Reply To: Go Jimbob

[Anonymous]

SODIron wrote:

One of the phrases that I have heard way too many times over the years is “They looked good in training” and seeing the team struggle.

You have to ask, what were they doing in training all week? Was it representative of what they are going to face on match day, or was it some simple tasks that made the players look good (unchallenged crosses, unchallenged passing etc.)?

Coaches often try to simplify a single task too much, making the task irrelevant or the relevancy reduced too much. An example could be ‘trying to beat a defender and deliver a cross to a striker who has players defending him. That could be too challenging for some players, so the coach removes the player to beat, or the defenders marking the striker. The player then looks good, he crosses the ball, and the striker meets the cross, burying the ball in the back of the net.

The manager / coach might look at that and say “they look great in training” however, this over simplified task has not taught the players how to cross under pressure, and the striker hasn’t been taught how to create space etc. Matchday comes, and we can’t get the crosses into our strikers, the strikers move like dustbins, we can’t score, lose the match and the manager says, “I didn’t see that coming, they looked good all week”.

In this specific case, practicing how to cross does not produce high action fidelity and is a perfect example of ineffective training.

“Train hard
Fight easy”
-The British Army