Modern Soccer Coach Podcast
Connecting GPS Data to Tactical Periodisation with Ian Coll
How does Tactical Periodization and Sport Science connect? This week on the MSC Podcast, we are joined by Ian Coll, current Head of Performance at Las Vegas Lights (USL). Ian has extensive experience in the professional game working with distinguished clubs such as Hadjuk Split and Glasgow Celtic. He is also experience in Tactical Periodisation, learning from the great Vitor Frade as a Masters Candidate in 2024.
You can watch the full webinar below. Use code MSCYOUTUBE for 10% off. https://www.modernsoccercoach.com/product-page/msc-pre-season-workshopc
- Broadcast on:
- 07 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
It's not for the faint-hearted, there's a lot going on in there in neuroscience, social science. It's not just football, there's a bigger depth. So you have your weight and you play, and then you have your opponent. So how your opponent plays will then give you a strategy towards the game. Think about the game. So what's the essence of the game? When you watch a game of football, really watch a game of football. We say we love the game, but I always say that you really love it. Do you really, really, really love it? Do you really love it? What a great question that is. Welcome to the Modern Soccer Coach podcast. My name is Gary Kearney. Join us today is Ian Cole, current director of performance at Las Vegas Lights here in the United States. He's talking about connecting GPS to tactical periodization models. What a brilliant topic this is. I'm sure you're aware we had the excellent day of Tinney on a couple of weeks ago talking about tactical periodization. Another unique perspective this time from Ian Cole, he came on and done a webinar this summer on basically how to merge sports science with tactical periodization. I requested a 30-minute presentation and he delivered almost an hour and a half. Unbelievable knowledge, unbelievable insight, but unbelievable generosity as well. And you can tell for me and that he really, really does love it. I don't have the full webinar to share with you today because there's a lot of visuals and a lot of video. But if you want the webinar, you can get it on the website or put the link below, Modern Soccer Coach.com. It's on a set of four periodization webinars. So you can order the package. We've got a 10% offer discount code as well. MSC YouTube, MSC YouTube, 10%. It's well, well worth it. There's a ton of information and it all relates to different aspects of periodization. This was a discussion we had with Ian after the webinar. I hope you enjoy it. Please check out the webinar as well. Here's Ian and Joy. All right. First one I have is a lot of coaches over here have GPS tracking data, but don't have an expert alongside them, which is obviously problematic. What advice would you have to coaches that are just collecting this data every single day and probably don't know how to connect it to tactical models? What's the first step in that? I can give you the best answer on the political answer. Is the best answer that is the least? Is that a waste? Hi, okay. It can give you a reference. If you want a reference for the load for the day, so like I said in the last slide, if you have your model there and you say, okay, I trained this way, okay, we know things can change on the day and things, but if you have a way of training, it can give you a reference point to see, okay, we have this data for each day. So if I want to do more or less, I can change it. But what is more? What is less? So I say about red line, I didn't print this presentation. There's more heavy sports science I'd put in there. So we don't have a red line of, so what human performance, human performance is where we do multiple, it's changed over the years. So human performance and football back then was there, now even performance is there. So where will it be in 10 years? So what we'll take is the evolution in 10 years time. It will be a change in the way that we train. It can be less games, it can be more games, it can be less training, it can be more breaks in the season. So something will change in the developer game that will make the game better, you open the future. So you reference by the GPS's. If you don't understand it, don't collect it. Don't throw the players. If you have some sort of reference point, you'll see, okay, this is my model. Okay, this year I do 5,000k and this year I do 7,000, this year I do four, this year I do three. I can give you one reference point. What does that mean in terms of developing your squad? So I say to coaches, okay, today we plan for this. But if you want to do more, we can do more, it's not a problem. If you want to say, okay, we'll just do a calendar. No, no, no, no, this is different. If you want to do more football to develop a tactical concept or idea or you feel the team need a little bit more time, then continue to work. But then you maybe have to adjust something so you don't have fatigue. This is clear. This is clear, you can't be silly, you know, you can't just be doing overlapping runs with the feedbacks on my state main is water, my state main is true, they may have fatigue for sure, they'll have fatigue for the match. Well, the engine, that's another question. Who knows who can answer that? A lot of people would say yes, but maybe they won't get injured. There's another debate for another day. So collecting GPS can be good, can give you a reference certainly for the week that you can use. But if you don't understand it and you don't have a concept of how to manipulate it or change it for the better for the player, then just leave it. See another one, like sort of where readiness