Midfielder position

[Unregistered]

The topic is also posted pretty frequently on this board, same topic, same range of responses. Sounds like a fake post from a club director trying to increase numbers at a tryout honestly

[Unregistered]

At what point does a coach stop encouraging a midfielder to take as many touches as they want and be as creative as they want? Our midfielder lost possession 9 times out of 10 and cost the team the tournament. Also likes to shoot from midfield rather than look for the pass. The entire team is frustrated. I ask because my kid has an opportunity elsewhere, and we are at the point where we don’t believe this is ever going to change.

I think it depends on age. Younger kids should be encouraged to take on players and use skills they learn in practice. At a certain age you use those learned skills to get out of trouble or take on a defender then pass. Who cares about winning a tournament, your d already forgot.

[Unregistered]

I appreciate the point from a development perspective, but maybe, maybe not.

The game should be played with skill, speed, and intelligence. The game should be played to be able to solve the problem, which is getting the ball and putting it in the goal.

5 players with 2 touches isn't better or more virtuous than 1 player and 20 touches if former gives the ball away and the latter scores a goal. I think Messi would agree.

Messi creates off the ball as much as dribble...and he wouldn’t be Messi without teammates playing 1 or 2 passes

[Unregistered]

What about the forward who won’t work the wingers and insist on dribbling up the middle and consistently loses the ball instead of passing because her dad yells at her to run and shoot it?i

[Unregistered]

What about the forward who won’t work the wingers and insist on dribbling up the middle and consistently loses the ball instead of passing because her dad yells at her to run and shoot it?i

Sign her for Holy Cross

[Unregistered]

Can’t forget about the CBs that run up the middle past the midfielders and loses the ball and is not quick to recover when other team boots it to their forwards and score.

[Unregistered]

Game should be played with 2 or 3 touches-period.
Your point is correct, your method of questioning is wrong.

Game should be played with as many touches as the circumstances dictate. Telling a kid 2-3 touches max at a ulittle age is going to encourage them to just distribute the ball to *somebody* regardless of whether its their teammate or the foot of a kid on the other team (and their "out" is going to be 'I only did 2-3 touches like you told me'). And an inflexible 2-3 touch rule is not going to let them discern when more than 2-3 touches is called for. There needs to be a way for the coach to address ball hogging but I've seen nothing but disaster when the team rule is you have to get rid of the ball after X touches.

[Unregistered]

Sounds like your defenders need to learn to keep their shape so they are not "scattering" as a result of one player losing the ball. That's an opportunity for development...

and since when is seeing shots in a game bad for a goalie's development?

So if I'm hearing this right, you're saying ball hogging isn't necessarily a bad thing as it leads to opportunities for the kids on the defensive side of the field to get better?

[Unregistered]

So if I'm hearing this right, you're saying ball hogging isn't necessarily a bad thing as it leads to opportunities for the kids on the defensive side of the field to get better?

The simple fix for all of this is coach certain positions to play certain ways and rotate kids through all of them. Backs should get the least number of touches (2 or 3 and then play the ball out and make a run). In the midfield, when up near the center circle (at least higher than the penalty arc), encourage mids to beat one player and then make a pass and a run to get the ball back and do it again. Finally, encourage forwards and wings to play like the mids in the middle third, but encourage them to beat 2 or an occasional 3 players to find a shot or make a pass. If you rotate all kids through each position they each get a chance to play straight up soccer of making passes, beating kids, and working hard to earn a shot or an assist. The biggest problem here is that many coaches, even at early ages of development, do not rotate players to try to win and that is a shame. Don't take the kids if you cant live with each of them at any position when they are younger. As they get older, your team should find better and more polished and knowledgeable players that can play multiple positions and wont kill you if they play center back. Finally, you can begin specialization of positions at around U15 and up. Even up through U13 and U14, kids should play at least 2 position IMHO. Too often kids are locked into positions early for the benefit of the team and not for their own development .... like taking the big, fast kid and letting him always run at wing or forward and not demanding better decisions or more technical ability because it is often not needed out in the open field ... or putting those types of kids at center back because they are faster and aggressive than their peers (and again, not developing their technical skills or decision making because they can make the stop and then boot it to clear it). You use these kids early and then discard them later when the game passes them by .... this is even more true on the girls side.

