Paulo Retre is Sydney FC’s utility man

Jack - A good starting point is a book called "Teaching Soccer Skills" by Eric Worthington. In this book ,published in 1974, Worthington goes into details of the benefits of playing small sided games on small pitches. and discusses at length the tactical advantages in attacking or defending in groups of three. This in fact was 35 years before the much lauded National Curriculum was foisted upon us as "original thinking" from the pens of a couple of Dutch coaches, "teaching" us the 'Dutch Method". This pair also suggested we teach kids how to play 4-3-3, (obviously another Dutch "innovation". Rale Rasic's 1974 team that went to Germany to play in the World Cup lined up in a 4-3-3- formation. Again, some 35 year-old football knowledge. Cheers jb.

That’s four positions not five

Jack- I'll give you a starting point. In 1974 a coach was brought to Australia and was given the job of situating a qualified coach in every state in Australia.and these chosen men were to organise, and attend, coaching sessions all around the state in which they worked. A pre-requisite in each coach's CV was that he had to have a teaching degree in order that he could in fact "teach". After a few seasons when the ruling body did their best to get the first coach to involve himself in national team coaching,suddenly there was crisis when the government of the day banned cigarette advertising in sport and Rothman's, who were paying the coach's wages, had to withdraw. The cash strapped ASF, the ruling body of the day immediately reacted by scuppering the original idea of paying coaches to coach coaches. I won't bore you or the readers with the innuendo surrounding this man who,until he passed away ,still in Australia,but who never lost sight of his "dream " of coaching coaches.He had 2 books published on the subject and was incorporated into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. This as I said was in 1974-80, some 25 years before the much lauded National Curriculum was foisted upon us at great expense. Worthington's ideas were actually almost word for word for those in that curriculum Cheers jb.

Jack - I don't normally get into what I term the "numbers" game. When Brazil first introduced 4-3-3 into world football (in 1956) it was because they had a player ,normally a left winger, Zagallo, who having been blessed with a bottomless work ethic, liked nothing more than to fall back into the middle of the park and help out in the defensive work when his team had lost ball possession. It was this "energy" that saw the Brazilians change from their favoured 4-2-4- attack formation into a 4-3-3 defensive make up Previous to this time, in the early fifties, the Hungarians had introduced another formation into tactical football, they moved between an organised 4-4-2 with their number 9 playing a deep lying centre forward, and which, with two very fast, direct wingers could convert to a deadly 4-2-4 with the wide men feeding two world class strikers in Puskas and Kocsis. It was these two tactical innovations that started the spread of my "numbers game" and as you can see both systems were very dependent on the talents of certain players, and therefore not systems that could be copied easily. But try to copy they did and a whole plethora of tactical formations came into force. The answer to your question is not so easy. Is 4-3-3 a preferred formation for our youth teams? I watched a game last week where there were 4 players stretched all across the midway line and when I asked why I was told they were playing 4-3-3 and the coach had ordered these back four players to stay in their own half !!!!! This of course is a fallacy, subjecting a player to a ruling that does absolutely nothing to improve his skills, or enjoyment, of the game. Who was at fault??? The coach's comprehension of taking the 4-3-3 formation far too literally ,thereby curbing the attacking instincts of 4 players and therein lies a problem very close to my heart that being --------"Who is coaching the coaches????? Cheers jb.

Jack - Thank you for the reply. I do not in any way disagree with what you said but to me the growing number of the kids you mention,the ones speeding overseas,warming a bench for a few years and then returning to play in the HAL is growing, and that fact disturbs me greatly for there has to be a reason why, after a few years, a "top club' sees fit to rid themselves of these players. Today the game at the top level has changed dramatically and now players are expected to have highly developed skills in the things I mentioned,first touch receiving,fast and accurate passing, and use of available space.You mentioned young Da Silva, and I would add Iconomides to him as two classic examples. Both are wingers,the type fans used to love,taking on two or three opponents and leaving them stranded. Unfortunately today that type of player is no longer required at the top level for, with organised defence structures and instilled discipline, it is almost impossible to take on 3 defenders and progress. Watch these 2 lads closely and you will see what I mean,Goodwin is another who falls into that category. If this argument is accepted then the "fault ' again falls back on the coaches who are not moving with the times We have in the HAL teams that some 7 years later are still coming to terms with Brisbane Roar's "playing out from the back" which is now a totally antiquated tactic. Penetration has by passed possession as a good standard in which to measure how well a team's tactics are developing and that to me is where we are failing in educating our young players. Cheers jb.

Jack - You touch on an extremely debatable issue in this article, that being "where do our locally raised players stand in the pecking order of the standard of football played at HAL level?". When one starts to examine this question one cannot ignore that the top teams in our comp. are still heavily dependent on the overseas market when trying to add "cream" to their existing "top" elevens. You cite Retre Brillante,Mackay and Broxham as "classic" Australian raised players but one could hardly compare them with the talents that Nincovic, Broich, Honda or Silva bring to our game and therein lies another question,"why is this so?". After 13 years,and countless dollars being spent on improving our grassroots coaching, we stlll don't seem able to improve our local talent on the necessities of playing the game at today's high levels. Personally,when watching an HAL game, I find it reasonably easy to pick out locally taught players, simply watch for consistency in first touch receiving, accuracy and speed of ball passing, and space management (movement off the ball).These talents,which top imported players seem to have as second nature, are not always apparent in the play of local youngsters and that,I'm afraid is not a fault of the player it is an indictment on the system we were promised would become a pathway to stardom in the HAL. Both Arnold and Postecoglu's selections for recent national teams simply back up thisd observation,our kids still have to go overseas to finish their "education". jb.

I think he's a better player than Brillante, more cultured and technical