Developing skill in football players
Paul R. Ford
In this chapter I will attempt to briefly answer three questions: (i) what are the skills
that separate expert football players from lesser-skilled; (ii) how have expert football
players acquired those skills; and (iii) how can coaches have their young players acquire
those skills.
What are the skills that separate expert football players from lesser-skilled?
Whenever you watch expert football players perform in a match you can see that
they have superior technical and movement skills compared to lesser-skilled players.
However, sports scientists have measured a number of other skills that separate expert
players from lesser-skilled, which the average observer of a match cannot see (see Figure
1). First, expert football players have superior visual skills compared to lesser-skilled
players. Expert players typically only have 20-20 vision, which is the same as the general
population, but the way in which they use that vision differs dramatically (e.g., Ward &
Williams, 2003). Expert players use their vision to search the performance environment
(i.e., pitch, team-mates, opponents, and ball) in a systematically different manner to lesserskilled players by looking at the correct source of information (e.g., movement of
opponent) at the correct time (e.g., Williams & Davids, 1998). For example, during a
match, when an expert centre-midfield player consistently moves their head to look around
(e.g., “checking shoulder”) they are performing this visual search. Expert players are not
only better able to use vision to search the performance environment, but they are able to
perform this search at the same time as they are performing their technical and movement
skills (scientists call this an ability to “dual-task” or do two tasks at one time). For example,
an expert winger will dribble the ball toward a defender with their “head up” looking at the
defender and not looking at the ball. In contrast, lesser-skilled players must look at the ball
as they are dribbling with it so that they keep control (e.g., Ford, Hodges, Huys, &
Williams, 2006).
Second, as an expert player conducts their visual search they are better able to
recognise what it is they are looking at. Thus, sports scientists have shown that expert
football players have superior recognition skills compared to lesser-skilled players. There
are also two recognition skills: (i) ability to use advanced cues/clues emanating from the
posture of other players; and (ii) ability to recognise patterns and structure in play. An
ability to use advanced cues emanating from the posture of other players simply means that
expert players recognise very early in the movement of another player what that player will
do, usually before they do it (e.g., Ward & Williams, 2003). For example, an expert
defender will recognise very early in the movement of an opponent (by using advanced
cues emanating from the opponent’s posture, such as an early head or eye movement from
the opponent, or the start of their leg swing) that they will pass the ball. During a match all
players are giving out cues from their posture and expert players recognise these cues
earlier compared to lesser-skilled, wwhathich helps them anticipate (i.e., make an early
decision) what other players will do. Similarly, an ability to recognise patterns and structure
in play (e.g., 4-4-2 formation, a diamond shape forming between players in possession, 2 vs
1) simply means that expert players recognise these reoccurring structures earlier and more
consistently than lesser-skilled players (e.g., Ward & Williams, 2003).
Third, as an expert player conducts their visual search and has recognised the
situation and the cue/s or structure within that situation, they are better able to retrieve from
their memory a correct decision for what they should do in that situation compared to
lesser-skilled players (e.g., McPherson & MacMahon, 2008). It is beyond the scope of this
chapter to discuss memory in detail. Interested readers are directed to other reviews on this
topic (e.g., McPherson & Kernodle, 2003). However, for the purposes of this chapter it is
important to state that expert players develop a vast and well-structured memory for what to
do in situations in football. Expert athletes have been shown by McPherson to develop two
memory structures: (i) action plan profiles; and (ii) current event profiles. Action plan
profiles match the current situation/conditions in the performance environment with an
appropriate technical, movement, or visual search skill for the player to perform. In simple
terms, current event profiles contain tactical knowledge that alters what the appropriate
technical, movement, or visual search skill will be in a situation depending on the player’s
past or present knowledge of variables within that situation (e.g., knowledge of other
player’s attributes, the score, the time left in a match). Finally, once an expert player
retrieves from their memory a correct and appropriate decision for what they should do in a
situation, they execute that decision. Thus, expert players make better and more appropriate
decisions compared to lesser-skilled players, which the average observer of a match can see
in their technical, movement, or visual search skill.
