How is that funny?
RAWK Goes Into Meltdown | 2013/14
- Thread starter Buchan
- Start date
I said he was a nutter and laughed at his bizarre nature. Why so serious?
Nutting for sure.Now that he has given the entire secret away.....can't we all just copy it?
The system is the king, not the individual. That’s what we’ve been told, and the uncompromising approach to squad restructuring certainly demonstrates that it the case. A system oriented approach needs specific qualities in the players throughout the squad to work effectively, as any player should be able to step into the team and compliment the system.
So what does the system require from the individuals that make up the team and how does a system work to get the most from its component parts to maximise the overall effectiveness of the team?
Cohesion has been defined as “a group of individuals thinking, feeling and acting as a single unit” (Tutko and Richards, Psychology of Coaching). How can a team with an ever-changing combination of players become a cohesive group?
In this article I’m going to attempt to explore some of the parameters that affect the thinking and acting elements of this definition of cohesion. Specifically, I will discuss the perceptual and decision-making processes that influence how effective footballers can be at executing fast, combination attacks. This will then allow us to see which types of footballers will thrive in a system that is reliant on a high degree of cohesion.
The process of making a decision is influenced by two factors, firstly, the person’s interpretation of the current environment and secondly, by memories stored from previous experiences.
Limited Channel Capacity
The skill to accurately interpret the current environment is our first obstacle to overcome. We constantly take in sensory information that tells us about the present environment. This is received by our sense organs and stored for a very short time in our short-term sensory stores. From here, this data is filtered, and most of it discarded, however some of it, which the brain interprets as important, is moved into our short term memory. We have to discard most of the sensory information before it reaches our short-term memory, as we are incapable of processing all of that data. We have a Limited Channel Capacity.
To test how well you filter information, watch this video and count the number of passes the team in white makes. I’d be very impressed if you can get this right.
The implications of a Limited Channel Capacity for sports people are significant. The process of filtering information is a subconscious one and happens instantly. It explains why we genuinely didn’t ‘see’ our teammate (who was waving and shouting at the top of his voice) standing completely unmarked, six yards out from goal, even though we were looking straight at him. Our eyes picked up the visual data, but it got filtered as our processing capacity was divided between worrying about the defender running at us and keeping control of the ball.
Someone with good ‘vision’ on the football pitch might not have 20/20 vision, and equally, someone with great eyes might not be able to ‘see’ very much on the pitch. The skill is to filter information effectively, which is a combination of not needing to attend to some of the basics very much (like ball control) and being able to recognise the most important sensory information while ignoring the rest.
Interpreting the Data
Once we have filtered the data appropriately, we now need to make sense of it. This is where information in our short-term memory is compared with information in our long term memory to decode it.
Look at this image. What do you see?
There is no cube in the picture, but your brain is still able to ‘see’ it using the information available and your previous experience of seeing cubes.
We rely on pattern recognition, which again comes down to experience. If I showed you a random series of eleven red and eleven blue dots on a rectangle, you’d probably find it difficult to recall the next day. But if these dots looked like a 4-4-2 versus a 4-3-3, you’d recognise them immediately and be able to reconstruct the image on another day.
Patterns allow us to chunk objects together to identify them as one body instead of discrete entities. Experienced chess players will instantly recognise this pattern:
But those who think a Sicilian Defence is a Godfather-inspired legal phrase won’t recognise this common opening position.
The ability of a player to recognise specific patterns that occur in open play will enable them to predict how play will unfold and recognise opportunities to exploit unbalanced defences.
As well as pattern recognition and chunking of different elements, it helps players to be able to recognise and use Advanced Cues. A basic example of an Advanced Cue might be a player running up to take a corner kick. You know when the ball will be kicked before it is, as you have the Advanced Cue of the player’s run-up. However, skilful individuals will be able to make use of much more detail from advanced cues, such as the direction a pass will go, or which direction the player will dribble a ball.
From a team cohesion point of view, predictability of movement from your teammates is essential. Using triggers as Advanced Cues to indicate what you want a teammate to do is something well drilled teams do automatically.
