Courtesy: The FA.com


A time to reflect

By Graeme Dell

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Well, the dust has settled now after our World Cup experience and it’s a time for reflection, review and implementation so as one period ends another one starts which is all part of our development.

I’ve spent almost every day this past week going over and over the analysis we produced during the week away, reviewing and analysing all aspects, good, bad and indifferent, which is key to recognising the weaknesses. Not just in our play, but that of our opponents of whom there were some very capable groups of players.

The two biggest single components that stand out from Hungary are expectation and frustration. The realisation that our expectations at that level have to be balanced against the limited exposure we have of high level Futsal in our own domestic environment and that we need strong leagues at home to develop the English players.

Expecting success against these teams of professional Futsal players who train every day, many within each national team from the same club, is too high a target even after four years and we have to be realistic about some of the fantastic players we come up against and how much their domestic leagues help them.

Hungary’s primary ‘first line’, their starting line up, were all professionals at the same club in Romania and they really were quite a team and deserved their Group win. Mihaly Kozma, their national team coach is also their club coach so they have an understanding all of their own and we simply cannot compete against that at the moment.

The frustration is that we all want to do so well. The players train hard but we’re still limited by our own speed of player development and the domestic Futsal exposure. The next 24 months will be critical in that process to create a greater pool of players to play for England. The talent pool remains very small and shallow of the facets required, which makes it difficult to show decent progress and, in fairness, we haven’t progressed from last January for many and varied reasons, not least of all talent identification. I know there will be many who think they have what it takes but until you get up against the foreigners at this level, of course that will be the view.

I think the one single factor which has shone through for me is that we have a reasonable crop of young talent now coming through who are focused on Futsal, which has taken a while although they still have a long way to go.

The likes of Ballinger (pictured left), Tucknott and Joryeff have shown some great understanding of the game and simply need more exposure at that higher level so that they can improve. One training session a month isn’t enough and they are keen to do more which is where the new clubs come in. These lads are the new blood of the programme and are exciting prospects to work with, which will contribute immensely to the Regional Leagues which kicked off last Sunday, of that I’m sure.

We really couldn’t have been delivered a harder Group to try and make ground against. Hungary, Poland and Macedonia were all able to demonstrate very accomplished futsal players and game understanding which valued their underlying national leagues. You have to go with the luck of the draw but when you look at the Group in Malta, where Greece, who we beat and drew with before Christmas, finished second, it just demonstrates how the balance of abilities is grossly mis-matched in the UEFA Futsal rankings.

Although our results last week don’t reflect it, we had large chunks of decent possession and managed to stop our opponents from playing in parts of all three games. It was the usual capitulation when first conceding that was our undoing yet again, as were the basic football errors in marking and passing, although we did perform significantly better in the last game against Macedonia.

Maybe that’s just the issue. Once we get back into the Futsal mindset, the performances start to happen and once more that will come with the leagues allowing more continuity. Defending requires massive efforts of concentration in Futsal, especially against the experienced nations and we have consistently done well for periods but then one single lapse in that concentration has proven fatal.

I am always humbled with the reaction of so many of the players who contact me to apologise for their performances, which shows that they recognise where they have to do better. They are generally an honest bunch and the new Leagues will give them that domestic high level court time to get better.

On a plus side, and there are always those of course, if I ignore for one moment the two games we played in Turkey last year at the start of the new season with some novice players, our failure to score against Hungary was the first time since October 2006. There was a time when we just didn’t know how to score, so on the face of it we have learnt how to get in the game but the concentration of effort in defending was disastrous in Hungary and is a limitation of the players we have at the moment.

We have to look forward now, review the Programme and see what the Regional Leagues and their teams can deliver us, as that is where the players have to go to get that much needed experience. I think the message here is that now we have these leagues set up, if you want to play for England then you have to get to those clubs and that way, it will support the system which until now has been lacking.

The clubs will be expected to deliver quality coaching and training as part of their structure and I am sure that they will take that on board. You simply won’t be able to play matches and expect player improvement. Until now the players have had nothing to go back to, but the intent is that we get them playing and training as much as possible and the Futsal Family in England as a whole has a key part to play in that.

It was interesting reading the UEFA Technical Report from the Finals in Porto at the end of last year. The technical appraisal of the influence of the ‘time-out’ used by coaches appears to be reducing, as does the use of the ‘powerplay goalkeeper’.

I don’t think that is anything new to report, but I think that the tactical use of the time-out should be encouraged. It’s there for a reason and if it’s use continues to diminish we may well see it removed altogether by the Law makers and therefore as coaches we need to think carefully how to use it and when.

As for the reduction in the ‘powerplay,’ it is something that we’ve noticed with interest as national team staff but much of that has also been down to teams selecting ‘keepers with improved ball distribution on the floor and consequently the need to use the additional outfield player for that purpose reduces.

Well, that’s it for this week. I am off to plan my scouting programme for the next few weeks for the regional leagues and see how they are doing, which should hopefully also give them the support they require and see if we can invite any new players to the next F30 meet up.

For those FACA members following the technical session plans on Insight Live, this week’s sessions are one for counter-attacking and an attacking kick-in from the defensive half of the court. The counter-attacking session also acts as a good cardiovascular workout which also requires brightness in passing and movement as well as developing speed of thought by the players. I hope you'll like them and get some use from them.

Bye for now,

Graeme




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com