“Did you win?”

See, my point is, adults get hung up on the scoreline, like this is the be-all and end-all of young people participating in football. Typically, the first question mum or dad asks when you get home from a game, is “did you win?”. I understand why and where this comes from, because it is a game between two teams, and because of that there is a winner and a loser, and I’m ok with that. We enter games for the spirit of pitting our wits against another, whether this is playing chess or running races, and there will be someone or a team that does better than another. I get this.

However, and this is where my ramblings are going, I think we need to extend this definition of winning much wider in the lives of young people. So much wider that I think the scoreline should be a little further down the list than Number 1 and the only thing on the list.

I had a discussion with a grassroots coach about this a couple of months ago as he felt the only thing he could use to determine the progress of his team was the league table. I disagreed, I thought there was so much more. So, building on the ‘Four Corner’ model The FA uses to support long term player development, I will propose some alternatives to consider:

Technical/Tactical:

One of the roles of a coach, in any sport, is to help the players improve their technical abilities and understanding of how to play the game. Vygotsky, a well respected educationalist, suggests the coach is ‘the more capable other’ and therefore the principle of just leaving the kids to it and hoping they solve all the problems could be questioned. They do need a little help, sometimes.

Therefore, ‘winning’ in this corner is a fairly easy one to predict but something we perhaps don’t shout about it enough. Children could get better at a whole host of different things in this area, most of which you will know about and this is by no means exhaustive, add your own!

- passing over short distances gets better (increased accuracy and weight)
- ability to decide when to dribble and when to pass improves (get into trouble less)
- more shots hit the target over a period of time (more saves from the GK/more goals)
- gets beaten less by wingers when playing at full back (defends tighter)
- combines better when attacking centrally areas (less touches and quicker play)

This is the staple diet of the coach – helping the players get better at the game. But how often do we discuss this when we talk about individual winning? Probably a bit, sometimes.

Physical

With the changing lifestyles of children in modern society and the world of informal play on the streets being banished to history we need to find a way to provide this for children. We used to naturally develop physical literacy skills in daily life, from climbing trees to get the ball back and jumping rivers to chase frogs, this gave us all sorts of hidden benefits. But today, children are restricted from anything remotely dangerous and risk assessment forms for a school trip are multiple pages long.

Therefore ‘winning’ in this corner is even more of an essential role for the coach. You might be providing those children with their only couple of hours of focused exercise they get in a week. The last thing they want is to be standing in lines taking forever to get a kick or you constantly stopping the game while they are trying play every 20 seconds because they make a mistake. Try and keep the stoppages to once or twice in a 20 minute spell – let the kids play and run about! You can still coach, I would hope you have more to your armoury than just stopping and telling, so get in the pitch and talk to kids during the game, ask a question here and there that makes them think, without needing to interrupt their heart rate.

- volleying to a team mate as a pass improves (better single leg balance)
- change direction quicker during a dribble (improvements to their agility)
- they get faster (better technique, they now use their arms)
- they don’t fall over when trying to turn quickly (increased coordination skills)

This is a vital part of the development for children and the coach is key to improving physical literacy of our players. Not only for football, for the health of the nation. If you don’t know enough about how to develop agility, balance, coordination, core stability etc in children, try and find some places to fill in your gaps in knowledge. Help them ‘win’ physically.

Right that’s it for now, next week I’ll be back with a look at the Psychological and Social elements of the game.

Due to lack of proper rehabilitation when a teenager, I now have to wear a huge, metal-plated, lace-up support every time I play any type of football – It’s too late for me, but along there are loads of tips I’ve picked up along the way so I can help you if you go over on your ankle during a match.

Once You’ve Gone Over…

Stop.

It’s incredibly frustrating and can be a hard thing to bring yourself to do, but as soon as you’ve sprained your ankle it will only get worse if you carry on playing.

If you’re an outfield player playing 5-a-side, don’t just go in goal – you’re more likely to damage your ankle further by instinctively sticking out your foot in order to save a shot.

R.I.C.E.

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

R.I.C.E. is easy to remember and a good way to minimise the injury.

Rest:
After stopping playing, try to walk on it as little as possible until the swelling goes down and its pain-free to walk. For most sprains this might take up to a week.

Ice:
As soon as you can, cover your whole ankle with ice (protected by a rag or something similar to stop it burning you).

