Best coaches for development of kids

Just curious. Where do the great centerbacks, outside backs and defensive mids come from?

Everyone brings up the attacking prodigies. They are much easier to spot at a young age.

There's a kid that just turned 18 that plays for PSG. A holding mid primarily. (On loan to Toulose right now.) Rabiot is his name. Was considered 'not good enough' for Clairefonntaine. Later picked up and released by Man City.

Yet, at 17 he was getting first team minutes at a top club.

This is very common. Jordi Alba was at Barca's academy and was released. Now he's back and is contributing.

The point is it takes different sets of skills to play the game. Not every kid is going to be a world class attacker.

Although I agree that up until 15, technique should be top priority. And technique isn't just dribbling and taking people on. It's control/first touch, passing and heading.

Just like any other sport you can only teach the fundamentals. The rest is the player's hard work and experimentation.

pique was a striker at Barca academy

Laimport wrote:Just curious. Where do the great centerbacks, outside backs and defensive mids come from?

Everyone brings up the attacking prodigies. They are much easier to spot at a young age.

There's a kid that just turned 18 that plays for PSG. A holding mid primarily. (On loan to Toulose right now.) Rabiot is his name. Was considered 'not good enough' for Clairefonntaine. Later picked up and released by Man City.

Yet, at 17 he was getting first team minutes at a top club.

This is very common. Jordi Alba was at Barca's academy and was released. Now he's back and is contributing.

The point is it takes different sets of skills to play the game. Not every kid is going to be a world class attacker.

Although I agree that up until 15, technique should be top priority. And technique isn't just dribbling and taking people on. It's control/first touch, passing and heading.

Just like any other sport you can only teach the fundamentals. The rest is the player's hard work and experimentation.

i agree, everyone cheers for goals, i like to watch who had the vision to set up the goal, who made the killer pass, the switch because the defense was out of position. those things i appreciate, not the toe poke in....

I think some of that is because the skill and passing of say a Rio Ferdinand or Danni Alves is being replaced by size and power in defending. But you often find that a skilled attacking youth player ends up as a defender latter

go99 wrote:I think some of that is because the skill and passing of say a Rio Ferdinand or Danni Alves is being replaced by size and power in defending. But you often find that a skilled attacking youth player ends up as a defender latter

I heard the same thing, that most defenders were once great attacking players but slowly moved to the defensive end of the field as they got older. Not sure what that means for the kids that have always played in a defensive position. Will the kids playing defender at age 11 get pushed off the field when the attackers start to move back towards defense?

As long the defender is one of the most skilled on the field.

go99 wrote:pique was a striker at Barca academy

This is not true. Since his early days from the academy team piqué has always been a defensive minded player. He might have been played as emergency striker and scored goals but his primary position all the way through was defensive midfielder because he could read the game very well with it in front of him.

The mindset of players is different when you play at that level. A good coach can tell quickly whether the player is good at reading the play in front of him as opposed to having the ability to play with your back to the goal. drift forward or stay back. We are not talking about North Texas soccer To prepare for that level you can't just make a striker a center back. If you could then that player had no business being a striker in the first place.

arsenalfan wrote:

go99 wrote:pique was a striker at Barca academy

This is not true. Since his early days from the academy team piqué has always been a defensive minded player. He might have been played as emergency striker and scored goals but his primary position all the way through was defensive midfielder because he could read the game very well with it in front of him.

The mindset of players is different when you play at that level. A good coach can tell quickly whether the player is good at reading the play in front of him as opposed to having the ability to play with your back to the goal. drift forward or stay back. We are not talking about North Texas soccer To prepare for that level you can't just make a striker a center back. If you could then that player had no business being a striker in the first place.

Well, he was 10 years old when he joined Barca's Academy program, so Go99 must be talking about all the time he played striker before 10 years of age. Thats when players develop their skills . . .

Anyway, here's the official Barca bio on Pique: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/staff/players/pique/biography " . . . gained a reputation for goal scoring despite his defensive position."

Ajax in the 1970's-80's actually did only recruit strikers, and move them to other positions - as part of their total football strategy (players changing positions constantly during games). Thats where that thought came from. The theory has changed since then though, and now with the Spanish style play - position and positioning is more important - quick movement of the ball through the different positions to keep the defense off balance is more important than players moving through different positions. So I don't think you have to be a striker to move on to the next level - just be the best player you can be at the position you are in.

R1 wrote:

arsenalfan wrote:

go99 wrote:pique was a striker at Barca academy

This is not true. Since his early days from the academy team piqué has always been a defensive minded player. He might have been played as emergency striker and scored goals but his primary position all the way through was defensive midfielder because he could read the game very well with it in front of him.

The mindset of players is different when you play at that level. A good coach can tell quickly whether the player is good at reading the play in front of him as opposed to having the ability to play with your back to the goal. drift forward or stay back. We are not talking about North Texas soccer To prepare for that level you can't just make a striker a center back. If you could then that player had no business being a striker in the first place.

Well, he was 10 years old when he joined Barca's Academy program, so Go99 must be talking about all the time he played striker before 10 years of age. Thats when players develop their skills . . .

Anyway, here's the official Barca bio on Pique: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/staff/players/pique/biography " . . . gained a reputation for goal scoring despite his defensive position."

Ajax in the 1970's-80's actually did only recruit strikers, and move them to other positions - as part of their total football strategy (players changing positions constantly during games). Thats where that thought came from. The theory has changed since then though, and now with the Spanish style play - position and positioning is more important - quick movement of the ball through the different positions to keep the defense off balance is more important than players moving through different positions. So I don't think you have to be a striker to move on to the next level - just be the best player you can be at the position you are in.

The problem with that logic is that kids get locked into one position too young. I don't believe that is a good idea given the style of soccer we play at the older ages.

finish1 wrote:The problem with that logic is that kids get locked into one position too young. I don't believe that is a good idea given the style of soccer we play at the older ages.

Doesnt it depend on what the coach is teaching the players to do at their position?

I see teams that teach their defenders to kick it anytime it gets near them and kick it far. I see teams telling forwards to run as fast as they can to chase these balls and hopefully get a breakaway. I see teams teaching middle players to kick thruballs to the fast forward.

The problem that I see at my sons age isnt having kids locked into one position its having kids locked into playing bad soccer.


I recognize im in over my head a little bit commenting on this string >, but thought i would throw in my 2 cents