Understanding team communication

One of the youngest coaches in professional football, who possesses great references regarding the game. Rene Maric, has already worked at top clubs such as, RB Salzburg, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Leeds Utd and currently holds a role at Bayern Munich. At 31 years of age, he has already coached ‘world class’ professionals and has participated in some of the highest competitions in club football.

Hearing him recently on the Training Guru Podcast, whilst taking part in a two episode conversation, was refreshing as much as it was interesting. Maric, spoke largely about his previous roles and how his journey started, but at the back end of part 2, he made a statement which might challenge the thinking of many.?

“Tactics don’t exist, you have decisions of players and tactics is a term people used to use, in order to influence these decisions. I want to improve their (players) understanding of the game’

When I heard this, it struck a chord and provided me with many pop up’s, that I feel I could share. As we know the game of football is polluted with subjective jargon and nearly everyone will have their own opinion on ‘how it should be played’. Without taking opinions as a starting point, I wanted to use Maric’ comments as a foundation for this blog.?

If tactics don’t exist, what could be used as an alternative and how do the players benefit?

Before drawing any conclusions, I want to provide as much context as possible in what may have been meant by Maric’ statement. We all know that in the days building up to a game, the players would’ve participated in some sort of training and it’s there, where the main coaching would have taken place.

The universal characteristics of the game

To start, I think it would be best for us to define what the game is by definition and work through the process of understanding the logical consequences.

The game of football has plenty of variables, but there are also constants that don’t change, independent of age, gender, location or competition. All players will participate in;

The game of football?

Attempting to score at least 1 more goal than the opposing team?

Team Functions

Attacking

Transitioning to Defend

Defending

Transitioning to Attack

Team Tasks

Building up - Attacking

Scoring - Attacking

Disturbing the build up/Preventing goals (unorganised) - Transitioning to Defend?

Disturbing the build up - Defending

Preventing goals - Defending

Building up/Scoring (unorganised) - Transition to Attack

Whether a coach likes it or not, the above is the process of participating in the game. Universally, everything will take place no matter how much of an influence the coach may actually think they have.?

The football action framework

To be able to participate in the game successfully, all of the players will have to perform different football actions whenever the game dictates. An example being, when the team are in the function?of attacking and participating in the team task of building up. In order to build up, the players could pass, dribble or run with the ball? Knowing the process that the players go through during the game, is imperative in having a solid foundation of reference thinking and will assist with what the coach may have to correct in the future. All players will perform;

Communicating?

Deciding - What?

Deciding - How?

Executing?

A football action is explained here

What are ‘tactics’?

According to the Oxford dictionary, tactics are;

“The art or science of deploying military or naval forces in order of battle, and of performing warlike evolutions and manoeuvres”.

From reading the above sentence you can take some terms, that could be applied in a football context. There are similarities with participating in sport, to that of performing manoeuvres in challenging environments against opponents (the enemy).

By taking that definition as a starting point though, it doesn’t give us a clear enough foundation to be used in the game of football. By using the words military and battle for example, the response the brain may give is war (which is correct in this context). But, do you want your players thinking they are entering the field of play, to participate in a war?

To give more clarity and to align the thinking of the team and players there could be a better term to use. Instead, I’ll use the words ‘team intentions’ for this process.?

The definition of a team is;?

“A group of people, nations, etc., who are associated in a particular action or endeavour. Now chiefly: a group of two or more people who work…”

The definition of an intention is;?

“That which is intended or purposed; a purpose, design.”

?

What are team intentions?

Universally, every team will participate in the previously mentioned characteristics of the game and strive to accomplish it’s purpose, in scoring 1 more goal than the opposing team. Throughout this process in trying to win the game, team functions and then team tasks will take place, with the players performing football actions with or without the ball. In these moments it’s important for the players to have guidance and direction, and that instruction can come from the coach in the form of team intentions.

These are subjective and should be formulated after the abilities of the players are evaluated. What are the players able to do competently? What do they struggle with?

The team intentions are a tool that the coach can use, to align the individual intentions of all 11 players on the field. When attacking and specifically building up, what do you want your players to do? By having this clearly outlined, it will give the team a higher chance of communicating effectively and not mis-communicating, which could lead to errors.?