Here is an example of how the skills shown in Figure 1 and described above work
in a match. Figure 2a shows a 2 vs 1 situation from a football match. Player X1 is in
possession using his technical and movement skills to dribble the ball up field. Whilst
dribbling, Player X1 is using his visual search to look around the performance environment
(e.g., at the movements of other players) and since X1 is performing this search at the same
time as dribbling, X1 is performing a dual-task. When O1 moves toward X1, then X1 must
recognise this from the advanced cues emanating from the posture of O1. If X2 begins to
run past X1 into space, then in the same way X1 must recognise this, as well as recognising
the emerging common structure (i.e., 2 vs 1). X1 must retrieve from his football-specific
memory what skill to do in this situation. To do so, X1 retrieves this information from an
action plan profile in memory, which matches the current situation/conditions with an
appropriate technical, movement, or visual search skill. In this 2 vs 1 situation, the
appropriate technical skill is to pass the ball into X2’s path. A current event profile may
alter this decision, if, for example, X1 knows O1 is a poor defender, then X1 may dribble
around O1, or if X1 knows his team are 1-0 up with 1 minute left in a match, then he may
turn back and keep possession.
Sports scientists term visual and recognition skills: perceptual skills. They term
decision and memory skills: cognitive skills. They term movement and technical skills:
motor skills. Thus, we can say that expert football players have superior perceptual,
cognitive, and motor skills compared to lesser-skilled players. These perceptual, cognitive,
and motor skills have been revealed through many scientific studies conducted with expert
athletes (for a review, see Williams, Ward, & Smeeton, 2004). They are acquired through
lots of correctly structured activity, are not innate (Ericsson, 2003), and can be improved in
all players. Expert (or even just successful) performance in a football match requires these
perceptual, cognitive and motor skills to work in the manner described above.
How have expert football players acquired those skills?
Other sports scientists have shown that expert athletes during their development
participated in the same activities, at the same times in their development and in similar
amounts of these activities as one another (for a review, see Côté, Baker, & Abernethy,
2007). During their development, expert athletes participate in three developmental
activities. First, deliberate play is activity engaged in with fun as the intention, and is
usually organised by the children themselves (e.g., street soccer small-sided games).
Second, deliberate practice is activity engaged in with performance improvement as the
intention (e.g., coach-led practice). Third, competition is activity engaged in between two
teams with winning as the intention. Interviews by Côté et al. with American and
Australian Olympic athletes have revealed that these athletes participated in these three
activities in each of three stages during their development in sport. First, between 6 and 12
years of age (termed the ‘Sampling years’) athletes who attained expert status in adulthood
participated in large amounts of deliberate play activity across a number of sports, with low
amounts of deliberate practice. Second, between 13 and 15 years of age (i.e., ‘Specializing
years’), athletes who attained expert status in adulthood participated in equal amounts of
deliberate play and deliberate practice in one or two sports. Third, between the ages of 16
and 18 years (i.e., ‘Investment years’) they participated in large amounts of deliberate
practice and competition in their primary sport and low amounts of deliberate play. These
findings have been made into an evidence-based participant development model termed the
Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP) (Côté et al).
We have interviewed expert football players to see whether their developments
follow that outlined in the DMSP. The expert football players we have examined at the
Clairefontaine Academy in France (Ford, Le Gall, Carling, & Williams, 2008) and players
in an English Youth Academy who progressed to scholarship status at 16 years of age
(Ford, Ward, Hodges, & Williams, 2009) follow the route outlined in the DMSP with one
exception: between 6 and 12 years of age, the expert football players we examined
participated in large amounts of football deliberate play (whereas lesser-skilled players
participated in significantly less of this activity) but a low amount of other sports. Football
deliberate play activity (e.g., street soccer, small-sided games) leads to the development of
the perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills outlined above (e.g., Bell-Walker & Williams,
2008). The discovery learning that occurs in this activity also leads to skills that are robust
under pressure (e.g., Liao & Masters, 2001) and the development of “creative” skills
(Sternberg & Lubart, 1995). Also, because it is fun, it leads to the motivation to continue
participating in the sport (Côté et al., 2007). After 13 years of age these players participated
in large amounts of football deliberate practice.