[Unregistered]

So if I'm hearing this right, you're saying ball hogging isn't necessarily a bad thing as it leads to opportunities for the kids on the defensive side of the field to get better?

No. I was actually responding to the absurd idea that the defenders are “scattering “ because one player loses the ball

More importantly, it seems pretty clear that the original poster is really most concerned about his kid’s ulittle team losing a meaningless tournament..

Learning when to keep the ball and when to move it is something that young kids develop over time as well...

Also—only parents of little kids use the term “ball hog”.

[Unregistered]

No. I was actually responding to the absurd idea that the defenders are “scattering “ because one player loses the ball

More importantly, it seems pretty clear that the original poster is really most concerned about his kid’s ulittle team losing a meaningless tournament..

Learning when to keep the ball and when to move it is something that young kids develop over time as well...

Also—only parents of little kids use the term “ball hog”.

I didn’t get that sense at all. Can you read? It sounds like it has been an ongoing problem, and the team is frustrated with losing possession, which ultimately leads to losing games. The bigger issue of course is the lack of development. Losing the tournament was just the icing on the cake for the players it seems. It’s shocking how many grown adults here can’t understand what they are reading.

[Unregistered]

There's little context for knowing what's really going on here. As an earlier poster pointed out, the midfielder may be getting swarmed without help from teammates who aren't moving off the ball to get open. Alternatively the midfielder may be a ball hog after all. How important is this tournament, really?

[Unregistered]

What age are we talking about?
At the younger ages, the coach is absolutely correct in encouraging the player to dribble into oblivion and discover limitations and how to really protect the ball from the defender. This is the most basic skill of soccer and needs to be taught and learned.

However, to the point of the team development, if that is the coaches goal, then each and every kid should be rotated through that position and get the same opportunity to do so.

To the point of other posts, at some age, this is no longer the goal as the skill should have already been taught. While the skill continues to develop, by age 14 and older, the players should be focusing a bit more on the play of the game.

At all times, however, all the skills need to be practiced and used.

[Unregistered]

What age are we talking about?
At the younger ages, the coach is absolutely correct in encouraging the player to dribble into oblivion and discover limitations and how to really protect the ball from the defender. This is the most basic skill of soccer and needs to be taught and learned.

However, to the point of the team development, if that is the coaches goal, then each and every kid should be rotated through that position and get the same opportunity to do so.

To the point of other posts, at some age, this is no longer the goal as the skill should have already been taught. While the skill continues to develop, by age 14 and older, the players should be focusing a bit more on the play of the game.

At all times, however, all the skills need to be practiced and used.

I agree with this. The dribbling midfielder should eventually become a forward, where you want what could be described elsewhere on the field as detrimental selfish play. The midfielders need to be able to distribute, advance, and defend. If they are just dribbling forward, and getting stripped, they aren’t doing their job.

[Unregistered]

What age are we talking about?
At the younger ages, the coach is absolutely correct in encouraging the player to dribble into oblivion and discover limitations and how to really protect the ball from the defender. This is the most basic skill of soccer and needs to be taught and learned.

However, to the point of the team development, if that is the coaches goal, then each and every kid should be rotated through that position and get the same opportunity to do so.

To the point of other posts, at some age, this is no longer the goal as the skill should have already been taught. While the skill continues to develop, by age 14 and older, the players should be focusing a bit more on the play of the game.

At all times, however, all the skills need to be practiced and used.

There is a time and place (and position) for everything, but coaches (and parents) should always remember that bad habits die hard. All kids should learn the game and when and where certain behaviors are more acceptable than others. All players should not be taught or allowed to "dribble into oblivion". It is not acceptable for keepers or backs to do this and it is not acceptable for mids either (especially on the back 1/3 of the field). If you believe it is, then the coach should tell the centerbacks NEVER to boot it and to dribble out of trouble as well. How often do those ball-hog mids play centerback? Probably never because the coach is afraid they will exhibit the same poor understanding of this game.