Soccer Coach Weekly Issue 68

This week, Ben Bartlett is back with another in-depth dissection of a practice which connects your knowledge of your players with the agreed ethos of your club.

Ben, who leads the integration of coach and player development at Premier League club Fulham, presents the final larger-sided game in a series of three, which have been the focus of his most recent monthly contributions.

It emphasises how context can influence learning outcomes, taking inspiration from his book Constraining Football.

One of the key tenets of Ben's articles have been creating practices that support your team's philosophy, which in turn is based around what kind of club you want yours to be.

But individual philosophies, and knowing who you are as a coach, are also important.

This is the focus of this week's Q&A, with former Premier League academy coach Ali Speechly.

She discusses how she came to her 'engage, educate and empower' ethos and what each means for her and her players when she steps on to the field.

Ali also talks about her journey as a coach, what she has learned about herself, the importance of the grassroots game and gives advice to those who are trying to establish their own approach to coaching.

The Q&A is an abridged version of the full audio interview, which you can hear as a podcast by clicking the link on page 10 or by subscribing via your usual pod provider.

Finally, we bring you a session from Uefa B candidate Connor Wild, on effective counter-pressing.