Learning ‘The Liverpool Way’

In March 2020, Karachi United and Standard Chartered gave 12 Karachi based coaches an incredible opportunity to learn from Liverpool FC.

Their International Academy Manager, Steven Gillespie, a UEFA A License coach, led a three-day workshop in Dubai, geared towards learning about ‘The Liverpool Way’ of developing talent at the grassroots level.

Liverpool FC’s Academy have recently produced potentially one of the best, if not the best, full backs in the world, Trent Alexander Arnold. He has taken the English Premier League by storm since bursting onto the scene a few years ago.

His phenomenal vision and passing ability drove Liverpool to their first league title in three decades. He is currently leading the charts in terms of assists in the league (11 assists) and is having one of the best seasons of his career at the age of only 23.

The likes of Trent Alexander Arnold, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler — have all been developed by the Liverpool FC Academy. In this article, I will be sharing a few key learnings from the workshop that can help academies, coaches and players develop into a player like Steven Gerrard and Alexander Arnold.

Three phases

Player development is divided into 3 distinct phases based on the age of the child. The pre-academy phase is the first phase (ages 5-8 years). One of the most crucial elements of this phase is to build a sense of enthusiasm and joy for the game of football.

If a child is not having fun while playing the sport then it is likely that they will discontinue playing the game. How does a coach create an environment that is fun and enjoyable for young children playing football? I think we can all agree that every child and adult loves to score a goal, that excitement when the ball hits the back of the net is a special feeling and a feeling that should be recreated in all training sessions within this phase.

Coaches should design drills that give children many opportunities to score a goal. Another tip to increase enjoyment levels of children playing football is to ensure that the format of the matches are not more than 4v4 (4 players, including the GK – per team).

As the number of players in each team increases, the number of times each child receives the ball is likely to decrease. In an 11 v 11 match at a professional level, the average number of seconds that a player has the ball at his or her feet is between 60 to 90 seconds only. Young children lose interest in the sport if they barely get the ball, especially those who are inferior in terms of their skills and physical development.

Reducing the number of players playing the match, increases the amount of time a player has the ball at their feet, therefore increasing the likelihood of enjoyment for the player.

High press

A distinct feature of Liverpool FC’s style of play is the way in which they press and hunt for the ball as soon as they lose possession. This tactic is often referred to as counter-pressing or gegenpressing. The level of intensity and hunger that they display to regain the ball is one of the key features that have made them into such a formidable force in European football.

This devastating tactic is sought after by many clubs and teams in the world. However, not every team is able to implement this tactic to the level of Liverpool FC.

It is important for players to go through drills to reinforces the behavior of pressing like a tiger to recover the ball after it has been lost by your team. This constant and consistent reinforcement of this behavior is what makes the players pressing monsters when they play their matches.

It is vital for the players to feel, understand and internalize the benefit of winning the ball soon after losing it. Some of the critical reasons for doing so are that the opposition team is in their defensive shape which makes their task of keeping the ball a lot more difficult.

As the team that has just lost possession, taking advantage of their vulnerable situation and pouncing on the opportunity to recover the ball becomes pivotal.

Once a player has a clear understanding of the benefits of this action and also experiences the benefit in training, the likelihood of it coming to life is much higher.

Instilling values

Most top clubs and academies in the world have values that are associated with their club. At Barcelona FC, each player, family member and supporter is expected to carry core values with them such as humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork.

Similarly, Liverpool FC have the following values: Dignity, Unity, Ambition and Commitment. These values are expected to shape the personality and character of the academy players coming through into the First Team.

While most clubs have ‘Values’ that are displayed in all their brochures and facilities — Liverpool FC have a very unique and innovative way of building these values into every player. The way in which they do so is by creating situations within the training session to teach a particular value.

For example, to teach ‘Commitment’ — the coach will purposely make one team stronger than the other, with the expectation that the stronger team will be winning the game by a big margin.

Consequently, the opposing team may reduce their level of commitment towards applying the playing principles and effort that is expected of them. This is the moment and opportunity in which the coach steps in and teaches the value of being committed to the cause and the job at hand, regardless of the result. It is manufactured situations like these that are used as tools to teach the club values to the players.

By making training sessions more fun and enjoyable for the children, it will become an attractive place and will also increase the popularity of the sport and therefore increasing the chances of producing higher quality players for our national teams.

If we can develop our local players to counterpress efficiently and effectively, we will produce teams that are much more dangerous and formidable to play against locally and on the international stage.