Use a ‘20 minutes on, 20 minutes off’ pattern with the ice, and do this for upto 2 hours in one spell up to 5 times a day for the first 3 days.

Compression:
Strap up your ankle tightly (but not too tightly to cut off the blood supply) during the first week after injury

Elevation:
Whenever it’s possible, for example at night-time, try to keep your ankle higher than your heart. Use cushions and pillows to keep it up.

Ankle Exercises

After the pain and swelling subsides, you’ll need to do some ankle exercises to strengthen the muscles around the ankle.

It’s best to do various exercises as often as possible which focus on different muscles in your lower leg. Below are some recommended examples.

1. Calf Raises – Whilst standing on the injured leg, slowly raise your heel up and down (without it touching the ground) until your calf hurts too much or you fall over. It’s recommended to stand by something waist height so you can balance easier, so this is a brilliant exercise to do whilst cleaning your teeth.

2. Balance Tests – Use a balance board, or pile up a couple of cushions and stand on your injured leg for as long as possible. This will work all the muscles around your ankle and can be made harder by either closing your eyes or by playing ‘catch’ with yourself by throwing a ball against a wall.

3. Stretch Bands – If you have access to Stretch bands (shown below), they can be great for 4 different exercises.

Whilst sitting down with your legs out in front of you, tie the stretch band to an immovable object (i.e. the bottom of a sofa/bed). Sit about a metre back, stretch the band around your foot and slowly raise your foot up and down until it starts to hurt. Then turn 90 degrees round to the side and slowly move your foot sideways (against the band), before doing it on the other side. Finally, untie the band, and stretch the band around the bottom of your food – hold on the the previously tied up end and move your foot down (against the pull of the band), and up.

Don’t Come Back Too Early

One of the things I regret most regarding my ankle injuries was playing again when my ankle wasn’t completely healed. To make things worse, I pilled up on some quite powerful painkillers, which meant my ankle was falling apart and I couldn’t even feel it.

As ankle sprains are basically damaged ligaments, repetitive injury will only make your ankle weaker, and weak ankles are much more likely to lead to repetitive injury – it’s a vicious circle.

There’s a huge range between the best and the worst ankle sprains possible, but in general it’s necessary to not play football for between 4-6 weeks, sorry!

Ankle Tests

Before playing for the first time, it’s vital to do some tests to make sure your ankle has healed and is unlikely to cause you damage anytime soon. It’s also quite nice to tell people you’re having a late fitness test, you’ll feel pretty professional…

1. Jump Around – Imagine the 4 points of a compass on a floor about 2 feet apart from each other. Standing on your injured leg, jump between all of the points, making sure you jump in all directions (left, right, forward, backward, diagonally).

Landing on your foot should feel comfortable and pain free, if you feel any type of pain, you’re not ready to start playing.

2. Jump Up, Jump Up & Get Down – Use a trampette (one of those very small trampolines), 2 or 3 stacked up (but steady) cushions, or a small wall.

Standing on the injured leg on the higher surface, jump down to the lower surface. As soon as you’ve landed, hop back up onto the higher surface. Repeat several times.

Again, landing on your foot should feel comfortable and pain free, if you feel any type of pain, you’re not ready to start playing.

3. Kicking A Ball – The final ankle test will be actually kicking a ball (perhaps against the wall or with another player). Make sure you try all types of kick (laces, side foot, volley, outside foot) and don’t be scared to kick as hard as you can.

Once again, you should feel no pain!

Ankle Sprain Prevention

Strapping

Strapping up your ankle is a good idea to minimise injury risk if you haven’t currently got a weak ankle.

Ankle Supports

If you must play with a weak ankle (like I do), strapping simply isn’t strong enough to prevent a recurrence. You need to get a ‘high protection’ support.

These supports will limit any movement of your ankle, which is cumbersome and not ideal for football by any means – but it will basically eliminate the risk of you going over on your ankle, which by this time, is the most important thing.

Good quality supports cost between £20 and £50, but if you get one make sure you’re able to wear it and a football boot at the same time, some of the supports I’ve seen look huge.

If you’ve got any questions about ankle sprain issues, or would like to know more info about good quality ankle supports, feel free to contact me @ojay1331

We have been listening….after speaking to our users we found that organisers felt that beyond the first blats of notifications, they still had to chase player.With this in mind we pushed out our Automatic Reminders feature.

