How to make a successful action on the pitch through individual tactics
We’ve written a series of articles about the theory of individual tactics. We described and explained every step in the process of an individual tactic. In this article, we will give a practical overview of what happens in reality when you lack the optimal response to one, two, or all three steps with an individual tactic.
Let’s start with an overview of all possible options. In the table underneath you see the steps of the individual tactic in the first column. In the top row, you see the number of optimal responses in the process of the individual tactic. So you can either have 0 out of 3, 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3, or 3 out of 3. (we also numbered them to make it easier to navigate). When a square says NO, then this means that the player didn’t have the optimal behavior in this step of the individual tactic process. If the square says YES, then the player had the optimal behavior in this step of the individual tactic process.
There are 8 different possibilities of behavior within the process of an individual tactic. Each of these possibilities provides valuable information about what the player did right or has to improve.
The individual tactic step |
Zero 1 |
One 2 |
One 3 |
One 4 |
Two 5 |
Two 6 |
Two 7 |
Three 8 |
Perception | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES |
Decision | NO | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | YES |
Execution | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES |
In column number one you do zero of the three steps in the individual tactic in a non-optimal way, this is probably going to result in a bad outcome. For example, an attacking midfielder doesn’t do a head check over his shoulder, decides to turn, and while he turns the ball slips off his foot. The opponent was already tight on him and can pick the ball up easily because of his bad touch and run past him.
Train: the whole process
A lot of people would say this was because of his bad touch, which is the execution of the individual tactic, but in reality, it was way worse that his perception and decision were not good. Because let’s look at the fourth column, and have the same scenario, the only difference this time is that his touch is perfect. The player turns with the ball, and the ball is laying ready to play in front of him, good technical execution of the individual tactic. But the player was still tight on his back when he received the ball and decided to turn. Do you think this player would keep the ball or lose the ball? In our eyes, the chances are quite big that he would lose the ball.
Train: Perception and decision making
With this example, we just want to show that the execution of an individual tactic is not the only thing to focus on.
If we go to column number two, where you have a good perception, but a bad decision and bad execution, then this means that you see what happens, but your brain can’t process the information good enough (yet) to make the right decision and execute in a good way. This is often the difference between amateur players and professional players. This is the speed of thinking and processing information in your brain.
Train: Giving value to your perception, recognize situations
In column number three you see bad perception, a good decision, and bad execution. This rarely happens and is difficult to check. Because you can’t see the decision.
If we go to column five, where you have good perception and make a good decision, but the execution is not good. Then a person doesn’t know how to execute this individual tactic. For example, you’re a center-back, the opponent has the ball and you see a player making a run in behind you, you decide to sprint back. But the line you run in is wrong, you run to the corner instead of the goal. Then you did everything right, except for the execution. With some individual tactics, the execution is easy to learn, but with some others, this might take months or is maybe not even possible to learn anymore after a certain age.
Train: execution
What also happens a lot is what we see in column 6, players have no good perception of the situation, but decide in a good way and execute in a good way. This is more or less guessing/gambling on a certain outcome. While this is far from optimal behavior, this won’t come to light that often. Because the decision and the execution were good.
Train: perception/head checks
In column seven you have a good perception, a bad decision, and a good execution. This is difficult to learn away because players see the result as good execution. For example, a center-back is pressing a striker in front of him that’s getting a pass while he sees a second striker making a run in behind him. The striker that gets the pass takes too many touches instead of playing it through on the player that made a run in behind and the center-back can win the ball. While the execution is good because he won the ball. The decision to step out and press might have been the wrong one. Because if the striker would have made a one-touch flick off into space the second striker that made a run in behind would have been 1v1 with the goalkeeper. With this example, players often need to make the mistake a couple of times first before they understand it.
Train: decision making
If you have a YES on all three steps in individual tactics then you will make a successful action on the football pitch. This is the end goal of individual tactics, to consistently have a good perception, a good decision, and a good execution.
With this overview, it’s easier to understand what a player is lacking and what he’s already doing good in individual tactics. So that it’s easier to teach the player new things and easier for the player to understand what he has to improve.
Loran is the tactical expert in sport and he is the founder and owner of Tactalyse.