everton turn to futsal

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fozzy

fozzy

Player Valuation: £60m
part 1

The school hall echoes with the sound of the coach's directions and the squeak of trainers on the hard court floor. "Manipulate the ball with sole of your foot," he suggests. "Keep the ball in this area here."

The boys going through their skill drills are Everton's Under-11s. Some of the best youngsters from Merseyside and the surrounding area are gathered at Wade Deacon High School, in Widnes, where they are warming up for their weekly futsal session by their coach Tom Kearney, who is preparing them for the Premier League Under-11 National Futsal Finals, which get under way on Thursday. "Take care with your pass, but really take care with your touch," urges the 32-year-old. "Don't stand still."
The EPPP aims to tailor the best coaching to suit the changing needs of young players at various stages of their development, and Everton's approach towards developing the skills of boys at the Foundation Stage (Under-9s to Under-11s) has futsal at its heart.

Futsal was first introduced at Everton in 2012, following a conversation between their Academy Head, Alan Irvine, and Andy Roxburgh, the former Scotland manager and initiator of UEFA's Grassroots Charter.

"The key thing he told me was, most of the top Spanish and Brazilian players have grown up playing football and I thought, 'well, why not look into it?'," says Irvine, who agreed to trial it for the youngest age-groups as bi-monthly sessions in conjunction with the academy's Schools Release Programme. The exercise proved such a worthwhile experience that Irvine decided to adopt it on a more regular basis.

Worthwhile experience
"At our academy we have a philosophy where we want to dominate possession, control the tempo of games, and be able to play in a controlled and systematic way," adds Irvine. "We want to develop players who are tactically flexible and technically competent, so a lot of this ties in very nicely as far as futsal is concerned.

"We're quite convinced that it adds to our programme. The fact is we don't play a five v five game; we're trying to develop players to play eleven-a-side. It's simply a case of trying to take the things that are transferable from futsal and using them to benefit our players."

At first glance, futsal appears to be little different from five-a-side football. There is the same number of players on each side, the goals are small and the action swings from end to end. But there the similarities end.

"It's a heavier ball, which gives less bounce, so it encourages a lot more ball control and manipulation," explains Kearney. "You have to find other ways to get out of situations rather than kicking it long because it's harder to kick. It forces a bit more skill and combination play, and the need to use different parts of the foot for receiving it, such as manipulation with the sole: this encourages more individual one-v-one situations.

"Unlike astroturf, the hardcourt floor is a skiddy surface, the ball really zips around and sometimes you don't have the time to receive it on your back foot as we'd all like to, so it forces players to receive the ball in tight areas with the sole, quicken the reflexes and move the ball quite quickly."

Whereas in five-a-side it is possible to get out of difficult situations by playing one-twos of the side-walls, futsal offers no such luxury; there are no walls in futsal."The rules about not hitting off a wall increase the onus on accuracy and weight of passing, which side to pass to," continues Kearney. "So if somebody is marked one v one you can still pass to them, but it's got to be really precise to the opposite foot, so they're not receiving it next to the defender. Not playing off the walls means there has got to be an emphasis on the accuracy of and the care taken with every pass."

Inclusive game
Futsal is also an inclusive game. While some forms of football might leave players in certain positions isolated for long periods, the fast-moving nature of the game is such that no-one is excluded for long, meaning the interest of the participants is less likely to wane.

"You're never more than two or three passes away from the action," explains Marc Canham, Club Support Manager for the Premier League, who hopes more Academies choose to adopt Everton's approach to futsal by embedding it in their Games Programme. "Because the transition is so fast between attack and defence the amount of attacking and defending scenarios they are involved in is much greater than in a normal game.

"It also allows the kids to enjoy themselves even though they are in an elite environment, and that is so important because they will never continue their development as a player if they don't enjoy it."

"You're never more than two or three passes away from the action"
Marc Canham
Whilst they enjoy the all-action nature of the sport the players pick up skills that will become indispensable to them later on in their footballing development. It is, as the Foundation Stage would suggest, helping to lay a solid base for their footballing future.