As an organiser all you need to do is add the “respond by date “and Bluefields will automatically remind your players. In the match details page, the manager is able to view  and edit when the reminders are going out.

Detailed Map

We have improved the accuracy of our maps location – powered by Google. You can even move the football to mark the spot !

We hope you like the new updates.

Let us know what you think by emailing feedback@bluefields.com or by clicking the feedback tab when you are logged in.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Winter. There’s loads of time off work, office parties, makeshift Nordic bars popping up in pedestrianised parts of town, etc.

But there’s one thing missing…
…and that’s a good old game of honest-to-goodness, 11-a-side, grass-roots, amateur football.

It’s boring not playing a game of football. And when I say boring, I mean boring in the sense of every bugger driving to the ground knowing full well that the game isn’t going to be played. Just because we’ve got to see the ref try (and fail) to push the key to his Honda Civic into the frozen turf. When the key doesn’t penetrate the pitch, he holds it aloft, like he’s discovered alchemy and wants the world to see, and decrees that the meeting of these two sides simply cannot take place under his watch.

Half the players have left already anyway, but still it rests on him. I mean he could call them back if he wanted to. Although the feeling of being dismissed like a cash machine beggar would sting him more than being hit by a ball in this temperature.

The ice (and excuses) cometh

So far our team, Mancunian Wave FC, has had every game in 2012 cancelled due to the weather (except for a 6-2 defeat last Sunday but we don’t talk about that). Plus if you believe the weatherman, we’re in for a cold snap akin to what those daddy penguins suffer every year when sitting on their wife’s egg for 3 months, as Attenborough would testify.

Chances are, then, more games will be cancelled. And as more games get cancelled, there’s less faith amongst the players that the next game will be on. That’s when you get the texts on Sunday morning, about the niggling injury that’s still niggling after last week’s training, the aggravated muscle tear that’s raised its head again, the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained whilst plunging a cafeteria.

And you know what, it’s fair enough. When it’s 2 degrees outside and you wake up feeling stiff (insert innuendo here) who wants to trudge down to the pitches to watch a ref stab the pitch for 10 minutes?

With us, we’ve kept the momentum going with our usual mid-week training sessions. And, interestingly, they’ve been better during the time we’ve had no matches – I guess because those who come down are desperate to play.

Training doesn’t get you 3 points though. Well, neither do many of our league games either, cynics might say! But it’s only when it all warms up for a spell that we’ll find out for sure whether we can transfer top-notch training to the proper games – and I can’t wait.

Winter: go do one!

Steve

(Photo courtesy of: abcdz2000)

First of all, a big Thank You for reading our blog. Now that you’ve come to love our irreverent, witty articles and original comment, we’ve decided to risk alienating you by making a few changes. Only joking, we’re sure you’ll love our new stuff too.

Back to our (Grass)roots

The Soccer on the Brain blog was originally always meant to have a grassroots, amateur focus, which we did successfully keep to in the beginning. But we have somewhat strayed from that path in the last few months as our egos got the better of us and we sold our blogging souls to the pro-game in vain attempts to become famous. (It’s not our fault that loads of people read articles about Mario Balotelli and Belgium winning the World Cup – it’s basically your doing, readers).

Grassroots Rules!

Anyway, as we always say, ‘Grassroots rules!’ which is why we’ve decided to re-focus our output on the beautiful game as played by all of us regular Joes. At this point, hopefully none of you are crying into your laptops/iPads/smartphones at the death of your favourite blog – think of it more as a re-incarnation.

But seriously, we’d love to get your feedback on the upcoming changes. We’ve put together a neat little survey below where you can tell us if you play amateur football, how amazing you are at it, and whether you’d like to read more stuff about the grassroots game. Complete the survey and we’ll give you a shout out on the blog – you can be famous too!

CLICK HERE TO DO THE SURVEY

By The Way

We’re working on something else that’s really cool – Bluefields.com – it’s an awesome free tool made by us, which amateur managers can use to organise their football team. We’re helping the grassroots game by helping the people who organise it – check it out and tell us what you think.

Ok, that is all – we hope you still like us – don’t forget that survey.

Cheers, Dan + The SOTB team

Across London there are thousands of men and women itching to take a break from their long working hours and focus on the important things in life…5-a-side football.