The what and the how of team intentions

Whilst it may overload some, the intention of understanding the what and the how will organise the thinking of the coach. This will allow a filter with what needs coaching at team level and what is the players decision. If something is the players decision, an example being, how they do something, this is due to the game insight they possess. (To improve this, a different process than that of improving team communication is required). Interacting at the level of ‘how’ will also be at a subjective wavelength, meaning you could be there for a long time discussing solutions. If a player isn’t contributing to the team intention, it could be worth reminding them of what it is. That way, they can then find the best solution (individual intention) and then decide on ‘how’ this could be best achieved. Does it really matter how a pass gets into a certain part of the field, as long as it’s successfully contributing to the team?

Next, depending on what stage of the process a coach is in, they’ll be comparing two components, with one becoming the ‘what - constant’ and one becoming the ‘how - variable’.

As previously mentioned, the characteristics of the game are as follows;?

The game of football?

Attempting to score at least 1 more goal than the opposing team?

Team Functions

Attacking

Transitioning to Defend

Defending

Transitioning to Attack

Team Tasks

Building up - Attacking

Scoring - Attacking

Disturbing the build up/Preventing goals (unorganised) - Transitioning to Defend?

Disturbing the build up - Defending

Preventing goals - Defending

Building up/Scoring (unorganised) - Transition to Attack

Succeeding this, the application of the coach comes into consideration. The team intentions are the how of the team tasks, so after the coach understands what the game is, they can start to guide their players in their chosen direction.

Example;

Attacking (what) - How - Building up?

Attacking - Building up (what) - How - Team intention?

With this guidance from the coach, the team intentions then become the ‘what’ and the process now transitions into the territory of the players decisions.?

Attacking - Building up -? Team intention - How - Individual intention?

Once a player has decided what individual intention they wish to use, in order to contribute to the team intention, they have to decide how they will do it.

Attacking - Building up - Team intention - Individual intention - How - Chosen position, moment, direction & speed?

The player has already started to contribute to the team intention at the moment of communication. The football action the player performs, will either be successful or it could of course, be unsuccessful. Passing for example could be the chosen ‘tool’ the player has decided to use on a certain occasion, so the game insight of the player will be needed to determine the position, moment, direction and/or speed of this choice.

Attacking - Building up - Team intention - Individual intention - Chosen position, moment, direction & speed - How - Executed position, moment, direction & speed

?

Lastly, once the player has communicated, decided what and decided how, they then execute the chosen position, moment, direction & speed. This will hopefully be aligned to the deciding how, with the specific space and time characteristics reflecting it. As you can imagine, during all the complexities the game produces, there is always a chance of error.?

As Maric mentioned in his statement, he gives the players the decisions during the game and from now seeing this process above, it could give you a number of reasons as to why he said it.?

The game is universal and provides us all with the same starting point. The influence the coach has is minimal, as there is only the place of applying team intentions, to the team tasks. After this, it’s down to the players to use the game, the ‘lenses’ the coach has provided and then their own game insight to succeed.?

The differences between team intentions and individual intentions?

The alignment of communication is explained here

It’s key for a coach to understand the differences between team intentions and individual intentions, as you wouldn’t want the players confusing the ‘what’ and the ‘how’? When delivering that all important information, the players will need to know exactly at what level the coach is communicating at.?

Team intentions > All players need to interact in order to accomplish the certain intention

Individual intentions > Can be accomplished by a single player

An example here could be;

Team intention - Exploit the space behind the backline of the opposing team

Individual intention(s) - Player 1 - become a progress option, Player 2 - improve progress condition & Player 3 - progress the ball

What is important to know, is that the team intention is the ‘how’ of the team task. As previously illustrated above, a team task could be, building up (in the attacking team function). How your team does this is the choice of the players, with guidance given previously from the coach, but the considerations of the players abilities are imperative to succeed. Would you formulate a team intention that the players can’t accomplish, because they are too young or they have restrictions in their ability to pass over a longer distance?