A question one might ask at this point is: do today’s generation of young players
generally still participate in this football deliberate play to the extent of previous
generations?
How can coaches have their players acquire the skills of experts?
Since expert football players have superior perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills
compared to lesser-skilled, it would seem imperative that coaches have their players
acquire these skills. The litmus test of any practice activity a football coach has their
players participate in is how well the skills acquired by their players in that activity transfer
to a football match (Lee, 1988). Recently, we recorded 70 coaching sessions of English
youth players (U9, U13, U16) at differing skill levels (Youth Academy, School of
Excellence, Amateur) and found that over 60% of session time was spent on drill-type
activities (Ford et al., in press). An example of a drill-type activity is shown in Figure 3. To
complete the activity shown in Figure 3, X1 must watch X2 to see when X2 will throw the
ball. X1 must then watch the ball flight, control the ball, turn and pass to X3. The skills that
X1 uses in this practice are mainly motor skills, with some visual skill in tracking the ball
(see Figure 4). Since X2 throws the ball to X1, X1 will not acquire the ability to use
advanced cues emanating from the posture of X2 (i.e., no one throws the ball under arm in
a football match) or O2. Since the coach has already told X1 what to do, X1 does not have
to access memory and make a decision about what skill is appropriate to execute based on
the current situation/conditions. Therefore, the transfer of skills from this practice to a
match is relatively poor in that it is limited only to motor skills.
Let us contrast this to small-sided games and their derivatives (e.g., “possession”
games) (in which the youth players in the coaching sessions we examined spent less than
40% of their time, inclusive of possession games and phase of plays, Ford et al., in press).
A situation in a 3 vs 3 small-sided game is shown in Figure 5. For X team to keep
possession in this situation, X1 must do the following: control the ball under pressure from
O1 and 2, use visual search to look for team mates whilst controlling the ball (i.e., dualtask), recognise from X2’s posture the movement into a support position (Figure 5a), access
memory and select an appropriate skill for the current situation/conditions, which is to pass
to X2 (Figure 5b). The skills that X1 uses in this small-sided game situation are shown in
Figure 1, which is the same as the skills they will be required to use during a match. Figure
5 contains one situation from a small-sided game. Small-sided games and their derivatives
(e.g., 3 vs 1) contain many situations in which the players must use their perceptual,
cognitive, and motor skills as they would in a match. Therefore, the transfer of skills from
these games to a match is very high. Knowing this, another question one might ask is: why
don’t coaches of youth practice sessions use small-sided games (ssg) and their derivatives
all of the time? Some answers I have heard to this question are: (i) because you cannot
teach specific techniques (e.g., “Cruyff” turn) in a ssg; (ii) players need to practice
technique before progressing to a game; and (iii) because ssgs are too hard for novice
players. Let us briefly review those answers in turn.
First, the rules of small-sided games and their derivatives can be adapted so that any
skill the coach wishes their players to acquire occurs repeatedly during the game. Some
examples of these adaptations to small-sided games are shown in Table 1. Second, motor
skills form an important part of football performance. However, each skill or technique
executed by a player in matches is novel in some way, meaning that players need to
practice in conditions that prepare them for this variability, as opposed to practising a single
way to perform a technique (for a review, see Davids, Button, & Bennett, 2008).