With hundreds of artificial and indoor football pitches dotted around London for use during your lunch break or after work. It’s always a time-consuming hassle to check out all of your nearest centres to find a decent league, so hopefully I’ll be able to help you out by providing a bit of unbiased info about the best league-running organisations in town.

Top Corner

If you want to join a 5-a-side league, Top Corner is a good bet. With dozens of leagues for 4, 5, 6 or 7-a-side, for men and women in 20 different locations (as shown in the map below), it caters for all abilities – and you probably won’t have to travel far to get to the game.

They’ll organise everything you need, fixtures, referees, league tables, bibs, trophies, and of course the pitch – which is either astro-turf or 3g rubber crumb (depending on what centre you go to).

Matches will generally cost between £45-60 per game depending on the location, whether it’s 5-a-side or 7-a-side (the more players the higher the cost), and how long you play for (generally between 30-45 mins per week). This should work out at less than £10 for each game played for at least 30 mins of competitive football.

5aside.org

5aside.org does a similar service to Top Corner, with loads of between 5 and 8-a-side leagues fully organised and based at 13 different locations listed below:

Balham, Battersea, Battersea (Newton Prep), Brixton, Chelsea/South Kensington, Clapham, Clapham Junction, Clapham North, Fulham, Ladbroke Grove, Marylebone, Mild End, Old Street.

With the locations being less central, match prices are cheaper and generally range between £35-60 per match, with matches lasting between 30 and 40 minutes. The majority of pitches used by 5aside.org are either 3G or 4G rubber crumb surfaces.

PlayFiveASide

Another alternative is PlayFiveASide, with 5 centres in Zone 1 (Euston, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge & Paddington) and 6 more outside Central London (Chiswick, Fulham, Richmond, Shepherds Bush, Westway & White City).

Games last between 30 and 45 minutes and will cost between £35-40, pitches range from indoor, Astroturf and 3G rubber crumb.

Elms 5-a-side

Elms 5-a-side runs 3 leagues inside the square mile (Mile End, Shadwell & Docklands) and 5 others in Greater London (Battersea, Battersea Park, High Wycombe, Wandsworth & Westway).

Games last between 36 and 50 minutes and will cost upwards of £35, on a range of surfaces.

Alternative Options

There are a few Powerleague (Old Street & London City) and Goals Soccer (Gillette Corner) Centres dotted about central London, both provide top of the range facilities for 5-a-side football and run dozens of leagues for all abilities throughout the week at each centre.

A completely different way of finding a league is by using PitchFinder created by Football Foundation, simply type in your postcode and a whole load of available football pitches near you will come up. You’ll then be able to contact the relevant people and see if they run leagues you can join.

With England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, let alone challenge for the trophy, the article’s been doing the rounds and has inspired me to put my neck on the line by making a similarly (seemingly) ridiclous prediction.

Obviously touting England for success in Russia 2018 would be crazy, whilst Pepe Bluefields showed there’s a lot of potential in the squad with his ‘Future England XI’…let’s not kid ourselves.

Belgium on the other hand, despite not qualifying for a major tournament since 2002(!), are a team to keep an eye on during the next 10 years. The highly anticipated ‘Golden Generation’ of Belgian footballers are slowly beginning to prove themselves in the top leagues around Europe…

Goalkeepers

Possibly the most highly rated teen goalkeeper in world football at the moment is Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois (currently on loan at Atletico Madrid). The nineteen year-old 6 ft 6 giant signed for Chelsea in summer 2011 and was sent straight out to replace the recently departed David de Gea.

Competing with Courtois for the Belgium No. 1 shirt will be Sunderland’s impressive 23 year old shot-stopper Simon Mignolet, who’s been able to keep his place in the Mackems’ goal ahead of the ex-‘most expensive goalkeeper in the Premier League’ Craig Gordon and Kieren Westwood. Six years time is a long way away, plenty of time for either goalkeeper to prove himself as a Joe Hart-esque superstar, or a Chris Kirkland-esque flop.

Defence

Two of the most feared defenders in the Premier League are likely to be competing for the centre-back spot alongside the current Ajax captain.

At 25 years old Vincent Kompany, is already the captain of the Belgium National Team and some other team called Manchester City. First known as a wonderkid at Anderlecht before moving to Hamburg, Kompany will be 32 by the time Russia 2018 kicks off.

Arsenal’s 26 year old Thomas Vermaelen has played a massive part in Arsenal’s resurgance this season after an Achilles injury kept him out of much of 2011. As powerful as they come, Vermaelen will also be 32 at the 2018 World Cup.