"The players have to think so quickly and make decisions at speed, compared to a normal game," says Canham, who won over 40 caps for England at futsal. "And if you think about where we want to get to and the end point of playing in the Premier League, which is probably one of the fastest, most robust leagues in the world, having to make decisions so quickly lends itself to putting this game into a programme. After all, that is what they're going to have to be able to do when they get older."

As a key part of its Winter Games Programme, a scheme which sees a variety of indoor activities provided for the clubs and their academies, the Premier League has been putting on various futsal events over the last three years. This week the Premier League National Futsal finals takes place at the International Arena in Leeds, and both Irvine and Kearney will be keeping a keen eye on how Everton get on in the Under-11s category this Thursday and Friday.

"The U9s, U10s and U11s have been involved in a couple of festivals up to now, and the U11s played in a qualifier before Christmas and qualified for a national tournament in Leeds," reveals Kearney. "It is another stepping stone which will give the players a taste of a slightly different environment. There will be spectators watching, there will be a crowd cheering, and a bit more pressure to beat different teams, and in the long run that can only be great for the lads."

In part 2, we discover how a trip to Barcelona FC by Everton's Academy director Alan Irvine and his coaching staff strengthened their commitment to embedding futsal in their Games Programme.​
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http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...utsal-the-foundation-for-evertons-future.html
 

part 2

Everton's Director of Academy Alan Irvine was so impressed by a trip to watch Barcelona's futsal players that he has expanded the five-a-side sport to all junior age-groups from the Under-13s down. "Played at the highest level futsal is game of constant passing, receiving, movement and counter-attacking," he told Premierleague.com. "There are many benefits that I can see."

Irvine first trialled futsal as a bi-monthly extra-curricular activity for the youngest age groups at his academy in 2012 and, encouraged by the progress made by his young charges decided at the end of last season to roll it out for players in the three year groups of the Foundation Stage (Under-9s to Under-11s) of the Premier League's Performance Pathway, as set out in the Elite Player Performance Plan.

Their open-minded approach has helped Everton's cause as they seek to impose an expansive footballing philosophy that filters all the way down from Roberto Martinez’s first-team to the Foundation stage. When the Spaniard joined the Goodison club last summer Irvine was keen to get his thoughts on the burgeoning sport.

"I spoke to Roberto and asked him about futsal and what his experiences were," said Irvine. "Not only was he supportive of it but he thought it a good idea for us to experience a mature futsal set-up and for us to learn more. So he put me in touch with Marc Carmona, the manager of Barcelona’s futsal side, and Marc was happy to help. We took a couple of youth-team coaches and went out to watch their boys in action.

"Barcelona looked after us brilliantly and we came back absolutely convinced that there were skills that were transferable to the eleven-a-side game. We decided that we would run the programme for some of the older ages as well. So now our Under-12s and Under-13s also play futsal."

Irvine confesses that his appreciation of the sport was limited when he left for Spain, but by the time his four-day recce mission was over, the former Everton winger was much the wiser for his visit. "What I saw was how players developed from the very youngest ages, where there were certain techniques and skills that they had to develop to the game played at the highest level, which is a game that is really about passing and movement," he said.

"The movement is terrific, as is the ability to pass and receive the ball, and at the younger ages there are more one v one situations which is something that we look for. Played at the highest level futsal is game of constant passing, receiving, movement and counter-attacking. So there are many benefits that I can see."

'Speed of transitions'
Under-11s coach Tom Kearney also found the visit to Catalonia an eye-opening experience. "One of the main things that struck me about watching the kids at Barcelona was the speed of the transitions," said Kearney. "It was very fast. The players didn't have a lot of time to think and the reaction times from losing possession to winning it back were fantastic.

"That's what jumped out at me: when you think that to make the grade in the Premier League you need to have that mentality of reacting quickly and winning the ball back as soon as possible. Then, when you have it, keeping possession of the ball is paramount because you don't want to be chasing it all the time. Futsal encourages those facets of the game."

The preconception that the Barcelona boys would insist on keeping the ball on the floor was also flawed. The absence of a head-height rule encourages all manner of inventive passing, and no-one shied away from a high ball.

"We found the ball was in the air a lot more than we expected," he said. "That made for different types of aerial passes, which in turn forced different types of ball control. They did not necessarily have to beat a man with a dribble, they looked for other ways to get through such as the scooped ball over someone's head and a first-time finish.

