So I’ve been showing the kid breakdown videos of Barcelona. How to create space with dribbling. How their tactics and movement use that space. Movement off the ball. It’s made little Sam I am excited about soccer like nothing else in a long while.
Then Bayern Munich happened. The child couldn’t believe it. How could this be? Bayern lost the possession battle, yet dominated the games.
I’ve also been thinking about the idea (not unique to me) that “clubs don’t develop players, coaches do.” Did Barcelona develop their homegrown players, or did they have a Jedi coach somewhere along the way? Are professional players fully developed, or do the clubs/coaches continue that work for even the most elite players? The Barcelona players certainly didn’t look like Barcelona players of old, and one glaring difference is their coach.
Just because Barcelona lost it’s latest games doesn’t invalidate the prior 25 years. In fact, you could argue that the exception proves the rule. The losses were so astounding precisely because Barca has been so dominant.
So the Spanish clubs were dominant, but now the German clubs are (or so many would have you believe), and what of the coaches? If anything could be said about the two national systems, it’s that they are “systems“. The philosophy is your guide, though you must find the right method of teaching it, and the correct coaches to teach the method.
It’s nothing revelating, but it does indicate the idea that footballing success begins with your system. If you have that, you have a foundation. But it requires buy in from the top down, from the “powers that be”. They have to instill it, believe in it, because only then will they hire the coaches to implement it and replace them when they don’t.
What do you think?