Ajax’s 24 year old captain Jan Vertonghen has been linked with some of the richest clubs in Europe, and a move to Eastlands to join Vincent Kompany could happen in 2012. With Vertonghen being 31 at the 2018 World Cup, he (alongside Kompany and Vermaelen) will be hoping that their careers don’t peak too early.

The full-back positions currently look to be the weakest positions for a young Belgium side. Man City’s 21 year old Dereck Boyata (left) (currently on loan at Bolton) however still looks to be a promising talent. Hoping to compete with Boyata will be Anthony Vanden Borre (right), although Genk’s 24 year old right back has struggled to live up to the high expectations placed upon him whilst he was a teenager.

Without any natural left-back showing signs of world class potential, the whole of Vertonghen’s national career may be destined for that spot, as it has been so far, with him being unable to fight off competition from Kompany, Vermaelen and the aging Daniel van Buyten.

Midfield

If you’re to watch out for any Belgian player during the next 6 years, it’d better be Lille’s Eden Hazard.

The 20 year old has had an outrageous 2011 (as predicted by Pepe Bluefields), and is now accepted as one of the most dangerous playmakers in Europe. It’s only a matter of time before he gets his big move to a top European club, most likely to be Real Madrid.

Accompanying Hazard in the midfield might be Everton giant Marouane Fellaini, currently aged 24, the powerful ‘all-elbows’ centre midfielder will be 30 in 2018. Also aged 24 is Fulham’s highly rated midfielder Moussa Dembélé. Legend has it that the strong, skillful Dembélé has never been successfully tackled in his whole professional career to date, and Fulham will be facing a struggle to keep hold of him as bigger clubs come looking for the un-tackleable Belgian.

Other names to watch out for are Genk’s Kevin de Bruyne (left), Benfica’s Axel Witsel (centre), and Porto’s Steven Defour (right). Aged 20, 22 and 24 respectively, all are versatile midfielders and will be hoping to progress to succeed at the top level over the next few years.

As far as out-and-out wingers go though, PSV’s goal crazy Dries Mertens (left) and Twente’s pacy Nacer Chadli (right) are two to keep your eyes on. Mertens (24) has scored 13 from 17 games in the Eredevisie this season, including one hat-trick and one four-goal haul. Whilst Chadli (22) has taken the reins over from the departed Bryan Ruiz at Twente to become one of the best players in the league.

Strikers

The likelihood of Belgium having a successful generation will largely be dependent on them having a world class strikeforce. The likes of Jelle Vossen (left) and Kevin Mirallas (right) appear promising, but together they won’t win the World Cup for you…

…Romelu Lukaku might just though.

At just 18 years old, Chelsea’s 6 ft. 3in striker has been labelled as one of the stars of the future. Boasting pace, power and an ability to score plenty of goals – Chelsea spent upto £18 million on a player they hope can become their new Didier Drogba.

Warning!

With 2018 a whole 6 years away, tipping a team who haven’t played in a major tournament since Leicester City were in the Premier League is a bold (or maybe stupid) thing to do.

However, if the players reach their apparent potential, Russia 2018 could be a real opportunity for Belgium’s Golden Generation. Whether Belgium will have the strength in depth compared to the likes of ‘usual suspects’ Brazil, Spain, Germany and so on will be interesting to see – but the quality and quantity of young Belgians all coming through at the same time, is staggering.

The Competition

First there’s the competition. While both Pardew and Hodgson are very good club managers they’ve never found success with the true elite of the footballing world. Pardew, most recently lauded for his ongoing success with Newcastle United, prefers his team to play very rugged, physical football; a style that hasn’t served England well when coming up against the likes of Spain and Germany in recent times. Hodgson’s done remarkably well with smaller clubs like Fulham, but has struggled when in charge of giants such as Liverpool and Inter Milan. Neither, I feel, would be able to deliver the success their nation desires.