apps, where they're now, you get that was pretty common in America. People check in in the morning, how they're doing their value around that. Look, for me, they're great, they're great. But you need to communicate it on the level that the player understands the reason why. So have a coach, hey guys, we have a good app to have your wellness in your sleep and it's doing fantastic. And you report now read every day and they will know how you feel. Okay, but what's the decision around it? So what's the performance decision? So we speak about performance decisions. So I've now the coach, I received a PDF, my 20 players, three of slides, six hours, because the kids have been up, four of them are fatigued and three of them feel the left hamstring. What are you going to do? Are you going to pull them out? Are you going to speak to them? You're going to change your session, you're going to reduce your session, you have all those questions to answer. So I would say if you're in an environment and you're a coach who believes when you receive that information, you can make the best decision for your training session for that player and for your team, then use the app. But what I would say is don't forget to speak to the players. Don't put the app in there to adjust your communication to the players. Go and speak to the players. Yes, I'm a head coach, I can't speak to 25 players in a day. I understand that. But I said, as the young coaches and young practitioners, we have a number of spreadsheets, all the players' names, days to week above the top, and then which member of staff spoke to that player. So I'm head coach, I spoke to player A, B, C, D, E, F, G during the week. Could be different days, but my second coach spoke to the other players during the week. Then my head of fitness spoke to the other players in this day of the week. So the end of the week, we can see this is your team. Okay, this player got three contacts. This player had one contact. This player had seven contacts. So it's just a quick reference point to make sure that we're touching the players from a human side, because the app shouldn't take away. The human side, you know, you walk along the corridor. Hey, Gary, how are you today? I'm good. Yeah, how are the kids? Coach didn't sleep well last night. Okay, yeah, seen in your app, you know, you put down six hours sleep. That's how I was wanting to come and speak to, you know, and it's a long coach. I feel good. I feel really good. It's just the kids, you know, it's normal for me now. I mean, there's normal routine. And then you can see, okay, I understand, Gary, but maybe the days you need to think about, can you maximize your sleep? You know, I'm not going to be just your training or, you know, not think about you for selection, but just be aware that I'm aware of your situation. If you want to speak and open the door and come up and coffee, then let's come and speak. So it's using information to make the best decision. I always say a performance decision, because it's based on performance and development, and development, but it's about performance. So the apps are good. I like them, but it's how you use it. It's always the key. I don't, I'm obviously fascinated by the the tactical periodization for Friday, and I know I've read quite a bit about, I wouldn't be an expert, but I've read, I've tried to get as much reading out of it. And one of the things I actually followed up on this a couple of weeks ago, one of the books I've got them, a lot of talks about this concentration is intensity, focus is intensity, rather than the physicality being intensity. And I find this so interesting where I wonder sometimes again, and you alluded to this in a couple of slides where some people, some players are not, are not focusing as much as other players are. But I think as if some coaches would assess focus, well, we were really focused today, when, when maybe a more experienced or or a higher level coach is going, is that what that's not high level focus there? Do you know what I mean? Like, I guess, how is focus defined as being elite level? I think for me, this is probably based around understanding the game model, but understanding the communication process between the team. So, example, I'm Liverpool, and Salah, and I go to press the show back, but my teammates behind me are not ready to press. So, I would say that Salah's not focused, but also maybe the midfielders not focused because I gave the communication. So, Salah's not turned around and said, let's go, let's go, let's press, let's press, let's press, and he goes to press, or the players behind him have seen that he's went depressed, and he realized that they're not ready. Hey, Salah, don't press, don't press, stay, stay, stay now, now, now, now let's go. So, that would be, for me, a focus example. The intensity comes around, I think, can you be focused for 90 minutes? So, we say in the UK, it's like a one-second change again. You switch off for one second, you lose a match. If we look at a, I'm standing in creation, look at the creation match, 97 minutes and 40 seconds, they battled, they battled, and they battled for 30 minutes, they battled, and at one moment someone switched off, or there was no communication to that player who switched off our loss focus. So, we lost focus. So, it's a team game, it's a team sport with individual qualities, but ultimately, it's a team decision to make that mistake, because one player's decided something, but his teammates haven't helped him. So, we speak of an individual. When I analyze individual, you know, I don't analyze individual areas, I analyze team mistakes or team breaking performance. So, it's not one player went to make a slight tackle and miss