Getting the best out of the A-League – we shouldn’t expect anything less
Roar Guru By Millster, 15 May 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
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- A-League, football, Jade North, K-League, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos, Sydney FC, Vitezslav Lavicka
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In an interesting recent article concerning his early impressions of the K-League, Jade North has given SBS some insights which lend weight to the controversial assessments made by Pim Verbeek last year of some aspects of our own domestic league.
Far from leaving me downcast, this article gives me cause for hope and positivity in terms of the A-League.
What it underlines to me is that, quite apart from the ‘big’ structural things which we need to develop in order for the League to improve in quality (those things which are much-debated on The Roar such as salary caps and club finances, competition structure, talent identification, foreign poaching and the like), the A-League has some real inherent room for improvement based on training quality and intensity.
Put another way, even while we need to keep changing our domestic code at the macro level, if we’re not going as hard as we can to get the full potential out of our current clubs and players we are selling ourselves short. And its evidently clear from the comments of North, Pim and others that there is a great deal of further work that could be done in this area.
Jade North importantly points to “what you do during the week which makes you a better player”, and to the massive contribution to player technique, tactics and mental toughness which is brought by this higher quality, more intense training.
I see no reason why starting the implementation of such training would an unachievable goal for clubs.
We are not talking about large investments across many star recruits, or huge facilities. Investment in one or two skilled coaches (who, thankfully, sit outside the salary cap) combined with a club-wide culture of dedication and improvement, based on global best-practise, will point us in the right direction. And of course the payback is multiplied many times over because the effect is felt across the whole team.
Already, while clearly not yet at the level that North is describing, indications are that Sydney FC under their new Czech mentor Lavicka is starting this journey, with more technical training, higher intensity, and a more scientific approach to monitoring player fitness.
I hope not only for Sydney FC’s own interests (though I am a fan) but also for the sake of the whole league that very clear and demonstrable rewards come from this, both on the scoreboard and through possibly greater opportunities given to the players, such as Socceroo squad spots and/or more foreign interest.
In conclusion, we are all motivated to expand the code, improve it, and make it more than what we have. But let’s also make sure that there is a sharp focus on getting the best of what we have. We’re not there yet, but this is a goal that we can immediately start to work on, and a key part of the overall recipe for success of football in Australia.
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- A-League, football, Jade North, K-League, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos, Sydney FC, Vitezslav Lavicka
May 15th 2009 @ 2:53pm
Millster said | May 15th 2009 @ 2:53pm | Report comment
Jimbo – “HAL… join us, we’re a league of slackers and you’ll be called a pro without having to work like one…”
Hmmm…. love your work buddy but this one doesn’t work so well for me.
Unrelated post-script – anyone seen the bottom few paras of the current SBS story on Dukes and national selection? Interesting information, and comments from Pim, on our mates Craig Moore, Ljubo Milicevic, and Nicky Carle.
May 15th 2009 @ 4:24pm
Rob said | May 15th 2009 @ 4:24pm | Report comment
Surely the first step here is training twice a day – that is guaranteed to raise fitness levels, and by doubling the amount of time on the training paddock you are surely going to improve your touch, given you’ll be given more time on the ball.
Millster, this is a great article, and I agree with you. What this article is about is finding world’s best practice and adopting it here to suit our style of football. That’s what the technical review was all about and why we now have a national curriculum. Surely a training blueprint would be the next step for our professional teams? Take a look at Brazil, a nation I’ve talked about a lot on here in the past. Pros over there at all levels, whether the lowest little team in the backblocks or at Sao Paulo FC train twice a day at high intensity to improve technique, strength and fitness. I know this because I trained with one of these little backblocks teams, and trialled and trained for a time with big clubs like Palmeiras and Gremio as well. It is hard core. That’s why there is such a level of professionalism with Brazilian players, and why Brazil is the greatest exporter of talent in the world.
The teams in Asia are doing the same thing. Sure, the Chinese Super League teams might not thrash A-League opponents at the moment, but if they keep training at the same level of intensity, it won’t take long for their players, particularly the youngsters coming through, to step up. If we don’t do something similar the A-League will be left behind. Surely no-one here wants that?
May 15th 2009 @ 5:20pm
DS said | May 15th 2009 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
Millster,
it’s not so much that I’m missing your point, but that I’m wondering how accurate all this supposition is. For example, you say “we’re only training at (say) 65% of world standard in quality and intensity and leaving the remaining 35% of potential training benefits unrealised”. Where do you get there statistics from? Where does “65%” come from? Did someone measure it in some way. I bet you can’t tell me. Which is what I mean – it’s all heresay. Where is the basis in quantifiable, empirical fact? The answer is, nowhere. It comes from players like North who have a vested interest in saying it. I think we need to be careful about making blanket assertions like this unless there is some objective basis to the statement. In this case, please point me to the studies that say, empirically, that A-league teams train at 65% of world standard.
May 15th 2009 @ 6:10pm
David V. said | May 15th 2009 @ 6:10pm | Report comment
The real problem is that almost none of the foreign coaches who came here were any good- Butcher and McMahon had poisonous reputations, Littbarski ordinary, and only Money achieved anything of note since leaving.
Meanwhile we continue to ignore coaches with actually decent records in decent leagues…
May 15th 2009 @ 11:23pm
jimbo said | May 15th 2009 @ 11:23pm | Report comment
Millster,
you seem to have misunderstood my main point, I was talking about the reduced likelihood of injury from playing less games and a shorter season which the A-League offers.
Doesn’t mean they’re fat or lazy, they just might appreciate the shorter season, less training and game time and more time for their lifestyle.
Funny you should mention Mark Viduka, even Pimbo refers to him as “injury prone” and a risk.
Ironically this comes from playing in the high intensity leagues that he is encouraging everyone to go and play in.
David V,
I don’t think anyone is ignoring talented coaches. The FFA and A-League clubs would love to have great foreign coaches coach here, but they can’t afford them.
That’s why Guus is coching the Russian national team and we have Pimbo.
May 16th 2009 @ 12:35am
David V. said | May 16th 2009 @ 12:35am | Report comment
…and what of the African countries that have been exposed to European coaching and cultural influences for decades? Or the Arab countries that hired big name English and Brazilian coaches? Or Japan which have had some huge names come through and make the J-League what it is?
May 26th 2009 @ 9:08am
Andrew said | May 26th 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment
Well I am not sure what to make of these comments.. I mean by making comments that he thinks the K League is better he is selling himself to Pim over other defenders in the A League..
Let’s just look at results shall we? the Jets who were the bottom HAL club last year defeated a K League club in the ACL twice… So if the K League makes you a better player then this just does not make sense.
I call BS on Jade’s comments.. Nicky Carle and Jason Culina have recently been training and you don’t hear them talk about the lack of intensity in training… Whilst I am sure the training can be improved, I dont think that the K League’s is far superior, and if it is, it’s not working for them.