Finally there’s Harry Redknapp. Putting aside the off chance he might be unavoidably unavailable to take the job come the end of Capello’s reign, I simply don’t think he is good enough for international management. Whilst an extremely good club manager and someone who has made Spurs a formidable outfit, I still have an underlying feeling, despite his vehement claims to the contrary, that he is someone who pushes teams to punch above their weight, rather than actually achieving success in the form of silverware, seemingly the only form that is acceptable to England fans after their long long wait of 45 years. This is due to the fact that during his time at spurs, while they have come on leaps and bounds in terms of quality and positions in the league , they have failed to win any silverware. He won the Intertoto cup with West Ham back in 2000 and the FA cup in 2008. This domestic success, while creditable, was done against teams such as Barnsley and Cardiff, thus I feel it is difficult to compare it to such pinnacles of footballing achievement as the World cup or the European Finals.

Why Wenger?

And now the case for Arsene. England are in the fortunate position of possessing an incredibly talented batch of young players with potential in abundance. Jack Wilshere, Daniel Sturridge, Joe Hart, Kieran Gibbs, the list is extensive. Wenger is the perfect man to mould and develop these young stars, and with his help they could well become a side that could match the game’s elite, both technically as well as physically, which we as a nation haven’t been able to do for some time now. When it comes to international football, retention of possession and the ability to be comfortable on the ball is key. For teams under Arsene Wenger this comes as second nature.

Another aspect of his that seems well suited to the job is his willingness to get involved in changing and shaking up structures that have stagnated. In his fifteen years at Arsenal he’s transformed the place, not just in their playing style, but also in their stadium, training ground and youth system. He has a great skill for recognising and harnessing potential, as illustrated through success stories such as Robin Van Persie and Thierry Henry. He could go a long way to help to revolutionise the youth system in England from its current state of full size pitches for 8 year olds, all the “kick and chase” tactics they produce and the focus on physical prowess, rather than technical excellence.

Oi! We want an English Manager!

Finally, there is the issue of a foreign manager. I personally have no qualms on this subject when it comes to the Arsenal boss. The hiring of Wenger would be completely different to that of Capello in that he is fluent in English, has been here for fifteen years and is to all intents and purposes a native. However I know it’s inevitable this won’t be good enough for many of England’s supporters, who are understandably keen for an English manager for the England team after the fiasco that has been Fabio.

I feel that Arsene Wenger would be the perfect man for the job, but sadly neither he nor the FA agrees with me. However, I’d at least hope that they would consider the possibility, rather than reject it out of hand.

Upcoming XI Review

Goalkeeper

David de Gea

When the Spanish ‘keeper got his big move by signing for Man United during the Summer, many fans were expecting the then 20 year old to quickly replace Edwin van der Sar and become Fergie’s first choice Shotstopper for many years to come.  Despite several top quality performances for United, de Gea has struggled to adapt to Premier League football and the pressure of playing for such a big team. Having been replaced by the Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard on several occasions, de Gea will spend the New Year working to reinforce himself as United’s No. 1.

His Rise in 2011: 7/10 – He got his big deal, but hasn’t yet proven himself to be VDS’s long-term successor.

Right Back

Kyle Walker

Since returning from his loan spell at Aston Villa, Walker’s cemented his place in Spurs’ first team and even gained Man of the Match on his International full debut when England beat Sweden in November. Still just 21, it seems Tottenham and England have got a real gem.

His Rise in 2011: 9/10 – He’s had a dream year, a starting place at Euro 2012 has become a real possibility

Left Back

Kieran Gibbs

Having a promising start to the year, Gibbs proved himself to be a reliable choice at Left Back for Arsene Wenger towards the end of the 2010/11 season. With injuries blighting his 2011/12 season, he’s only been able to play 5 Premier League games so far. He’s become the obvious choice for the long-term replacement for Ashley Cole, but will need to shake off any injuries in the new year if he wants to go to Polkraine in July.

His Rise in 2011: 7/10 – Slowly emerging as the genuine long-term replacement for Gael Clichy.

Centre Back

Eric Dier

2011 was perhaps a year or two early to see Eric Dier rise to footballing fame, but there’s no doubt he’s very highly rated around the footballing world. Now on his second loan spell at Everton, Sporting CP’s 17 year old English Centre Back will be hoping for a chance to push for a Premier League appearance during 2012

His Rise in 2011: 5/10 – The world might have to wait a few years yet to see the Portuguese-based Englishman playing regular first team football.