I’ve been encouraged by the movement of Aspas from the little I’ve seen of him, as he uses movement to indicate where and when he wants the ball. He needs players around him who can read these triggers, and in Coutinho, he has someone who can.
As a side-note on the use of Advanced Cues, a look-away pass is an example of someone using a false Advanced Cue to disguise a pass. However, the best defenders will know not to watch the head of the player, but to make use of other cues. One of the problems that arises with players who are deceptive, is they don’t just confuse their opponents, but their teammates too. It is certainly one of the reasons unpredictable players are sometimes surplus to requirements in a passing and combination based system.
Decision Making
Hick's Law states that the more choices someone has, the longer it takes to make a decision. Therefore, by having specific patterns that are worked on in training, and rules that simplify the decision making process, the speed of decision-making can be increased.
Stanley Matthews wrote in his autobiography about his understanding with Stan Mortensen. When he got around a full back to the goal line, he would pull the ball back to a specific place every time, and Mortensen just had to make sure he was there. In modern football, with the role of video analysis and the knowledge even casual observers of the game have about players’ tendencies to do certain things, a simple attacking move such as that wouldn’t work after a while as defenders would also know it was going to happen. However, having a series of principles will help reduce the number of options the player on the ball might have, speeding up the decision making process.
In addition, previous experiences influence future decisions. If we have made a decision in a given situation and been successful, we are more likely to make the same decision in a similar situation. Conversely, if we have made a decision that has not been successful, we may be less likely to repeat it.
Rodgers talks a lot about players needing courage to play and maintain possession; he wants players to feel good about making correct decisions. Essentially, you cannot criticise a bad execution of a correct decision if you want the correct decision to be made again.
It’s also worth noting that there are many things that can subconsciously influence what we decide to do in a given situation. It’s probably not necessary to discuss these here though. However, for a current example, I’m certain Mignolet would have been privy to information regarding Walters’ penalty kicks.
Summary
So if the system is truly the king, we need players who can combine with each other with a high degree of mutual understanding. Every player needs to be able to predict what every other player is going to do in any given situation, however, this needs to be complex enough to prevent opponents reading our play, and fast enough to exploit situations of potential that arise.
We are recruiting players who compliment this approach (technical, othodox, quick thinking etc.) and loading our training with drills to promote the all important cohesion required.
So what does the system require from the individuals that make up the team and how does a system work to get the most from its component parts to maximise the overall effectiveness of the team?
Cohesion has been defined as “a group of individuals thinking, feeling and acting as a single unit” (Tutko and Richards, Psychology of Coaching). How can a team with an ever-changing combination of players become a cohesive group?
In this article I’m going to attempt to explore some of the parameters that affect the thinking and acting elements of this definition of cohesion. Specifically, I will discuss the perceptual and decision-making processes that influence how effective footballers can be at executing fast, combination attacks. This will then allow us to see which types of footballers will thrive in a system that is reliant on a high degree of cohesion.
The process of making a decision is influenced by two factors, firstly, the person’s interpretation of the current environment and secondly, by memories stored from previous experiences.
Limited Channel Capacity
The skill to accurately interpret the current environment is our first obstacle to overcome. We constantly take in sensory information that tells us about the present environment. This is received by our sense organs and stored for a very short time in our short-term sensory stores. From here, this data is filtered, and most of it discarded, however some of it, which the brain interprets as important, is moved into our short term memory. We have to discard most of the sensory information before it reaches our short-term memory, as we are incapable of processing all of that data. We have a Limited Channel Capacity.
To test how well you filter information, watch this video and count the number of passes the team in white makes. I’d be very impressed if you can get this right.
The implications of a Limited Channel Capacity for sports people are significant. The process of filtering information is a subconscious one and happens instantly. It explains why we genuinely didn’t ‘see’ our teammate (who was waving and shouting at the top of his voice) standing completely unmarked, six yards out from goal, even though we were looking straight at him. Our eyes picked up the visual data, but it got filtered as our processing capacity was divided between worrying about the defender running at us and keeping control of the ball.