Furthermore, the links between perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills appear to be set in
the early stages of development (e.g., Proteau, Marteniuk, Girouard, & Dugas, 1987;
Proteau, Marteniuk, & Lévesque, 1992), so it would seem important that younger players
are exposed to activity that creates the links and skills that they will need to perform in a
match. Third, coaches use drill-type practices in which they remove opponents and teammates to reduce the demands of the game on young players, although by doing this they are
inadvertently also removing the opportunity for players to acquire perceptual-cognitive
skill. The demands of small-sided games and their derivatives (e.g., 2 vs 1) can be lowered
in ways that retain the structure required for players to acquire the perceptual, cognitive,
and motor skills they need to perform successfully in a match. Examples of reducing the
demands of these games are increasing pitch size, reducing player numbers, having spare
players who play for whichever team is in possession (i.e., “floaters”), banning tackling
allowing only blocking of passes, and/or having a coach join in. Fourth, action plan profiles
are, and current event profiles (McPherson & Kernodle, 2003) can be, developed in these
games. To develop a current event profile (or tactical knowledge) during practice, coaches
may manipulate variables such as score, time, pitch surface etc. (e.g., start game with one
team 1-0 up, with only 3 minutes left to play). Finally, it is also possible to adapt drill-type
practices so that they contain the structure required for players to acquire these perceptual,
cognitive and motor skills. For example, the 2 vs 1 situation shown in Figure 2 can be made
into a drill by having O1 as a passive defender who under his own volition (as X1 begins to
dribble) moves to stand in one of only two positions on the left or right of the pitch. X1
must respond with an appropriate motor skill (i.e., pass or dribble).
Implications and summary
Expert football players have superior perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills
compared to lesser-skilled players. They acquire these skills by participating in large
amounts of football deliberate play activity early in their development (i.e., 6 to 12 years of
age) before progressing to large amounts of football deliberate practice later in their
development (Ford et al., 2008). Since it appears that the links between the perceptual,
cognitive, and motor skills are set in the early stages of development, as is the motivation to
continue participating in the sport, football deliberate play is ideal activity for players aged
5 to 12 years. However, questions arise as to whether today’s generation of young players
engage in this activity (e.g., street soccer). Therefore, coaches must re-create this activity
(and lots of it) for such players in a structured manner using evidence-based information to
do so (for an example, see Fenoglio, 2003).
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Table 1. Some adaptations to the rules of small-sided games (e.g., 4 vs 4) so that players
practice specific football motor skills.
Motor skill
Adaptation
Dribbling
Remove goals and have players score by dribbling across their
opposition’s goal touch lines.
Passing
All small-sided games contain a lot of passing, although to
encourage one and two-touch passing, the coach can limit touches
(e.g., “2-touch”).
Long passing
Make the pitch very long but not too wide. Alternatively, have two
very small goals with no goal keepers and a “no go” penalty area.
Forward passing
Remove goals and replace with two relatively large American
Football style “end zones”. Players score by passing the ball into the
path of a teammate who runs into the opposition’s end zone. Use the
touch line that marks the start of the “end zone” as an “offside line”.
Switch-play passing Make the pitch wide but short. Plus, remove goals and replace with
two smaller goals at each goal line, which are placed on the goal
lines extending in from both corners. Players must score by dribbling
the ball through the small goals.
Turning
Allow both teams to score at either end of the pitch.
Shooting
Place large goal nets at either end of the pitch.
Crossing
Place corridors along the touchlines from which players who play for
whichever team is in possession can cross the ball without
opposition. Limit the number of players allowed in the “penalty
area”.
Attacking heading
Place corridors along the touchlines from which players who play for
whichever team is in possession can cross the ball without
opposition. Limit the number of players allowed in the “penalty
area”. Goals can only be scored from headers.
Defensive heading
Make the pitch very long but not too wide.
Figure captions
Figure 1. The skills that separate expert football players from lesser-skilled.
Figure 2. A 2 vs 1 situation from a football match.
Figure 3. An example of a drill-type activity in which X1 throws the ball to X2’s feet who
must control the ball and pass it to X3. The practice repeats from X3.
Figure 4. The skills that players will acquire from drill-type activity, such as that shown in
Figure 3.
Figure 5. A situation in a 3 vs 3 small-sided game (see text for explanation).
(a)
(b)
Paul R. Ford works as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Sport
and Exercise Science, Liverpool John Moores University. He completed his undergraduate
degree in Coaching Science and his doctoral degree in Skill Acquisition at Liverpool John
Moores University. His research activity has been funded by The Football Association and
UK Sport. He also has several years experience coaching elite young football players. He
can be contacted at: [email protected].