The Collective Game

COLLECTIVE APPLICATION OF THE GAME.

In the article "FUNDAMENTATED CONCEPTUAL MODEL" of the website www.FUTBOLdelibro.com, Robert Moreno and others state:

"Evenso, as Ricardo Olivos had already shown around 1,978, we still have a deep knowledge of the game of football. Although progress has been made since the publication of his book "Football Theory", we essentially keep the root of the problem, perhaps the main difference, is that we are now aware of the problem of not having a clear understanding of the game as something collective, something that goes beyond individual qualities. We have overcome the fact that playing requires more than just good technique and good physical preparation.

This debate, we believe, is overtaken. The evolution in trends has led us to the discussion that currently deals with us, which is the collective application of the game.

There are many advances and theories"..."They tell us about the "What", but not the "As". "Why don't we tell them to play well? Or throw them around the squad when they suck in a goal? Or that they always exceed 1 vs 1? Or make driving by overcoming

three rivals and throw away goal scoring a goal? No one thinks of asking a player for this because we know it's not easy and that it depends on many factors and context.

But instead, we give a talk and say: play with two taps, maintain amplitude, look for depth, make orientation changes. And no one questions that doing this collectively and coordinatedly is more difficult than the above, because we are talking about collective behaviors.

Therefore, we must generate behaviors in our players, those who have the ball, but above all those who do not, so that what we ask to occur in a coordinated and fluid way with less risk of losing the ball and fulfilling the goal of reaching the rival goal." ...

The FUNDAMENTS OF THE COLLECTIVE GAME, as part of the teaching of football will allow us, as we will see, to rationalize the game between the players, so that an effective, fast and lossless game is manifested.

FOOTBALL-SPECIFIC FEATURES.

Need for football training to be specific

As indicated by the principle of specificity, for training to be effective you must take into account especially the characteristics of each sport.

The application of this principle is obvious if we list the four large sports groups:

• Individual sports without opposition.
• Individual sports with opposition.
• Collective sports without opposition.
• Collective sports with opposition.

However, to reach the last aspects of the specificity of each sport, it is clear that this first distinction is not sufficient.

In our case, what sets football apart from other sports (even some that are similar – such as futsal – are its unique characteristics in relation to the following regulatory aspects:

• Terrain dimensions (play space).
• Number of companions and adversaries ("useful time of action" conditioned by space and the amount of opposition).
• Prohibition of avoiding the game of the opposite through physical actions of contact against it (except legal charges).
• Existence of the offside rule (timely).
• Regulatory limitation that prevents you from playing the ball with your hands (large movements with foot throws).

Once the need for the control/associative play style seems to be assumed, we need to start determining the causes that cause the large number of errors that manifest when using it (which means a low level of efficiency in the development of the game).

It is from this moment that already "tactical journalization" showed us this way forward; and it is in this sense that the FUNDAMENTS OF THE COLLECTIVE GAME (the pending subject) are a step forward in the concretetion of this objective, since it is not a different method, proposal or model, but establish (during the training process and subsequently in the activity of maximum performance) the scientific cutting guidelines that guarantee an effective and coherent game of our sport, improving its level of efficiency, while adapting the game itself to the current media requirements.

We cannot settle for the excuses that in football everything is already invented... or what still sounds worse, "football is football." There is always a cause, and therefore a solution.

It is about establishing coherent logical criteria that take into account and respect the SPACE, TIME AND OPPORTUNITY factors that define our sport. It is neither the only nor the definitive proposal, of course. It is one more step that we all must and can continue to establish, work, research and experiment to obtain continuous improvements of our sport.

Generally, we can say that:

• The dimensions of the pitch allow each player to have their own space or demarcation to develop their game individually (approximately: 20x20-400m2.-), with maximum opposition of 1:1.
• In and from this demarcation, the player can develop all the technical-tactical actions, even being able to overcome the opponent (without having to have an exceptional technical level) by means of a change of pace / orientation (haggling with long exit), since the rest of the opponents are in other demarcations far removed from the holder, and the regulation does not allow to act physically against him.
• In the event that this player has more than one opponent in his demarcation, it will necessarily imply the existence of one or more teammates completely unchecked in their respective zone/game demarcation (provided they are properly located).
• Playing the ball with your feet allows us to get you to these unchecked players quickly, no matter how far away they are.
• Having 11 players allows us to rationally occupy the dimensions of the pitch in a balanced way (maximum amplitude and depth), which makes it possible, whatever type of marking used on the contrary, to find collective solutions to avoid the loss of the ball and get overwhelmed.
• The opposite has only one rule that allows you to reduce these spaces; The offside rule. This rule, however, can be fought through accuracy in the long movements of the ball, and the speed of some players to take advantage of the large spaces created behind the back of the defending team.