When the team intention becomes a ‘what’, the individual intentions of the players will then become the ‘how’ and it’s now their application which will determine if the intention is achieved or not. While the guidance of, exploiting the space behind the backline of the opposing team doesn’t guarantee success, it will give the players the same lenses to see this moment of the game and allow them to align their individual intentions. Without an over arching team intention, the players could simply do whatever they please.

After the coach has observed a game, they will now know the outcome of the result. Did the team intentions contribute to a positive or negative outcome? Either way, it’s important for the coach to communicate with the players to see if they ‘know’ the references which were proposed before the game. Are the players able to top down guide their own behaviour, in relation to what the coach wants?

Lastly, the training that the team participate in is key in reinforcing these messages and the team intentions being performed. Does the coach create the situations that provoke this desired behaviour?

Using a ‘model’ to guide your process

Game concept, game model, playing style, tactical plan, the list could go on. There have been many coaches who have used different terms to describe the same thing, which adds to the ever growing list of confusion and chaos. For context, we’ll use the term ‘team model’ for the remainder of this blog. Why?

During the game the players will perform many football actions as previously mentioned, but prior to this there has to be some sort of guidance in place to ensure that all the players know what they are contributing to.

The team model is a collection of the team intentions that the coach uses to deliver the important messages in preparation for a game.?

• “When building up, we want to achieve ‘X’”
• “When disturbing the build, we want to achieve ‘Y’”

To develop a team model, coaches firstly need to strip the game right down to it’s essence and understand the universal characteristics, in order to have an objective starting point. If the coach doesn't understand the game, how can they possibly formulate intentions that will (hopefully) assist them in winning it?

These team intentions never change, but can be applied differently depending on the opponent you may face. Throughout the season you can use the team model and during the preparation for certain games, you may adapt and apply different applications, within a team plan. You can still exploit the space behind the backline of the opposing team as your overall team intention and the players should recognise this, but the adaptions you may wish to make, should be perfected on the training ground prior to the upcoming game.

In the last 10-15 years we’ve been blessed with some unbelievable coaches and managers. In that time, technology has evolved at an alarming rate and as a consequence, there are thousands upon thousands of articles and books available. As tempting as it may be, to ‘copy & paste the best in the business’ this approach would be the wrong one to take.

We’ve all seen the success Pep Guardiola has experienced and as a consequence, many coaches want to ‘build from the back’. The consequence here is, that players now perform on ‘auto pilot’ and don’t even look at the deepest passing options on the pitch. Instead, passes are made short without lifting the head to communicate with others. Coaches also treat this as an objective in itself and seem to forget that the objective of the game is to score at least 1 more goal than the opposing team.?

Another problem that is apparent, is that some coaches are now ‘their model’. Wherever they work, they take the same team intentions with them and impose these on the players. There is no consideration in the abilities within the squad and they are simply put into this new system and expected to adapt. What could the consequence of this be? The team communication will be poor and the results will probably reflect this. The team model in place should be there to assist with the abilities of the players and to utilise their strengths. By using this tool a coach can top down guide, the bottom up process and not top down control what the players can/can’t do.?

Are there any universal team intentions??

Hopefully you can now start to see, that the team intentions a coach chooses are vitally important to guide the players. By providing this framework, the coach will give the players the opportunity to refine higher levels of communication, thus meaning, a better chance in being more predictable.?

There are obviously many teams I could pick, to firstly describe and explain what they maybe trying to achieve during a game. I could then compare them to another team and open up a whole? new discussion, on who I think is better and who has the better team intentions. Again, whilst this might be a fun exercise, there wouldn’t be an objective end point, as I’d just be guessing and making assumptions on what I’ve seen.?

One thing for sure though, is there are a number of intentions a coach could consider at a universal level as they apply to all. To explain this, I’ll pose a question, an answer and team intentions;

Question - What is the quickest route to goal?

Answer - Through the centre of the field.?

Attacking intention - Try and exploit the centre of the field as quickly as possible

Defending intention - Try and protect the centre of the field as quickly as possible

By understanding this question at a philosophical level, you can now see that there could be a range of team intentions that could be used by all teams. How the teams do it, could vary game by game, as the opposing team and external factors will of course be different.

