Celtic Banter Archive February 19 2014

19 Feb 2014 20:50:54
The 'Passing Game'. We have all watched Barca for years now play the possession passing game. Other top teams come close but not as good as Barca. They start their young players on this road very early doors and it just becomes their game. We never even attempt it, I wonder why, we have a fine Academy with year round facilities. Tommy Burns Bhoys at least tried to entertain us with fast passing play. Couldn't we have a plan in place to make this the Celtic Way in the future? Get the think tank guys in and just make it happen. Our grass pitches are so much better now so no excuses - coach the kids, pass it, don't lump it and hope for the best.

It's a generation thing I think, not just a cultural style suited to certain leagues/coaches. Hopefully in the next few years we'll start to see kids coming through who have grown up watching such football. Look at 17-year-old Gauld for example. Not your typical British winger, but happy to keep a hold of the ball and play it about rather than getting down the sideline and crossing it. I'd like to think these plans you mention are in place. It's got to be taught to the youth to see the real benefits, it annoys me when I hear people saying that now, we should be playing like Barcelona though, you need that quality first and as far as a whole side goes you can't just go out and buy that sort of footballer, they have to be educated from a young age.

I agree with both Celticflame and JimTim. My concern is that if we don't change our buying/selling tactics, these young guys that we teach to play a pass and receive a pass properly, will come back and play us off the pitch when we loan them out or let them go because we want to stick with players that play to suit the Scottish game.

The problem that we have in scotland coaches are more interested in strength and height instead of ball skills and good technique think it was billy stark that said xavi and iniesta would not have made it in this country which is a shocking statement but probably very true

I couldn't agree more with big.D. The thought process in this country is about height and strength with a few exceptions here and there. The youth teams in our country are all centred around winning and not developing, despite the fact there are no prizes, no league tables. You have to ask yourself what you want to see at the end of the day, a team who play the ball out from the back, through the phases and encourage players to play with their heads up and not be scared to make decisions or do you have the coach on the side who thinks its a video game and calls every pass. The dutch have a novel way of this, they start with a 1 v1, then 2v2 and so on up to 7 v 7, then they increase the number of footballs, so ultimately you will end up with 7 1v1 games going on and the kids sort that themselves, this approach encourages kids to be aware of their surroundings thus enabling them to play football where there is space. it isn't rocket science. The problem is never the kids always the adults. Kids weren't born walking and talking, adults taught them how to do that and worked with them so why is it when they start playing football we tell them they can only play here and can only kick with this foot. until the mentality changes in adults and the changes are accepted nationally then we will never have the joy of watching Scots boys playing real football.