To take advantage of all these aspects and develop an effective game you need to:

• Know and correctly manifest the positions/demarcations to play in and from the area (as and where to be at all times within the area, and when and why to leave it).
• Know and correctly apply positions and offsets to maintain "line balance" and "between lines".
• The realization of triangulations (relationship between lines), and changes of orientation in the collective game.
• Collectively and individually maintain possession of the ball.
• Master the collective phases of Game Start, Progression, and Completion.
• Develop the necessary resources to gain an advantage in 1:1, 2:1, and 1:2 situations, in attack and defense.
• To know and manifest correctly the basic structure of the equipment in attack and defense, through the movements of the system and the application of the Universal Fundamentals.

We also note that football has a clear difference in the development of the game compared to other opposition collective sports (such as handball or basketball), and that is that in each Competition Unit (in its offensive phase), in football it is common to lose possession of the ball before reaching the sub-phase of completion. This occurs, in addition to not respecting the above aspects, because:

• The player does not know how to "play without a ball", so he does not offer collective solutions to the possessing partner (he does not master the Basics of the Collective Game).
• The holder does not decide properly between passing and progressing.
• The essential aspects of ball protection are not mastered from an individual technical perspective, resulting in numerous un forced losses in 1:1 situations.
• The individual technical game is excessive and misinterpreted (e.g. it has not been decided what to do with the ball before receiving it,...).
• Optimal tactical solutions are not mastered in relation to the different types of marking (individual and/or collective) that the opposite performs.

In short, we can say that if the above aspects are not taking into account in the competition, the natural tendency of the player is to approach the ball (no longer respecting the spaces, the demarcations, wasting the dimensions of the pitch,...), which causes situations of 4:4, 3:3,... etc., in very small spaces where it is impossible to learn or correctly manifest the elements of individual and collective play that enable a high level of play.

In such a situation in competition - invasion by 3 or more players of the same team and their markers of a space/demarcation - of game (approximately 20x20m.):

• How can an effective uncheck be done correctly?
• How to create and leverage numerical superiority (2:1)?
• Where can we orient the ball effectively?
• Is it effective to overflow to an opposite (1:1), with no output space?
• Is there any point in changing orientation to another area (no free spaces)?
• Etc.

The severity of these errors going far beyond the higher or lower level of play that can be developed in a match. Constant losses of the ball end up being considered normal; the lack of collective resources - in the absence of logical spaces of play - cause the excessive and ineffective manipulation of the holder; ultimately, they make the possibility of collective improvement non-existent.

In this situation the player (and the coach himself) does not find logical solutions, since:

• It cannot take into account other demarcations and more distant spaces.
• You cannot have a correct perception, nor perform accurate space-time calculations of the specific distances required by well-played 11:11 football.

It is therefore necessary that there be a part of the formative process that aims at mastering spatiotemporal aspects and opportunity. This "subject" requires the recognition of the Collective Game, through the learning of the Universal Fundamentals through the use of Specific Andactic Forms appropriate to the game of football (Real Game Situations).

There is a false perception that in order to correctly develop the short/associative style of play, it must be arranged, or can only be done, with players of an exceptional level of quality in the dominance of the ball. Experience in virtually all categories, both training and performance football, shows us that it is only necessary for players to have the MIDDLE LEVEL of the category in which they play. This criterion can be defined (from a practical perspective) by the fact that the player has regularly participated in the category in question for at least two seasons.

This level/pace of play presented by the player will therefore be sufficient for the development of an effective collective game, and with the possibility (if the training is appropriate) to achieve a progressive and constant improvement.

We will analyze the concept of "COLECTIVO GAME", based on the following aspects:

• The need of the COLLECTIVE GAME to develop the ASSOCIATIVE and/or POSITIONAL GAME effectively.
• THE CONCEPTS OF THE COLECTIVO GAME
• Contextualization of the COLECTIVO GAME
• Team GAME FORMS
• Introduction to the FUNDAMENTS OF THE COLLECTIVE GAME (Collective Actions)
• GAME SYSTEMS

*We can expand the information about these contents in the volume: (1.1) "THE COLLECTIVE GAME"