Developing team communication

Throughout this process so far, we’ve looked at the starting point you may wish to use, in organising your thinking regarding your team and what you want them to do during the game. If you use a team model correctly, you can give yourself a higher chance of achieving success and assist your players in the direction you wish to go.?

For the last part of this blog, I’m going to discuss how you could develop your team communication and then enjoy the match day, when your players are aligning their individual intentions with that of the team.

During the game there is a lot of space as we know and depending on how you wish to utilise it, it could assist you in scoring that all important extra goal and beating your opposition. One thing to consider, is that all the space on the field doesn’t need covering and can’t be covered at any one time. Once you’ve assessed the abilities of your players and you formulate team intentions, observe the key parts of the field that matter to you. There will be parts you almost certainly want to exploit as a team and there will be parts you want to protect. Ensure that the intentions of the players align with this, as space is a consequence of the team and the individuals within it.

As you will have read previously, communication is of the highest order so improving this at team level is what the coach should be concerned with most. There is always an exception to the rule where an individual may need further guidance, but once this learning has taken place, the team process should again take priority. The team intentions are used as a tool to assist with this, with the football actions of the players coming as a logical consequence. By understanding this, you can now see that ‘performing actions’ in isolation will have nearly no influence on the team whatsoever.

The team intentions are used to guide the process of the players during the game, with the individual intentions (hopefully) aligning with this. It’s important to understand that these intentions are processed in the brain of your players and the football actions they perform are a consequence from interacting with the environment. What you only see is the execution of these football actions and not what the player saw, or was thinking at that time. Be very careful in making assumptions if something goes wrong, as it could’ve been the fault of the coach, in not clearly outlining the intentions in the first instance. By allowing the players to communicate with their surroundings (typically known as scanning), they will be able to collect more sensory data, which will assist with their deciding what and deciding how. Upon the data being received it will provoke ‘what’ action the player may use, ‘pass or dribble, intercept or block’ and how they will do it.

One thing to remember here, is that the team intentions are used to align the communication of all 11 players, but it doesn’t outline ‘how’ the players may do it. The team model is merely a collection of these intentions and is used to give the players guidance and direction. Using correct language and easy to digest instruction will allow the players to think about 'what' they have to contribute to and not the actions they may use. Ensuring your intentions are defined is vital, but not as important as knowing your players abilities first.?

If the players are showing signs of incompetency, there could obviously be many factors for this. As a coach you need to understand the differences between the intentions players are attempting to contribute to and the behaviours they display.

Example;

> Intention - What - Exploit the space behind the backline of the opposing team

> Behaviour - How - Passing?

What shouldn’t happen, is the coach giving feedback or criticism in the form of how a player performed a football action. The behaviour you want your players to display, should be practised in the form of situation coaching. Not, “you should’ve passed like this or why didn’t you pass like that?”. Again, remind the player of the respective intention and what you’re striving to do as a team.

As I come towards the end of this blog, a simple way to start considering how you’ll formulate the intentions you wish to use, could be in the form of;

Attacking - An intention that can guide your players into a better position, than they currently find themselves in.

Defending - An intention that can guide your players to force the opposition, into a worst position that they find themselves in.

To conclude, it’s important to go ‘full circle’ and re-visit the original statement that motivated me to write this extensive blog. Maric stated that;?

“Tactics don’t exist, you have decisions of players and tactics is a term people used to use, in order to influence these decisions. I want to improve their (players) understanding of the game’

I hope that you are able to dissect everything that I’ve written, in the hope that it gives some clarification and guidance into the process, of firstly understanding what can be used instead of the term ‘tactics’ and how your players can benefit. With every high and every low you experience as a coach, stick to the ‘what’ wavelength and give the players the choice to decide ‘how’ they get there.

Thanks for reading.?

Spencer Fearn Hugo Langton Rúben Cruz Jack Brazil Bart Caubergh Alex Stylianou Alexander Flattum Alexandru Bourceanu Julius Riemann Nico Koch Christos (Chris) Themeliotis Harrison Gilkes Benjamin Slator Anshul Kumar Tamta Saban Uzun Shawn Bishop John Grogan Chris Russell Greg Borthwick Sven Verstappen Aiden Harris