How to win { or how not to lose }

Well , another loss by the mighty engadine crusaders, and although it's early in the season things don't look too good. I spose theres only to alternatives, we lose more games, or we dont lose games. Like any team sport, individuals can't be blamed, the team as a whole must look at itself and work at fixing the basic principles.

After a devasting loss to a team who also hasn't won a game, i try and look for reasons as to why we lost.{and to why we lost so convincingly} I try and put myself in the shoes of chelsea manager, jose mourinho, he is in charge of one of the worlds best soccer teams, and although lots of money has been spent bringing together players of a high calibre, they dont win games because of individuals but because of the team work. If i was to be manager of chelsea, would they still be so lethal?, of course not, because he brings out the best in each player.

So what makes an average team successful?

Firstly i would look at the formation of the team on the feild. Proffesional teams go into games with a set formation, and maintain that formation during the whole game {unless a manager sees the need for change} Which means at all times you know who ,when and where your team mates

will be during the game, and the more games spent learning these mentalitys the more you can profit in the way of goals or good defence. Our lack of formation provided our opposition with at least three of the five goals they scored. Now, going back to jose mournho, what does he do to maintain the formation of chelsea.? Basicly, he as manager sets the team, asigns the positions and each player remains in that position, something our team MUST do if we want to win games.

Unlimited substitution is great, you have a chance to come from the feild, and return into the game at will. But used incorrectly can demolition a sides formation. My suggestion as a coach would be to maintain positions as much as possible. Which goes back to set positions for players.

IE our team has 16 player, and we use a 4-4-2 formation, one is goalie giving us 15 players on the feild if all are fit. As a coach i would asign a 6-6-3 rotation program, which means there are 4 defenders on feild with 2 substitute defenders, 4 mid feilders on the feild with 2 mid feild substitutes and 2 attackers on feild with 1 attacking substitute. As changes are made, people can instantly know where they are to play, and can be aware of team mates roles and responsibiltys. I think it also would allow to make changers quicker because your not looking onto the feild thinking"who should i swap with". and as a group you can make changes on a more regular basis.

The other reason for set positions is so as individuals at training, you can focus on what your role on the feild is, so defenders could work closely at training and "bond" with fellow defenders, we arent blessed with a lot of time to train, so what we do must be quality.

I do beleive defence is the most important aspect of a good team, but i guess as a defender you aren't rewarded with the prospect of scoring a goal, hence the reluctance of people wanting to play as a defender, but as a team you must play your strenghths, and if our team was to focus on set positions i know we can win, and even make the semi finals.

Another part of our game needing tweeking is our inability to pass amongst ourselves to gain majority of the posetion, it seems when we have the ball we instantly need to score a goal. If we take time to set positions and pass the ball around, gaps will open up, we dont have to force the issue, whatching a premier league game the other night i noticed the midfeilders bringing the ball forward from half way toward goal, and they stalled time while the defenders set themselves on the halfway line and attackers found their way to the goal box. Then they attacked, scoring a goal, it seemed all to easy, but players were set in formation, giving them the chance to play set plays. They werent in a hurry to score, because if they had lost the ball, all players were out of formation to defend, and at least 2 of our goals on the weekend were goals against the run of play, our team had no time to defend because our formation had been in tatters.

We defanately have a worthy team, and if we can play smart we will win some games, but if our formation woes continue it will be be more of the same score lines.