The Christmas tree; the coat hanger; Alf’s wingless wonders. 4 4 2, 4 5 1, 5 3 1…soccer formations sound like the names of science fiction B movies or telephone…
It is a funny old game, as the saying goes. Really, in an eleven versus eleven match (or five v five, seven v seven or whatever) the side with the…
Simple. Get the two biggest kids you can find to stay at the back and the quickest in the town to play up front in 3 v 3 soccer. Kick…
How many kids – adults too, for that matter – would not leap at the chance of getting the opportunity to show off their skills to scouts from professional clubs? …
It is one of the great clichés of soccer strategy. The goalkeeper is the first attacker; the strikers the first line of defense. But for a phrase to join the…
Those were the days. The keeper hoofs it forward – long, hard and high. The big center forward, nudging and blocking, sets himself and judges the perfect flick on. In…
Mental toughness – the capacity to perform consistently and the high end of a players talent and skill, irrespective of competitive circumstances. There is such a narrow line between sporting…
Messi vs Ronaldo? That the argument has raged for more than a decade offers an insight into the astonishing levels of skill, commitment, longevity and, it has to be said,…
One of the game’s attributes that made a winger great was that they could focus on their attacking responsibilities. Even the most recent of those players, Pires and (until the…
Getting the best out of kids has always been a challenge. Most readers of this blog will, if they are honest, admit that maybe they didn’t always try their hardest…