Psychology in Football: Five Easily Implemented Tips for the Coach

Ian Maynard

The aim of this article is to highlight several aspects of sport psychology that most

coaches and/or managers across playing levels could easily implement with their team

and should directly or indirectly enhance performance.

1. Goal Setting

As a coach myself and having observed coaches across many sports at all levels I

am struck by the improvements that could often be made, both in our performance

and that of our players, by

some detailed 'planning'.

In sport psychology, we

usually label this process

goal-setting. Too many

times we can be found,

literally constructing

today's session on the

back of the 'cigarette' packet on the way to training. I think long-term, medium term

and short-term goals give us the structure and organisation that ensures our training

sessions and the team's match play is constructive and progressive. After all 'if we

don't know were we are going, how do we know when we get there?'

Within long-term goal-setting, I would be setting targets for myself, in terms of what I

want to achieve as a coach and possibly be outlining some thoughts and ideas of

what I would want the team to achieve, over the course of the season. Personal

coaching goals may include my professional development in the sport and focus on

coaching courses, qualifications or perhaps background reading I need to do in

various areas. The team goals would not focus so much on outcome goals (i.e.

'winning the league or the cup'), but much more about 'processes' (i.e. what kind of

game do I want the team to play in terms of perhaps style or formation). This would

of course be determined by what I perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of

my team, as well as perhaps, the strengths and weaknesses of other teams in the

league.

In terms of 'team goals', as the coach I would also need the players to 'buy into' the

process as well as agree and support the goals we determine together. I would also

try to spend about 10 minutes at the start of the season (perhaps during pre-season

training), agreeing with each player what their goals and aspirations are for the

season. My job as the coach is then to ensure that players have the opportunity to

pursue individual, unit (defence, midfield or attack) and team goals, in the way I

structure my training sessions. Without the congruity between the agreed goals and

the organisation and structure I offer in training sessions and on match days, the

players will soon become

frustrated and loose

commitment to the goals and

usually the team.

With a good insight into long-

term goals at team, unit and

individual level, you should be able to determine what needs to be achieved in the

medium-term (perhaps two to three months) in order to be 'on-track' for the long-

term targets. Medium-term goals will help to prioritise the content of sessions at

different times of the season. For example in pre-season, fitness and conditioning

will probably have a high priority, this may also be the case around Christmas and

New Year, when for most teams overall fitness and conditioning tends to decline.

Early season, unit and team play, perhaps along with dead-ball situations may need

to have a high priority, whereas for much of October, November, and December, a

balance of individual, unit and team skills along with fitness maintenance would

probably be paramount. In turn the medium-term priorities will determine what the

short-term goals and hence the structure and content of weekly training sessions

should look like. Your aim as the coach is also to ensure that your goals, the team's

goals and hopefully the majority (if not all) of the player's goals, are pulling in the

same direction. If this is happening you are likely to have satisfied and happy

players, which in turn generally leads to winning performances.

2.

Practice under Pressure

A simple way to look at

the difference between

technique and skill is

pressure. If your players

can perform techniques

under pressure, they are

skills. The big problem

here is that far too

seldom do we 'practice under pressure'. You will always get pressure in the match

situation and therefore if you or your players have not practiced dealing with

pressure, things will breakdown. Of course the ability to play under pressure as an

individual, as part of the unit or within the whole team, is a slow and gradual process

and 'pressure' can only be built up over time as the skills become more and more

defined. You should also bear in mind that the 'last skill learnt, will be the first to

breakdown under pressure' in the match situation.

As coaches we therefore have to understand how we can manipulate pressure, to

help change techniques into skills. The elements to be varied are time, space,

opposition and fatigue. Initially, the coach must ensure that the basic technique is

correct and that it can be adequately performed without pressure. By then

progressively decreasing the time or space that the individual, unit or team have to

perform the technique, pressure will be increased. Time and space can also both

be manipulated together, before we move to the use of opposition (again if things

breakdown, regress slightly by reducing the pressure, until techniques are being

performed with confidence, to your satisfaction). You can also build your use of

opposition. Starting with 'passive' opposition, moving through 'semi-passive' to 'full

opposition' will obviously increase pressure. However, when you are sure your

players can cope, I would then move to 'overload'. In this situation you might use

two in opposition if practicing individual skills, or perhaps six versus four in a unit

situation, then onto fourteen versus eleven in a team situation. Finally, fatigue can

also be a variable worth manipulating. With novice players or when learning new

techniques, you will do 'skill orientated' drills and practices at the start of the session,

when players are fresh. however, (again when skills are reasonably well learnt), it is

sometimes an interesting change to do the 'skill-practices' at the end of the session,

perhaps after the fitness work, when your players are tired. After all, they will have

to play in match situations when they are tired and statistics show us that most goals

are scored or conceded within the last ten minutes of each half so if your players can

still play under conditions of fatigue it is likely your team will be doing the scoring, not

the conceding.

3. Use Routines

'Consistent preparation leads to consistent performance'. Routines should play an

important role in warm-ups for training and matches. Players should use this pre-

performance routine to get to their optimal level of arousal or 'ideal performance

state'. In simplistic terms, if we regard the relationship between arousal and

performance as an inverted U', we need our players to have themselves around the

'top of the U'. At this point they will be motivated to give 100% effort, but should not

be over-aroused so that they perceive themselves to be anxious, to the point that

anxiety is detrimental to subsequent performance.

