Contextualization of collective play

Definitions:

The Collective Game:

It is the set of actions, positions and skills and/or skills, both of the player who is in possession of the ball and that are not, involving some kind of decision-making, which are performed in relation to the ball, the opponent/s, the partner/s, the player's own location at all times, and the team's forms of play (game system, style of play, and defensive forms of the team).

The collective game therefore includes the following:

  • Technical Actions.
  • Tactical Situations.
  • Collective Actions (Universal Foundations).
  • Strategy Actions.

Technical Actions:

Technical Actions are those performed by the player to manipulate the ball.

These situations provide for participation at different levels of decision-making and implementation mechanisms.

The training of technical actions should contemplate the multitude of variants with which each of them can be required in the different game situations. This aspect would allow the player to give a correct and effective answer in each game situation.

The current training of the technique does not allow this objective since the importance of decision-making aspects has been misinterpreted, incorporating them as a priority to their objectives.

Tactical Situations:

Traditionally the concepts of tactics and collective play are often used as synonyms, referring generically to the collective aspects of the game. From our point of view these concepts have very important differences that force them to work separately.

Tactical Situations are those in which the player without a ball can resolve them by means of actions performed only in relation to the ball (holder), an opponent or a teammate.

These situations provide for participation at different levels of decision-making and implementation mechanisms.

We therefore refer to the situations of:

  • 1:1 (defend the opposite you have or receive the ball).
  • 2:1 and 1:2 (situations of numerical inferiority/superiority in attack and defense).

The training of tactical situations is done through the improvement of each of the tactical actions typical of football, in its multitude of variants with which they can be required by the different game situations.

Collective Actions:

Collective actions are the locations, actions and evolutions of players performed in different Game situations (from a 2:2 situation) that allow to gain sufficient advantage by creating tactical situations (1:1/2:1/1:2) to overcome or counter the opponent.

These actions are based on the decision-making mechanism. Given the very high complexity of these decisions, the training for their improvement will be based on the mastery of the UNIVERSAL FUNDAMENTS of THE COLLECTIVE GAME.

Game System:

The Game System is the position/location of a team's players in relation to the different demarcations of the offensive game, so that they effectively occupy 50% of the pitch and that they can develop the evolutions and movements intended to overcome collectively during the attack on the opposing team.

Strategy Actions:

Strategy Actions are all those collective actions of the game that occur from a recovery or loss of the ball (with or without interruption of the game, in attack and defense), that can be developed by planned actions (automatisms) for a short period of time, in order to surprise and overcome the opposite.

CRITERIA FOR DISTINGUISHING EXECUTION ASPECTS FROM DECISION ASPECTS.

When a ball loss occurs, we follow the following criteria to determine if the error has been EXECUTION or DECISION:

  1. When a player receives, has or plays the ball without direct opposition and loses possession... it's an EXECUTION error.
  2. When a player receives, has or plays the ball in his demarcation, having in it 3 or more players (and at least two of them are opponents), and loses possession... es a DECISION error.

The space, time and opportunity factors in this situation do not allow you to continue playing the ball in the same area with guarantees of maintaining possession of the ball.

For example: If four or more touches have been made in the progression zone in the same lane without reaching the end zone (time that allows the opposing team to remove existing spaces using a swing), a change of orientation (direct or indirect) to a free zone/rail must be made, avoiding the loss of the ball, since the Space-Time-Opportunity factors that occur in the game situation do not make it advisable to continue playing the ball in this area given the high risk of a loss.

It may be that despite all this possession continues to be maintained due to:

    • The low defensive quality of opponents
    • The manifestation of an exceptional level of individual quality of holder (an aspect that we cannot count on as the basis of our work as coaches – although obviously if we have this level of talent we must take advantage of it).
  1. When a player is in a 1:1 situation in their demarcation (the most logical in which the holder should be found):
    1. If you have the appropriate level to the category (accepted by the team), we will consider the cause of the loss of the ball as... EXECUTION error.
    2. If we are aware that its level of execution is not adequate (it does not usually achieve the expected level of effectiveness), we would consider the loss of the ball in this situation (because we have passed it on) as... a DECISION error.
    3. Unless this player (or other) when playing the ball (or earlier) takes an action against what the factors of space, time and opportunity, typical of the game situation in which he is located (objective in the Basics of collective play) advise. In this case we will consider the cause of the loss as... a DECISION error.

Examples of the latter criterion:

    • A side passes the ball inside which is marked (the space and time factors inside are very conditioned by the marking of the opponent and the existence of the band line).
    • A player stops and/or stops the ball in the end zone (This is the area where we have the least space and in which we have a clear numerical inferiority).

Following these criteria we can conclude that the losses of the ball by mistakes of:

  • EXECUTION, are related to individual actions:
    • Techniques.
    • Tactics.
    • Physical.
    • Psychological.
  • DECISION, are related to collective actions.

In relation to these conclusions, it should be noted that a player can correctly execute an action that is wrong.

The Collective Game
Need for Collective Play Collective Game´s Concepts The team's ways of playing The Game Systems Introduction to the Fundamentals of Collective Play