The Stats: FC Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United May 2011 - Fascinating Analysis

Sourced from http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/the-stats-fc-barcelona-3-1-manchester-united/

This is terrific piece of game analysis. The diagrams drawn from the on field movement plotted from the game are a revelation and go a long way past simple passing statistics, powerful as they are in attesting to Barcelona's superiority. The movement patterns and where on the field they occurr are pivotal to deconstructing the Barca system of play. These are players who are trained to work as hard off the ball as with it and then win it back quickly if it lost and start all over again. Relentless. Wonderful stuff.

You don’t need me to tell you that Barcelona utterly dominated their English counterparts in Saturday’s Champions League final. So I won’t tell you: I’ll show you some charts and diagrams instead! The passing, shooting and assist numbers for this match go a long way in showing just how Pep’s crew dismantled Manchester United. The stats for the game also reveal some subtle changes in the way Barcelona played this match that help explain the team’s ultimate victory.

Barcelona Passing Dominance

Only a fool would have failed to predict that Barcelona would hog possession in this contest, but the extent to which they imposed their passing game on the match is incredible. The team completed 719 out of 813 passes, with all three central midfielders in sparkling form. In fact, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets completed more passes between the three of them than the entire United squad combined. Xavi’s total, 142 out of 150 sets a new record for the Champions League this season. In contrast, Ferguson’s team completed only 110 passes in the attacking half, its fewest in any Champions League match this year.

As Good As It Is - But Not Good Enough

In a previous Post titled "As Good As It Is - Have We Missed An Opportunity Here", I asked a simple question - couldn't we have raised an ACT Youth League style team to play the Mariners when they visit?

Capital Football has made a response to this Post and the relevant extracts with regard to not conducting a youth league style game are as follows, together with my comments:

“..The main reason for the lack of a representative team was time. The Mariners visit was only confirmed around a fortnight ago and that, unfortunately, did not afford Capital Football the requisite time to select a coaching group, hold trials and put together a structured formation that would give the Mariners the kind of ‘hit-out’ they were looking for at senior or youth level. I agree that a representative selection would have been the ideal but, alas, the logistics surrounding it made it impossible at this late stage. …”

Nevertheless, the question put in the title to this Post is “As Good As It Is - Have We Missed An Opportunity Here?” I think the answer, whatever the reason(s) is self evident – yes, we have missed an opportunity.

Could we have done better, knowing that there was the possibility of a Mariners training visit and given that there is a history of these visits by the Mariners? Again the only answer is that we have appeared to missed an opportunity. What will CF do to ensure there is a lead time they can work with and what other plans do they have to create opportunities for the U17-20 ACT players? There are no answers to these questions in the CF response, which is shame because that was the purpose of the Post.

“….The selection of the teams to play the Mariners this time round was actually very simple. Canberra FC, as the pre-eminent force in the Rock Premier League and the fact that they have a superb stadium with floodlights of course, as you mentioned in your blog, fit the criteria. Belconnen United was selected as the second team as originally, back in 2007 it was they who forged the initial links with the Mariners and indeed played the first match against them on 1st July 2007. Since then the match with the Blue Devils has become an annual fixture on the calendar whenever the Mariners come to town. Current form wasn’t taken into consideration when this decision was made…..”

Not sure why this was part of the CF response as I believe I acknowledged these matters in my original Post. Obvious really.

And finally – it has been suggested to me by a CF spokesperson that this Post is “negative”. Now that's a bit rich! I believe I made it clear that these were fixtures I would support, indeed, said I would be at the games. Again, check the title of the Post “As Good As It Is - Have We Missed An Opportunity Here?”

Two things – it’s a good thing that these games are happening and could we have done more with the opportunity when it presented. I conclude that two weeks notice ( not including any earlier discussions) is currently beyond Capital Football's operational capability at this point in time. And that is the problem, isn't it? We all agree that an ACT Youth League style team game is a good idea, but we can't make it happen to take advantage of a two week notice of an impending visit and playing opportunity. That needs to be fixed - not accepted as the status quo.

There is nothing negative in my Post in respect of the fixtures that will be played – but there is a question. A question that will continue to be asked for as long as we do not have a coherent solution to the lack of a prospective pathway for our talented ACT U17 – 20 players – that tragic vacant space.

It seems to me we need to make the best of every opportunity presented to us and that implies a rate of staff effort in forward operational planning that can deal with these shorter notice opportunities.

We are permitted to question Capital Football decisions. This was not a complicated matter to contemplate. Harder to resolve – yes – all the big one are in my experience.

