Best Football Coaching Links of the Week: How To Avoid Bias, Tactics of Barca's New Coach & More

As new trends replace existing ones people tend to be blinded by all that is new, discarding lessons that previous successes had taught them.  For decades, Liverpool were successful thanks to a group of coaches who balanced each other out.  Many tried to uncover the secrets of the fabled boot room and a lot of theories emerged.   One aspect that was never looked into with much interest was their practise of noting down everything from scouting reports to training sessions to what worked in different situations.  This manual enabled them to have a factual record of why certain decisions were taken and is a practise that every coach today should be looking to copy.  Here’s why.

How teams can adopt the 3-3-1-3 formation.

After what has been, by their standards, a pretty disappointing season Barcelona have appointed Ernesto Valverde as their coach.  Valverde achieved exceptional results at Athletic Bilbao – a club with rich traditions, high expectations but pretty unique restrictions on recruitment – and being a former Barca player who played under Cruyff he was always the most obvious choice for the role.  Here is a brief introduction to Valverde’s attributes as a coach and his tactical dogma.

44 Awesome Drills That Make Your Body Faster and Your Mind Sharper.

TEAM TALK
“Even in times when we didn’t win, or when we couldn’t achieve a stabilisation in our performances, we kept pushing and insisting on the same concepts and guidelines. That meant that we didn’t change in order to win and, more importantly, we didn’t change our way of thinking because we were not winning. If you’re convinced of something, you must go for it.”

Oscar Washington Tabarez – El Maestro – Uruguay National Team coach; World Cup semi-finalist in 2010 & 2011 Copa America winner.