Coaching For The Brave

Everyone can name a Dribbler. They are such a memorable part of the game we love. The reason we remember them is the excitement they bring. They literally drag us off our seats and onto our feet. Few kids want to be the next Xavi or Scholes but thousands want to emulate Messi and Ronaldo, Ronaldinio and DeBruyne. Recently it's been commented that dribbling is a dying art and England in particular have stopped producing this type of player. I wasn't so sure. With help from the stats guys at Whoscored.com I've taken a closer look to see if we can find out what's going on. In this blog I've simply asked a number of questions and tried to find the answers. In part two of the blog I'm going to try to look at the development of Dribblers. So, what can we find out? Is Dribbling a Dying Art? Here's the first stumbling block. No one in the Sixties or Seventies ever thought about keeping statistics on successful dribbles. It seems the...

The Football Association recently asked local FA's not to publish the results of Child Friendly matches. This seems like a simple request but oh no, like everything the FA tries to do it was criticised as much as applauded. More evidence of the seemingly impossible job the games custodians have. In an age when virtually everyone has acknowledged that our National Game needs to evolve it seems that some cant see the wood for the trees. The FA's comments were published in the press and quickly picked up by pundits and ex players and predictably, I've yet to see one positive comment from them and yet coaches Online seem to agree its a good step. So what's the issue? Currently, most County FA's play two phases of fixtures for Under Eleven teams. One Phase is Competitive and one Phase is "Non Competitive". Games in Non Competitive phases can not have results published anywhere. You'll still see teams put their results on Twitter etc but they sho...

An Independent Regulatory Commission has today [Thursday 27 September 2012] found a charge of misconduct against John Terry proven and has issued a suspension for a period of four matches and a fine of £220,000, pending appeal. The Football Association charged Mr Terry on Friday 27 July 2012 with using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand and which included a reference to colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3[2] in relation to the Queens Park Rangers FC versus Chelsea FC fixture at Loftus Road on 23 October 2011. The charge was the result of The FA’s long-standing investigation into this matter, which was placed on hold at the request of the Crown Prosecution Service and Mr Terry’s representatives pending the outcome of the criminal trial. A hearing took place from 24-27 September 2012 before an Independent Regulatory Commission of The FA to consider the charge. The decision of the Independent Regulatory Commission...

Never say Never You will have to bear with me here as the headline could be misleading. However, players and pundits never fail to describe John Terry in this way. Despite all his issues the fall back position is that he is a great leader. It's a description that Terry likes to play up to with typical English bulldog spirit seemingly counting for more than those other English traditions of manners, discretion and a stiff upper lip. In the dressing room he is known for his rousing team talks that pump the troops up before battle commences. While on the pitch his do or die attitude and preference to put his body on the line earns him great respect. Our English game loves these types of characters. The ones who fly into last ditch tackles, fearlessly place their body in the way of a well struck shot or occasionally get a cut and carry on with a blood stained bandage around their head. Other footballing cultures would not see it quite the same. Last ditch? Italian defe...