And now that I have asked a question on this matter it leads me to another – what decision making process was used in contemplating this potential playing opportunity and what is planned for the future in order to take advantage of these playing opportunites for our youth players?

As Good As It Is - Have We Missed An Opportunity Here?

Right in the middle of the Kanga Cup we have a treat for all ACT region football supporters.

The Central Coast Mariners are to play a couple of fixtures against ACT teams, presumably as part of their pre-season training schedule. They have done it before through Belconnen United and the wonderful MacKellar playing field.

I intend to go to these matches - wouldn't miss it for quids!

But have we missed an opportunity here and who gets to decide which team plays the Mariners?

Canberra FC are obvious starters, no one seems to be able to touch them this season and they harbour ambitions to enter the Football NSW competition, sooner rather than later. Makes sense. Perhaps Belconnen United are playing the Mariners because they are tied up in providing venues / facilities and on that basis it would also make sense. But I doubt you would pick Belco this season, they are not firing on all cylinders just yet. I think the second selection  might have gone to that terrific young Premier League team (avec ACTAS players) - Canberra Olympic. Hard to pass them by this season.

And then it struck me - why hasn't Capital Football orgainsed a "Youth Team" to play the Mariners? Why not? There is so much talk about the need for our best Under 17 to 20 mens players to get a pathway to higher levels of Football. I know this is only one match, but why would you let it pass by? Several football tragics called to said something like "what about the " Rockets"! Talk about a pheonix rising from the ashes. When I respond by saying what about a "Youth League type team", they say "Yeh that's what I mean". They say a few other things too but they are mostly aimed at Capital Football's seeming lack of forethought. You gotta wonder.

I don't begrudge CFC or Belco for one minute. I wish my Club had the same opportunity (WVFC just in case I get accused again by CF of having a conflict of interest).

But I am just amazed that we seemed to have missed a terrific  opportunity to put together the best of our Youth players to play the Mariners. Potentially an all Premier League Club effort. What a powerful statement that would be, a point of positive focus for the future. And we missed it! Wonder why?

Just a thought!

See you at the matches.

Australia at the FIFA U17 Mens World Cup - A Football Development Storm in the Making

Sourced from http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/craig-foster/blog/1063007/Versleijen-has-to-g

There is so much to say when it comes to the "effective" development of young players under the age of 17 years of age.

The FFA National Football Curriculum and Development plans embrace the period from when our players start particpation in the game till the time those talented few get to play in Australian Under 17 mens team, otherwise known as the Joeys.

At the Capital Football level, all development responsibility, within the current FFA National Curriculum, stops at the age of 15 years of age. The ACTAS responsibility is really all with ACTAS, Capital Football have next to nothing to do with it (leaving aside a financial contribution). After ACTAS, it's hands off at the ACT end of things at this point in time.

But the focus of this Post is the performance of the Joey's ( Australian Under 17 Mens) at the current U17 Mens World Cup. Nevertheless, member Federations have a big input, via the FFA NAtional Curriculum) into the technical competence of the players that find their way to the AIS and Joeys squads. They are supposed to the best of the best at age.

And this is where the drama begins!

The Joeys appear to have under achieved at this Under 17 World Cup, I say "appeared" because I am not so sure this is true. I am yet to be convinced and its one band wagon I would not get on in a hurry. Depends very much on how you measure success and what you are able to articulate as teh underlying problem(s).

The suggestion that the Joeys have under performed opens up a pandora's box of Football youth development issues that go to the very core of the FFA National Curriculum and Developments plans - and then to each member Federation with regard to their respective efforts in delivering quality development programs at age, performances at the National Junior Championships and later at the NTC Challenge (ACTAS).

The raw data from the last few U17 Mens World Cups looks like this:

2003 Round 1
2005 Round 1
2007 Did not qualify
2009 Did not qualify
2011 Qualified - Round of Sixteen.

Looks to me that on the face of it, the Coach and the supporting processes got them further than anyone other effort since 2003. But is this a reliable measure of "development"?

Read on, this is an interesting story and one that should give us pause for thought in repsect of two things - what we are doing for development of all players under Under 16 players in the ACT and what we might hope to do for ACT players from 17 to 20 years of age.

What Becomes of the Men's Under 17 to 20 Talented Players in the ACT?

Know who this is? He had a pathway! The rest as they say is history.

As I walk this land of Football dreams,

I have visions of many things.

Football happiness is just an illusion,

Filled with sadness and confusion.