a slight tackle, and then we lost the goal. But why did he do that? Why did the other players let him do that? What was the moment that led up to that? So, how did we get out of shape that led up to that moment? So, if we speak about focus, so, probably the biggest team in the world, you could say, is more defensively focused, is athletic or Madrid. They've done it for over 10 years. They are focused, they have intensity every single second of the game almost, you know, they never get broken down and intensity and focus. So, if I'm my team and I look at my performance, say defensive action like this, and it's the focus of the team that's been lost. So, it's the integration of the human interaction. So, the social ecological system that we find ourselves in and how we play and how we interact will be the key moment of how we put the focus intensity into training or performance. So, it's not just that one player that's responsible, the other players as well. So, I never look at an individual head, I just think it was an individual. Yeah, you can see some moments are, but there's always something led to that moment that could have not happened, that another player could have helped for sure. The game is the start, and quite the model is the start, and quite absolutely brilliant. But I see a lot of coaches now getting confused or maybe getting the principles between principles and system mixed up where you're now looking at a blank template on a four, three, three roles and responsibilities and rolling that out as a game model. Can you give some advice on ways you can kind of catch yourself not to fall into a formation reference point? Yeah, so formation of our system is for me numbers. So, we play four, three, but I don't think there's any real moment on the pitch, that looks like four, three, three. So, if you were to take a screenshot like I did, and show me a picture when it looks like four, three, I don't think you'll see that picture. Maybe I go kick, maybe, depends on the player's setup, maybe go kick. Yeah, go kick is probably the main one I could take, you'll see some reference points, but showbacks will be high, throwbacks will be inverted, send them into the door between the centerbacks, like I showed in the video, mid-studies will come inside, you have extra number names, so you start four, three, three, but it may not end up with that, you know, and I think if you can cut up the numbers, you'll start not to confuse yourself, but it's a principal place, so I want to keep possession, so how to keep possession? I want to build with two players in the back, three players in the back, but those three players in the back could be two centerbacks and one throughback to be two centerbacks and one sentiment few, so my formation can be four three three, four two three one, but my principal is I want to build with three in the back, but who makes up that three is down to the players and the situation in that moment, so we speak about if it's, say, it's four three three formation, I want to build with three, I give the license to my center midfielder to drop within the centerbacks, I go to the side of the centerbacks, so if you can go left or right, I drop within, or I say to my center midfielder, I don't want to drop in between, I don't want you to go to the side, I want to feel back to drop down, that's not three in the back, so it's the principal is the reference and then the sub principal, the micro principal and then talents of the players, in practical prioritization, we would probably get away from that and say well it's up to the player to decide, so the player knows that all the players know that we want to build with three, so when it makes up that three, the player intelligence and the sentiment filter, my toolbox says to me in drop between the centerbacks, we're open on the right side, okay I drop between, we switch the player and we go to the right side, but if I said as a coach it can only be my fill back, then we lose the fill back on the right side because he knows or he's been told the coach must say I've got to come and build it, so we tried to go to the right and say we don't have the numbers because he's done to go, but it's the fill back that recognizes the space, it says the sentiment filter, drop within the player and say the right side, we have numbers on the right, you see the difference, does one example, so it's numbers, numbers and numbers, how you played the game model game style with play? All right last one, put in the spot here, I know you'll enjoy this. This is a whole new world and obviously I've heard from yourself and other people how intense this education, your master's candidate, so I can only imagine with your bank of experience in the game as a football practitioner and as a sports science brain as well, like if someone in with that background is saying that something is really challenging then god it must be, but coach education, I've heard what is challenging in coach education today, it sounds like you're getting challenged in understanding and linking and connecting, whereas in coach education sometimes we're challenged with being up till two o'clock doing a report or it's inconvenient and I wanted to get your thoughts and do you think coach education, not the tactical prioritization concept, but just a global piece, it's had a lot of growth and just to put that out it's got a lot better, it's doing some great stuff, but do you think it's too easy? I like how you threw that at an end, I think it's too easy, look at my new license coach with the SFA, I'll look to do my pro license hopefully next year, I think it depends how much work you've entered yourself, so yes it can be tricky box, it's easy, you just