Centre Back

Douglas

Twente’s massive Brazilian centre back has proven himself as one of the best centre-backs in the Dutch Eredivisie, yet hasn’t yet been able to gain worldwide acclaim despite being linked with Juventus and Hamburg alongside other European giants. At just 23, 2012 could be the year he makes his name, especially if he opts to change his nationality to Dutch in order to play in Euro 2012. One notable incident from Douglas’ 2011 was when he received a 6 match ban for punching AZ Alkmaar’s Pontus Wembloom and then pushing the referee when he got sent off – don’t mess with this 6 ft 4 monster.

His Rise in 2011: 6/10 – Another solid year in the Dutch League, but unless he moves to a bigger club, it’s unlikely he’ll gain the reputation he deserves.

Right Midfield

Eden Hazard

Lille’s Belgian starlet has become one of the most feared playmakers in Europe, and has been linked to many of the biggest clubs in La Liga and the Premier League. Named the youngest ever ‘Ligue 1 Player of the Year’ at the end of the 2010/11 season and nominated for the UEFA Team of the (Calendar) Year for 2011, 20 year-old Hazard will surely be one of the highlights of Euro 2012.

His Rise in 2011: 10/10 – An unstoppable year, just waiting for that big move to Spain or England.

Left Midfield

Gareth Bale

From being known as a player who couldn’t win a game with Spurs in 2009, to showing signs of genius in 2010, to becoming one of the most complete and most feared wingers in world football in 2011. Bale has had an amazing year, and is currently leading Tottenham in a surprise push for the Premier League title.

His Rise in 2011: 10/10 – A ridiculous turn of pace, vision, crossing ability, shooting ability, any right-back’s nightmare.

Centre Midfield

Jack Cork

Southampton’s promising 22 year old midfielder is helping them on their push for promotion this season by consistently putting out effective displays in the middle of the park. Having eventually left Chelsea in the summer after loan spells at 6 different clubs, the ex-England U21 Saint will be hoping 2012/13 brings more Premier League action for him after fairing well in the top league in 2010 with Burnley.

His Rise in 2011: 5/10 – Finally got the move away from Chelsea he needed to kickstart his career, but it’s been a case of 1 step back before the 2 steps forward come (hopefully in 2012).

Centre Midfield

Steven Defour

After continuing to impress with Standard Liege towards the end of the 2010/11 season, Defour moved to Porto for €6m in August on a five year deal after a bitter fallout with the higher echelons of the Belgian club. With Porto unable to qualify for the second round of the Champions league (finishing third behind Apoel Nicosia and Zenit St. Petersburg), Defour’s year has finished on a sour note.

His Rise in 2011: 7/10 – A move to Porto, famous for being a ‘selling club’ is surely just a stepping stone in the 23 year old Belgian’s career.

Centre Forward

Andy Carroll

When Carroll signed for Liverpool in a £35 Million deal in January, Liverpool’s King Kenny Dalglish made the gigantic Geordie the most expensive British Footballer of all time. Since signing for Liverpool, Carroll has struggled to find form amidst numerous rumours of bad off-field behaviour, and has only scored 5 goals for the Reds all year.

His Rise in 2011: 2/10 – A massive flop unfortunately, after showing great potential at Newcastle. However the 22 year-old’s got plenty of time to turn his form around to prove himself as a top centre forward.

Centre Forward

Edin Dzeko

When Dzeko signed for Man City in January, he had already made his name as a great goalscorer for Wolfsburg and Bosnia & Herzegovina. After struggling to adjust to the physicality of Premier League football during the second half of 2010/11, it appeared he had finally adapted by the time 2011/12 kicked off – scoring 10 goals already this season. However it seems he’s losing the fight for first team football with the Madman Mario Balotelli.

His Rise in 2011: 4/10 – A frustrating year for a proven goalscorer. If Balotelli’s form continues to stop Dzeko from having much first team football in 2012, the Bosnian could be wanting a move out of Manchester sooner rather than later.

Overall Upcoming XI Performance

Upcoming XI Rise in 2011: 72/110
A solid, effective selection (excluding the strikers…) during 2011 provides a good foundation for the approaching Upcoming XI 2012 I have been researching throughout 2011. Check back here next week for the players you should be looking out for in 2012…could it be you?

Whilst Bluefields.com can help you maximise the chance of you getting the right number of players to turn up, it can’t do much for you when you realise the wrong number of people are there and are all waiting to play. Have no fear!

It’s very possible to always have a top 5-a-side session with anywhere between 7 and 15 attendees, and a decent one with 6 or fewer. Below, I state exactly how you can do it, and explain why having 12 players turn up is the best number possible.

