortable, nervousness to disappear and his/her second wind to arrive. To substitute without giving a chance to play at least 10 to 15 minutes (except in emergencies) is doing that player a disservice.

It's also unwise to send in subs in "waves" or "lines." Some coaches do it with notable success -- Connecticut's Joe Morrone comes to mind -- but the feeling here is that it's bad for two reasons. One is that it disrupts the flow of the game -- it takes your own players on the field longer to adjust to three to six new players than it does to adjust to one or two -- plus it runs counter to the international concept of the game.

All over the world, soccer is a game of fluidity and fitness, played from start to finish with no more than two reserves. Of course, in American youth sports we want to give as many youngsters as possible a chance to participate. That's good, and every child should play in every single match; however, it's not soccer when children start thinking of themselves as "the second forward line" or "the third wave of midfielders." If they see themselves in this image, they're not thinking of themselves as "soccer players" who can play anywhere and are creative, intelligent athletes able to think and adapt under ever-changing, pressure-filling situations. This leads to another coaching problem.

Stereotyping youngsters by position
It's unfair for a coach to say, "No, you can't play striker, you're a fullback" or "Why do you want to switch? You're doing fine at right midfield." Children constantly are changing, each at different rates. Some are growing into their bodies, while others are growing more awkward by the minute. Some suddenly become more aggressive, while others begin to lag in the capability to visualize the entire field at once. For a coach to label players as capable of playing only one position harms them developmentally and harms the team tactically.

A coach must be willing to take risks with his/her players. If the midfielders are having a problem keeping together during a game, the coach must be able to look down the bench and give someone else a try or switch with someone who's playing another position on the field. Certainly in a runaway game, a coach must be willing to move players around with abandon. If you're up by several goals, it may help to keep the score down; if you're down by a few, what's the harm in trying something different?

Failure to plan for emergencies
Every coach should know ahead of time what to do if the unthinkable happens. Who is the third goalkeeper -- the backup behind the backup? What formation will you use if (heaven forbid) one of your players is sent off? If you're down by one goal in a must-win situation and your sweeper is your best athlete, do you ever plan to move him/her into the attack? How about your goalkeeper? Would you move him/her up as the final "roving back?" At what point in the game would you do this?

These are the kinds of questions that a coach must think about before the game. If you have to spend time answering them during the match, or if you've never even thought of them before they arise, you haven't done your homework.

Too much yelling from the sideline
One of the most appealing aspects of soccer is that once the whistle blows, the players are on their own. There are no timeouts, no huddles, no strategy sessions -- in other words, once the game begins, the coach has very little input into the outcome. For those of us with big egos, that's a sobering thought. For the youngsters, that's great. They're their own coaches during a game. More than most team sports, the contest is theirs to win or lose.

"Go to the ball!" "Be aggressive!" "Mark your man!" All these are bits of advice a coach can call out during a game. They're good advice, but they lose effectiveness when shouted over and over again. They tend not to get heard when several different people -- the coach, his assistant, the parents and all the youngsters on the sidelines -- are yelling them at the same time, and they are not really that revolutionary. After all, soccer players know that they should win lose balls, be aggressive and mark their men. Why not try spending one or two games quietly on the sidelines? Do your teaching during practice sessions, then let the players play during the match. Limit your advice to one or two key moments each half. You may be surprised by how well your players do without hearing your dulcet tones.

Focusing on the score rather than the play
There are 1-0 games and then there are 1-0 games. By this we mean consider the 1-0 match you've won against a team you usually beat 7-0. Then consider the 1-0 match you've lost against a team you've never held below five goals. Too many coaches look only at the final score. They tell their team "Great game!" in the first instance without realizing the opposition is getting a lot better or without warning their team that they might be getting complacent. They also tell their team "Well, you lost again" in the second instance without congratulating them for how close this game was or giving them encouragement that perhaps the next time the score will finally be different.

We hate to use clichés, but this one happens to be true. "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." You can play well and lose, just as you can play poorly and win. Your team knows after a match whether it won or lost. It's you job, as coach, to tell them how they played the game. .