put in the bare minimum when you pass, it can be, or you go inside of the realms of the course and try to educate yourself another way with books, with conferences, with courses and listen to people, and reference the tactical prioritization, it's like the more knowledge you gain the less, it's starting again in terms of coaching, it's not to defend hearted, there's a lot going on in there, neuroscience, social science, it's not just football, there's a bigger depth, it doesn't give you, here's the model, this is how to coach, you have to find out how you want to coach, how you believe your coach and those concepts there, yes, that drive your passion to learn that way, but in reference to the courses, I don't think they can go that in depth with the science, maybe prove license to start to touch a little bit in those areas, but I think by then it's too late, because I've coached a certain way, you know, I've copy pasted, I've done the drone, I only coached this way, you know, I have my progressions and I do this, okay, but why you have those progressions, so now I'm coaching, I come to coach your team in the guest session, you say Gary, I want to, sorry, you know, I want you to work in possession, can you assume you have possession drill for four, three, three, and you say to me, can you show me some progressions in the drill, I'll sit you, what do you mean by progressions in the drill, the progressions in the drill will come from how the players will play and understand the drill and have I put my coaching intervention in place. So for example, you know, we do five passes and this, we do 10 passes in this, why? That's the progression, okay, another progression is two touches, why? Because in a pitch, you're going to say, hey, it's only two touches in the pitch, if I fight passes, and no, I gave examples there of that because that's the way the people, that's the way the people coaching us, we set up drills, what I would say to people who are listening is that think about the game, so what's the essence of the game? When you watch a game of football, really watch a game of football, so how does messy play, how does buskets play, how does our Stavian has to play, how did Ronald dinner play, how did Matadona play, how does the brain play, how does Ronald play, so we have to understand the football and the top players, how they fit into the team, and how they interact, you know, and that's for me, so if I'm a messy, do you think messy gets told to play too touch about Selena? I'm going to thought so, you think Buskets has to play one touch, if he takes three touches, he gets a foul against them, I don't think so, maybe I'm wrong, I wouldn't think so, so we love it touches and we love it, so we put constraints to, you can put constraints, understand the rationale with constraints, so understand the rationale, progressions to try and get to where you want to go, but really think about the, and sooner through, you can either just get people thinking, but really think about what you want to develop, how the player sees that relation to the game, so the player will understand this is the position to, the coach says I want to keep 10 passes, and I'm all allowed two touches, but in the game, I think more than two touches, and we tried to score with, I don't know how many passes, so now you're limited to player, you put constraints on my mind as a player, so how I interpret that affects how I'm going to play, now is that how I play on a Saturday, yes or no, I don't know, it depends on the context, for Messi, no, for the broiner, no, you know, so how do you, how that drill is set up will give the reference point to the player, so the instinct that Messi talked about, so if I'm Messi, I'm going to create this instinct, so I'll receive the ball, I'll look up, I'll touch it with my foot in the ball, then I've heard some coaches say don't stop the ball, don't stop the ball, why? Why? Don't stop the ball, why? I don't understand, and I'll get one example on that, you know, when I come from Scotland, so I'm sure you can hear my voice, and I went to Dubai then, Bulgaria, and Bulgaria, we had five Brazilian players, they all stopped the ball with the sole of their foot, all of them stopped the ball, so and I'm like oh my god, like this is terrible, you know, stop the ball, it's all your foot, you should never do that, we don't do that, and a coaching course can't do this, but don't stop the ball, keep the ball rolling, always at the moment, okay, fine, no problem. So I spoke to the players, I said look guys, like give an example, I had a laugh and a joke, and I said, you know, in Scotland, I'd get sacked, you know, I went past my course, if you stopped the ball where you saw your foot, you know, having a joke, and they were like, why? And I was like, well, Ashley, why do you do it? And they said, look, we play foot south, and I said, okay, please, foot south, so we went to control the ball, and I said, no, understand that, I said, but do you, do you think that's the best option? And they said, well, to stop the ball, are you crazy? And I said, yeah, and I said, explain to me, and he said, look, when the ball comes to us, and the ball comes to me around the space, and I'm looking round the pitch in my players, there's a result on this, and I look around the pitch, all my players, how they're moving, who's running it behind, who's coming short, who's coming to support me, is the feedback going there, is the midfield, who's on the pressness, and not pressness. When I stopped my foot on top of the ball and stopped the ball, everyone has to change what they do. Every single player has to change what they're doing on the pitch, think something else. So he said, who's in control