"In one-v-one situations, there was a lot more combination play and a lot of creativity. We thought, 'If we can give those little bits to the player to help improve his awareness and creativity, then great.' We found there were a lot of benefits gleaned from the trip, and we've seen those benefits reflected in the lads playing it at the moment."

Irvine does not claim that futsal is the magic ingredient for creating an army of exceptional homegrown players but believes it to be an important factor to complement the other elements of the academy's coaching programme for the younger age groups.

Barcelona benefits
"We're certainly in favour of it and we're working and running with it just now as a part of our curriculum for our age groups from Under-13s down," he says. "We're not saying that this is it and everything's going to be perfect from now on and why didn't we do it before. The fact is we have to do a lot of other things as well. But the trip to Barcelona convinced me that there were more things that were transferable than what I initially thought."

"If you come to some of the Premier League Futsal Festivals, the kids are experimenting and doing things they wouldn't normally do on an astroturf or a normal pitch"
Marc Canham
Marc Canham, Club Support manager for the Premier League, is hopeful more Academies will follow Everton’s same commitment.

"We need to understand that when we talk about futsal it's about the transfer of the acquired skills to football, because we are using it as a tool to try and develop football players, not futsal players," says Canham. "If you stand in the hall or watch some games or come to some of the Premier League Futsal Festivals, the kids are doing stuff they wouldn't do on a normal astroturf or on a pitch on a Sunday.

"They are experimenting and trying things because the speed of the ball on the ground is different, they're experimenting and doing things they wouldn't normally do. And if they're practising that constantly it will become second nature to them, so when they do go back on to the pitch it won't matter to them whether they are on grass, astro or hard court, because the skills they have learned will become ingrained."

Canham is also quick to dispel the notion that futsal is in any way expensive for clubs to stage or complicated to coach, citing Everton’s weekly use of Wade Deacon, which is 15 minutes from the club’s Finch Farm training ground and is equipped with a hardcourt floor, as the perfect case in point.

"In terms of requiring the right the facilities, Everton are a great example of a club who have got around that," he said. "Every club have the opportunity to put futsal in their programme and work with a school or a facility like Wade Deacon to put it in place. As for coaching, there does not need to be a lot of input from the coaches in terms of interventions. It's a game that you set up and just let the kids play."

Having seen his kids play futsal every Tuesday night Kearney is already seeing progress in his charges even after just six months. "Looking at the young lads now, playing futsal, they are getting so many touches of the ball, and lots of decisions to make and off the ball," he said. "It's a fast game – you don't get much time to think, and at Everton Football club we want all our players to be independent decision-makers. Futsal is giving the lads a lot of opportunities to do that."​
Click to expand...

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...ona-trip-enriches-everton-futsal-journey.html
 

MoutsGoat said:
FFS TIKI TAKA RUBBISH
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I'm all for this passing game, but I do think you need to be able to mix it up when necessary.

The '80's teams did and this one should be able to. We should tear teams apart like Barca, and also be able to rough them up like Stoke. When Roberto has that fine tuned, we'll be unstoppable, watch.
 
Hopefully it will be a good thing for the younger generation of players coming though, help improve they're technical ability.
 
Groucho said:
I'm all for this passing game, but I do think you need to be able to mix it up when necessary.

The '80's teams did and this one should be able to. We should tear teams apart like Barca, and also be able to rough them up like Stoke. When Roberto has that fine tuned, we'll be unstoppable, watch.
Click to expand...

To me this is what Liverpool have started to do - they are a year ahead of us in all this, and have started mixing it up with pretty startling results at times.

Difference is we've picked it up a lot quicker than they did, and without many real world class players especially towards the top end of the pitch.


This will happen next season....as long as he's backed
 

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Futsal is fantastic. I used to include it in my training sessions (on astroturf sadly) and wanted to set up a futsal team for the lads to get more practice in but it was impossible to find anywhere. I spent ages on the phone with both Merseyside and Cheshire FAs but neither of them could come up with anything suitable for schoolboys.

As usual these initiatives are aimed at the top end only - not the grass roots.
 

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