To achieve this aim, I would

advise a 10-minute warm-

up routine for training and

probably a 30 to 45 minute

warm-up for matches.

Having a well practiced

warm-up used regularly in

training that only takes 10 to 15 minutes can also be useful on match days if for any

reason you or the team are running late. Obviously, the warm-up should have a

progressive physical element that involves running and stretching, but also routines

should contain a 'cognitive' or mental element. Too often we warm-up physically,

but forget to get the mind warmed-up. It is this that usually leads to the slow start in

the game and could mean we are often goals down in the first few minutes of the

match. I would always advocate some drills or practices that require decision-

making, preferable under some form of pressure, integrated into the physical warm-

up. Remember not to create too much pressure so things are breaking down

consistently in these practices, because this will decrease the player's confidence,

but success in these drills will enhance confidence and have the players 'mentally',

ready to go.

4.

Control the Controllable

"Ain't no use worryin' bout things beyond

your control, cause if they 'are beyond your

control, ain't no use worryin' ......

"Ain't no use worryin, bout things within

your control, cause if you get them under

control, ain't no use worryin'.......

Ed Moses (USA - Athlete)

Good coaches should be aware of the implications of these principles for their own

development as well as the development of the players, but their most important job

is to sell the concept to the team. Hence, each player's aim should be to try to cover

every 'angle' in terms of his/her preparation and that each 'angle' should be covered

to the best of one's ability. In other words, players should score ten out of ten on all

of the controllable factors that they identify, and not worry about those factors that

they cannot control, because these uncontrollable factors will tend to induce anxiety

that may be detrimental to their performance.

Another simple exercise worth taking 20 minutes over pre-season, is to sit down with

your team and identify controllable and uncontrollable factors in individual and team

performance.

You can control......

- Communication

- Enjoyment

- Taking responsibility on the pitch

- First Touch

- Temperament

- Punctuality

- Systems of Play

- Emotions

- Hydration

- Aggression

- Fitness

- Diet

- Positive Attitude

- Flexibility (Stretching)

- Commitment

- Routines

- Concentration

- Workrate

- Mental Toughness

- PERFORMANCE

You Cannot control

- WINNING

- Weather

- LOSING

- Venue

- OPPOSITION

- Facilities

- Officials

- Other people’s expectations.

I have highlighted performance in the controllable list and winning, losing and

opposition in the uncontrollable list. My experience has shown (especially working

with young players), that the things that dominate players’ thinking prior to kick-off

will be winning, losing and opposition. These uncontrollables will cause a great deal

of anxiety, because they are all about 'outcomes'. As a coach your job is to get the

players focussing on the 'processes' that are in the controllable list. This 'process-

orientation', focussing on things like communication, positive attitude, taking

responsibility and most importantly their own and the team's performance which are

all task-relevant and will

help the teams play positive

football.

5.

Leadership / Coaching

Style

According to Chelladurai and Saleh (1980) there are five types of leadership

behaviour that coaches need to understand and demonstrate appropriately for

their players to be positive about the coaching situation and productive on the

field of play. These are training and instruction, autocratic, democratic,

rewarding and social support behaviours. In an ideal situation the behaviours

delivered by the coach (actual behaviour) will be similar to the behaviours

required by the players (preferred behaviours) and those behaviours appropriate

for a given situation. This congruence will return happy players and high

performance. If any of the three variables are not met, either player satisfaction

or player performance (or both), will suffer.

Most players will require high levels of training and instruction behaviour. This

entails good levels of structure and organisation for each training session as well

as lots of feedback (at individual, unit or team levels) that explains exactly what is

required in any given situation in training or matches. Accurate and appropriate

levels of training and instruction behaviour will underpin task-cohesion (i.e., all

members of the team having a clear understanding of their role). Autocratic

behaviour basically involves 'telling' whereas democratic behaviour is more about

'asking'. Again the art it to know when each type of behaviour is relevant. We

have to be autocratic during team talks prior to the game or at half-time, whereas

we would have to be democratic when establishing team goals. It is also likely

that we will have to be more autocratic with younger or novice players, whereas

we can use more democratic behaviour with older or more experienced players.

Mistakes are made by most coaches by either being too autocratic or too

democratic, rather than an appropriate mix of the two. Rewarding behaviour is

about positive, constructive feedback and social support behaviour usually

involves supporting our players in the wider context outside sport, which is more

relevant in the North American coaching culture, than here in the UK.

Also involved within our coaching style is an undertaking of the part we play as a 'role-

model'. If as the coach you are positive, prepared and professional, it is likely your

players will adopt a similar approach. Your style will be central to the culture of the

team, be aware at all times that especially with younger players everything you say and

do, will have implications. A positive and high performance coach will usually develop a

positive and high performance team.

Further Reading

Bull, S. (2004). Mental toughness: What’s it all about? Insight, 7(2), 46-47.

Maynard, I. (2002). Performance profiling and goal setting for football. Insight, 6(1), 54-

57.

Maynard, I. (2004). Match preparation and performance planning for football. Insight,

7(1), 55-56.

Professor Ian Maynard is based at the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science at

Sheffield Hallam University. He is an Accredited Sports Psychologist who has

extensive experience of working with elite athletes. He has provided support at

both Olympic and Commonwealth Games and attended World Championships as

a Sport Psychologist in eight different sports. He also coordinates sport science

support for the Royal Yachting Association and acts as a consultant sport

psychologist for Boxing, Golf, Lawn Bowls and Diving.