of the situation, me or them? And I said, you? And he said, so why wouldn't I stop the ball? And then I thought, that's very clever. Now think about Messi. Now think about the broiler. Now think about the Spanish players. Now think about these players in Monadino, Maradona, all these players, barely, we're all stopped the ball, so let's stop the ball, then we'll sit down, we'll shoot you on it. So there's a reason why they did it, there's a reason why they did it. So, in that example, that's what I'm saying. Think about the game, think about the way the games play, try to understand why players do things, and I'm trying to put it into the concert, to the training process, and believe me, that's not easy. So back to the coaching course, back to the coaching courses. I think it gives a reference point to coaches, how to coach and set up coaching at 100%, and I think all the federations were 50 for the off. I'd do the best in that. What I would say, just as young coach or even seasoned coaches, go a little bit deeper into how the game's played. Because if you speak to coach, coach, coach, come on, you're way more experienced, you know, way less experienced than me, and describe the game better, and I can't. And that's fantastic for me. I only know what I know and I try to help you do. And I love the game, so I don't mind doing these things, and it's great for me, and to have this discussion is phenomenal. But I also think about the game, how the game's played, how you see the game, and how that translates to the player. Because what you say to the player affects the decision that they make. Because you brought his name up so many times. I may say, all right, so I'm watching him last night, and I'm pardon my ignorance, but I didn't know he was, he just turned 37. I thought he was 34. I had no idea. So I'm watching the game. I'm thinking, then they're the commentators are saying Bravo and goal 41 played in like eight or nine, Koopa Americas. So you've got a 37 year old, a 40 and a one year old, you got Ronaldo playing today, who's you would know, I don't, what however old Ronaldo is. You mentioned Busquets, the longevity of Shavi and he asked that. But these guys are playing every single week. Messy doesn't miss games, Ronaldo doesn't miss games. How do you think that in today's day and age, like MBAs kind of going through this, so well, recover, rest, recover, we'll miss out a game, and people are saying rotation. How do these guys keep going all the time in your opinion? There's a big question. You finished on a big one, huh? I think I said this. I think I did say this. Love of the game. So we, we say, we love the game, but I always do. Do you really love it? Do you really, really, really love it? So play this with me. I love this game. I dedicate all my life to this game. I say, do you really love it? Have you, and I'm not being derogatory. I'm not being dismayed at any player. What I'm saying is, do you really love it? Do you spend all your time trying to be the best that you can? Because your career is from 18 or 16 if you're lucky for, you know, 25 years if you're really lucky, 20 years, you know, so you've got 20 years to maximize when you're 16, you're up to six. That's it here. The top end, most players maybe get 10, some players get five. So what's the difference of those players to the high level players? I'm not saying it's just about dedicating your life because a lot of players dedicate their life and don't get to the top for whatever reason. Look, not being the right manager, not being the right guy, but the right coach. I understand that. That's why I say I'm not being derogatory to other players, but I always say to the players 18 years of being the game. Players will tell you love it, but not all of them really love it. They're not dedicating everything. Like you said, they're rest, nutrition. I mean, Masley Ronaldo spent money in their earlier years to help their career, you know, in different things. Ronaldo got a personal chef when he went to Man United. Okay, you can see that Man United was earning good money, but he still did it. There's still a lot of kids that had that chance and didn't do it. There's kids that Man United now earning 10,000 a week. 10,000 a week, so 40,000 a month. I don't think they got personal chefs, all of them done. They divide recovery garments. If they believe in that, they got a nice part, they've got a sauna, you know, they spent money on keeping their feet right, going up and down just every week, you know, different things that you can do to make yourself a better player. You know, are you looking after your sleep pattern? You know, is your lifestyle good? Are you drinking one beat after the game? You know, do you think that's good? You eat pizza, you're doing this, you know, all those things add up, and then you magnify that over a season, two season, five seasons, it makes a big difference. So, but I think the way that you play, you know, just the way that you play in the love of the game, I think the the psychological side of human performance is massive. And in every sport, we have this example. In every sport, we have the older player, the older guy, Tom Brady in NFL. They still play, they still play, you know, compared to the quarterback, you know, there's an example. In every sport, I think comes into, do you really love it? Are you maximizing everything you can do with full game answer? Brilliant. Brilliant. All right, no more. Great way to finish it. Ian, thank you so much. All right, okay. Thank you for listening to the Modern Soccer Coach podcast. For more coaching topics, sessions, and resources, head on over to Coach Kurnine on Facebook or visit the website at www.modernsuckercoach.com.