6 or Fewer Players

1. Check for Opponents
If 6 people of fewer turn up, it’s probably best to scout out some potential opponents on another pitch – people will generally be willing to give you a game if they’re in a similar situation, especially if you offer to pay halves on the pitch.

2. World Cup Willy
If you can’t find anyone to play against, World Cup Willy is an awesome way to fill up an hour of your life:

> Stick the last person to turn up in goal, and have an ‘all versus all’ tournament against them.
> 1st Round – Score 1 goal and you’re through to the 2nd round. The player who’s left after everyone else has scored is out.
> 2nd/3rd/4th Round – Score 2 goals and you’re through to the next round. The player who’s left after everyone else has scored 2 is out.
> The Final – Score 3 goals and you’re the champion, the runner up goes in goal for the next tournament.

7 Players

You’re likely to be pretty pissed off if you see only 7 players have turned up when you were expecting a good run around. It’s OK though, your options are open.

1. Check for Opponents
7 players isn’t too big a number to try to find a team to play against. 7 on one team is too much though, so consider using subs or giving the other team players if they’re struggling for numbers.

2. World Cup Doubles – 3 teams of 2 & 1 Goalkeeper
World Cup Doubles is the same as World Cup Willy (above) but with teams of two instead of one. It may be seen as a lesser alternative to a match, but a game of World Cup Doubles introduces a team tournament aspect to the game, so players will play competitively throughout the hour. In an hour’s play, you should be able to get 4 or 5 mini tournaments in.

8 Players

4 Vs. 4 – Only Scoring Inside the Area, No Goalkeepers
Playing 4 on 4 without shooting restrictions can lead to scores reminiscing a basketball game rather than a football match. Getting rid of goalkeepers and stating that goals can only be scored from inside the area incentivises good football and clever passing, and you won’t have to worry about the other team scoring long shots into open goals.

9 Players

9 people turning up is probably the most frustrating number possible. However, by playing one of the 2 options below, you can make the best of a bad situation.

1. 4 Vs. 4 – Only Scoring Inside the Area, No Goalkeepers (with one sub)
Same as above…but with a sub…

2. 5 (including 2 of the worst players) Vs. 4 (including 2 of the fittest players)
Giving the team of 4 monkey-rush rules (any player can go in goal at any time) and banning the team of 5 from shooting from their own half, will likely result in a fair game if the players in the team of 4 are able to run about. Make sure you switch the teams up when the players are knackered.

10 Players

5 on 5 – Simples.

11 Players

Similar to having 9 players turn up, but at least you know you will always be able to have at least 5 on each team at any one time.

1. 5 Vs. 5 (with one sub)
It’s not rocket science.

2. 6 (including 2 of the worst players) Vs. 5
6 on 5 is much fairer than 5 on 4 – just make sure all the best players aren’t on the team of 6…or it’ll be a massacre.

12 Players

Perhaps surprisingly, having between 12 and 15 players is often the most fun, and most competitive number at a 5-a-side session.

Whilst it’s possible to play 6 on 6 – if the speed of football being played is anything quicker than snail pace, it’ll be too crowded and less enjoyable.

The best option is to split the group into 3 teams of 4. As shown below, the 4 players on each side will only play outfield for their own team, and can recruit a goalkeeper from the team not currently playing.

To make the game competitive, a ‘Winner Stays On’ ruling should be applied. The games should be timed at 6 minutes each, and if the score is a draw after 6 minutes, the team who has been on the longest should come off.

From personal experience, having 12 people and using this game structure creates the best possible 5-a-side session. You’ll be surprised at how much more competitive players are when they risk having to sit out for a game. Plus, you never have to goal in goal for your own team.

13-15 Players

13 Players – 2 teams of 4, 1 team of 5
14 Players – 1 team of 4, 2 teams of 5
15 Players – 3 teams of 5

Having between 13 and 15 people turn up is nearly as good as having 12 people, and you should use the same game structure. The only difference is that if you’re on a team of 5, you’ll probably have to go in goal for your own team on occasion.

If there’s a player who prefers going in goal, make sure he’s on a team of 5 so he can stay in goal and his teammates can stay outfield.

So there it is, some suggestions are probably blindingly obvious – but hopefully you’ll know what to do when your players are looking to you for ideas. If more than 15 people turn up, it might be best to consider booking a second pitch…