Reflections on the player and the game by Juanma Lillo (Patreon)

In football, I think that there is no separation between attack, defence and transitions when developing the game.

Footballers are self-organised, but they are also self-organisers as they interact with each other. What ability does a footballer have to self-organise? There are footballers who help everything around them to grow and others only help to impoverish them. Another concept is sustainability, which is about meeting needs without diminishing opportunities. I also apply this to players: are they sustainable or not? There are very few sustainable players, very few who satisfy needs without diminishing opportunities. The majority, while satisfying their needs, diminish the opportunities of the rest. This is more and more obvious with forwards, who finish all the plays without developing them. It doesn’t matter to them whether the play ends well or badly.

Players must understand that they help themselves when they help the rest of the team. Full collaboration is necessary to defeat the rival. But every day is more complicated and players must understand that. The coach must be able to convey this. Without losing the notion of the individual, individualism must be avoided. In this society, every day we are less individuals, but more individualists. We have lost the condition of individuals, we are like a credit card number. What is clear is that players compete against each other every week. They compete against their teammates to win a place in the starting eleven and they compete against their rivals. But when it comes time to compete against opponents, they compete more and more individually. Not collectively. I know that players find it difficult to build good socio-affective environments, but they must understand the need to collaborate.

Each player is a world that self-organises in a different way. What is more important for one may be less important for another. The foundation of the game is the player and his ability to organise himself and be an organising element with the others. The good players are the ones that increase the others’ possibilities.

Above all, it is necessary to talk about players, in the true sense of the term, to concretise approaches. It is also necessary to bear in mind that the opponent is our teacher. Our assets depend on the expectations and solutions we can create towards the opponent. Interestingly, the richer the opponent’s attacking options are, the richer your defensive resources can be.

Players should play according to the opponent’s intention. This is very important. The rival must feel that your position and profile influences their choice of the build-up side.

Then, on the pitch, the player must assess each circumstance to make the right decision. This is football. The player must have conceptual knowledge so that, in the end, he is the solver. No matter how much we plan a match, what happens on the pitch is spontaneous. As much as we plan and know things, we know nothing of what will happen. We can only “guide” and “stimulate” the players. We cannot impart knowledge, because knowledge is an internal process. We cannot teach anything. The player can learn and that is different. To stimulate the tactical depth of the player, there are many ways. Some are not tactical, but they are necessary to awaken the players, making them want to know what you are going to tell them.

The concept of freedom is not letting the player do whatever he wants, without providing anything to the group. Talent expresses itself in order. If it wasn’t like that, it wouldn’t be talent. We usually associate talent with attacking actions, but you also need the talent to defend. Baresi at AC Milan, with two steps forward and behind had three opposing forwards around him. Gallego was a magnificent Argentine Centre Back who recovered every ball. He used to say: “when the rival is far away, I look at his eyes; when he is close, I look at his feet”. This is talent. It is playing with the opponent’s intent when he is far away. But, when he is close, the aim is not to look at a source of distraction, but to look at where I can take the ball.