Someone with good ‘vision’ on the football pitch might not have 20/20 vision, and equally, someone with great eyes might not be able to ‘see’ very much on the pitch. The skill is to filter information effectively, which is a combination of not needing to attend to some of the basics very much (like ball control) and being able to recognise the most important sensory information while ignoring the rest.
Interpreting the Data
Once we have filtered the data appropriately, we now need to make sense of it. This is where information in our short-term memory is compared with information in our long term memory to decode it.
Look at this image. What do you see?
There is no cube in the picture, but your brain is still able to ‘see’ it using the information available and your previous experience of seeing cubes.
We rely on pattern recognition, which again comes down to experience. If I showed you a random series of eleven red and eleven blue dots on a rectangle, you’d probably find it difficult to recall the next day. But if these dots looked like a 4-4-2 versus a 4-3-3, you’d recognise them immediately and be able to reconstruct the image on another day.
Patterns allow us to chunk objects together to identify them as one body instead of discrete entities. Experienced chess players will instantly recognise this pattern:
But those who think a Sicilian Defence is a Godfather-inspired legal phrase won’t recognise this common opening position.
The ability of a player to recognise specific patterns that occur in open play will enable them to predict how play will unfold and recognise opportunities to exploit unbalanced defences.
As well as pattern recognition and chunking of different elements, it helps players to be able to recognise and use Advanced Cues. A basic example of an Advanced Cue might be a player running up to take a corner kick. You know when the ball will be kicked before it is, as you have the Advanced Cue of the player’s run-up. However, skilful individuals will be able to make use of much more detail from advanced cues, such as the direction a pass will go, or which direction the player will dribble a ball.
From a team cohesion point of view, predictability of movement from your teammates is essential. Using triggers as Advanced Cues to indicate what you want a teammate to do is something well drilled teams do automatically.
I’ve been encouraged by the movement of Aspas from the little I’ve seen of him, as he uses movement to indicate where and when he wants the ball. He needs players around him who can read these triggers, and in Coutinho, he has someone who can.
As a side-note on the use of Advanced Cues, a look-away pass is an example of someone using a false Advanced Cue to disguise a pass. However, the best defenders will know not to watch the head of the player, but to make use of other cues. One of the problems that arises with players who are deceptive, is they don’t just confuse their opponents, but their teammates too. It is certainly one of the reasons unpredictable players are sometimes surplus to requirements in a passing and combination based system.
Decision Making
Hick's Law states that the more choices someone has, the longer it takes to make a decision. Therefore, by having specific patterns that are worked on in training, and rules that simplify the decision making process, the speed of decision-making can be increased.
Stanley Matthews wrote in his autobiography about his understanding with Stan Mortensen. When he got around a full back to the goal line, he would pull the ball back to a specific place every time, and Mortensen just had to make sure he was there. In modern football, with the role of video analysis and the knowledge even casual observers of the game have about players’ tendencies to do certain things, a simple attacking move such as that wouldn’t work after a while as defenders would also know it was going to happen. However, having a series of principles will help reduce the number of options the player on the ball might have, speeding up the decision making process.
In addition, previous experiences influence future decisions. If we have made a decision in a given situation and been successful, we are more likely to make the same decision in a similar situation. Conversely, if we have made a decision that has not been successful, we may be less likely to repeat it.
Rodgers talks a lot about players needing courage to play and maintain possession; he wants players to feel good about making correct decisions. Essentially, you cannot criticise a bad execution of a correct decision if you want the correct decision to be made again.
It’s also worth noting that there are many things that can subconsciously influence what we decide to do in a given situation. It’s probably not necessary to discuss these here though. However, for a current example, I’m certain Mignolet would have been privy to information regarding Walters’ penalty kicks.
Summary
So if the system is truly the king, we need players who can combine with each other with a high degree of mutual understanding. Every player needs to be able to predict what every other player is going to do in any given situation, however, this needs to be complex enough to prevent opponents reading our play, and fast enough to exploit situations of potential that arise.
We are recruiting players who compliment this approach (technical, othodox, quick thinking etc.) and loading our training with drills to promote the all important cohesion required.
Summary ~ A load of irrelevant bollocks, propped up on equally irrelevant cultural stilts. Result: if Rodgers attempts to instill anything like this, his players would think he's a lunatic & fall asleep.
Coming soon: Simonides of Ceos' Method of Loci and its counterpoint in Sturridge's goal-celebration dance.
Coming soon: Simonides of Ceos' Method of Loci and its counterpoint in Sturridge's goal-celebration dance.
But look, you can see the cube! The cube!
I'm sure some of the stuff described in there is something a manager would study and use to shape his training/managing methods rather than something that's put directly onto the players.
Nevertheless, can't say I read all of it.
I'm not criticising it for its own sake...but so much of the piece is really irrelevant. Further, the part about Aspas coveniently overlooks the blatantly obvious: not Coutinho's talent for playing the right pass, nor his 'genius' for deciding what kind of killer-ball to play but the obvious & main thing: his familiarity with Aspas as a player, as his team-mate. That is about shared experience - his growing familiarity with the player - not patterns or intuition.
Aspas runs around losing the ball and getting ignored by Sturridge for passes all game anyway.
& to think Bill Shankly once said that football was a simple game. That piece started to hurt my brain after the 2nd paragraph. Perhaps we'll soon have a professor of physics writing on how the 'choas theory' applies to modern day football.
I actually thought the article was really interesting. it was really nice to get an insight into the workings of the mind of a complete spastic.
But you can't criticise the correct decision.
harsh.I think you guys aren't placing enough importance on the cube.
Perhaps I have far more cube experience.
Perhaps I have far more cube experience.
Old news that.
Good stuff, Kenny.
The Champions League thread is brilliant there.
Pre-match.
"Sami is going to outcoach moyes".
"United will be found out and Leverkusen will defeat them easily"
Post-match
"Leverkusen were shit, the Bundesliga doesn't have good teams beyond the top2"
"United will be found out once they face a decent team"
Bunch of retards.
Pre-match.
"Sami is going to outcoach moyes".
"United will be found out and Leverkusen will defeat them easily"
Post-match
"Leverkusen were shit, the Bundesliga doesn't have good teams beyond the top2"
"United will be found out once they face a decent team"
Bunch of retards.
I said in the match day thread one of the most odd and overrated club legends to ever grace a football club.
They all said 'moyes will struggle in Europe.' feck me didn't know he was out there kicking it around with the lads.
They all said 'moyes will struggle in Europe.' feck me didn't know he was out there kicking it around with the lads.
I am not even surprised at this. Fully expected that.
Rawk Poster #1
Rawk Poster #2
Rawk Poster #2
RAWK poster #1.
Rawk Poster #2
Phase Of Play
Rawk Poster #2
Phase Of Play
This thread is a bit dusty this season after their solid start. They will miss Coutinho though and Ratface might be a distraction for them.
Phase of play
The current phase of play is delusion.
The current phase of play is delusion.
I just hope we're not relegated in the next two seasons while Liverpool win the Double this year, and Treble next.
I just couldn't be arsed to traipse through the place any more. I'd rather wait for a stand out moment to do so. Maybe rat coming back will spark my interest again.
Don't forget the chart lads, it's currently early season thus the bullishness is still pretty high - especially being top of the league (10 points from 4 games is enough to send them well into meltdown) - won't be long before Christmas, they'll be 7th again and calling for Brenton to go.
The boom in the boom-bust cycle has started very early I see
I've been saying early that the cycle needs recalibrating. The peak is now mid September rather than mid August.
It's the same thing every year, LFC and RAWK.
Too true, les pray the bust is earlier than Christmas as well - the meltdown will be epic
It's just not Christmas without Liverpool and co. cracking up.
I'm sure he was knocking something out himself as he posted that.
Bump bump bump.
Let the joy begin. Southampton deserved winners today. Once again the vermin fade terribly after about 30 minutes.
Let the joy begin. Southampton deserved winners today. Once again the vermin fade terribly after about 30 minutes.
Could have been a larger pasting but Mignolet made some amazing saves.