What becomes of the broken hearted

Who had dreams that are now departed?

I know I've got to find

Some kind of opportunity

Maybe.

An NPL adaptation of the Motown classic by Jimmy Ruffin 

"What Becomes Of The Broken-hearted ".

 

 How many ACT young  male Football players, post ACTAS,  or never got to ACTAS, those in the 17 to 20 age group, have had their Football dreams squashed through lack of opportunity here in the ACT. Too many is my guess , but we will never really know. What a shame.

There is one problem, one glaring deficiency in player development in the ACT - talented male players between the ages of 17 and 20 years of age. The dissatisfaction expressed on the sidelines among parents with young men, for whom the football dream is still burning bright, is getting pretty savage and for good reason.

And what are people saying?

While ever there is a Canberra United team for our most talented women players (and lets hope the import list does not grow any larger), financed by the ACT Football Community (through Capital Football), the question will continue to be asked  - "What is Capital Football doing for our most talented male players between 17 and 20 years of age?" What indeed! Why is it happening for the women and not the men? Why indeed!

No one in their right mind would want anything to be taken away from the Women's game here in the ACT. What the young talented women players have here in the ACT is fantastic. It could use a bit of polishing at times, but otherwise, there is a pathway to a National competition opportunity resident here in the ACT. As long as the focus for Canberra Untied is firmly and heavily biased toward a ACT developed player roster, it is a golden opportunity for all young ACT female players who dream of being part of  higher levels of competition.

The Football Community in the ACT wants the same opportunity for the talented young men. They should have it!

Capital Football had done nothing to this point of any note to bridge the developmental gap for men in the Under 17 to 20 age group. Everything comes to a dead halt for talented young players in this age grouping who are past ACTAS eligibility, not in then AIS or at an A League Club!  Nothing is on the horizon.

What's the option for these talenteed young male players - leave the ACT and seek a playing opportunity in another  State Premier League Club and hope you will get noticed? Go overseas? Both are high risk very low return options. One thing is certain - our Premier League is not of a high enough standard to develop talented youth players and nor is particularly noticed by anyone outside the ACT. ACt Premier League CLubs are generally doing all they can do with little financial means to build a greater opportunity. Sad but true for the talented young player between the ages of 17 to 20 years and looking to go a lot further in Football. To move they generally require substantial family support and that is just not possible for many families.

What becomes of the broken hearted

Who had dreams that are now departed?

They often give up Football or simply drift into the local competitions, all forgotten, unless they have strong links to Premier League Clubs who keep them playing. But the dream is gone. Sad.

This is not a new problem. That also what makes it so unacceptable. We are simply admiring the problem!

John Mitchell, that far sighted Football Coach and former technical Director of Capital Football describes this "gap" as a "tragic vacant space". Absolutely correct. Mitchell tried valiantly to construct a solution to this problem here in the ACT through our loacl Premier League, with his "ANU Elite" proposal for the ANU Premier League licence. Capital Football approved his proposal, then seemingly did nothing to support and as a consequence, it withered on the vine in its second year and ANU departed from the Premier League. Mitchell seemed to have precious little encouragement from Capital Football, PL Clubs knew little of the detail of his ANU Elite proposal, Capital Football did not speak of it and did not own it, and in the end it collapsed leaving good Football people worn out. Whether it was the best solution is another matter, but one thing is certain, it was the only one in the ACT. From this initiative, Mitchell did have a large hand in producing several Football success stories that were not repeated anywhere else in the CF Premier League or indeed by Captial Football. Good ideas die hard in ACT Football, amid petty jealousies , a lack of vision and administrative treacle.

It was Mitchell, who in an interview with the NPL some time ago, came up with the best solution I have heard to fixing this matter. This is the same fellow that championed small sided games in Australia, first implemented in the ACT during his time and with great success and which are is the bedrock of the National Football Curriculum. But is anyone listening? Go back into the NPL archives and find his interview if you need a few ideas.

Many (including myself) put their hopes in an A League for Canberra bid, that, had it succeeded, would have provided a potential pathway for our most talented players, assuming it also included a Youth League team. It has not materialised and until such time as Capital Football can construct a business solution that is cost neutral to the FFA, no A League Youth team for Canberra will come into existence. Football has moved on and with it the FFA. But remember those words "cost nuetral to the FFA" - because that is what the FFA will be looking for from us in teh future given the procession of failed or financialy crippled A league franchises. We must move on.

There is a modest but significant pot of gold in the bank collected from ACT Football fans for the A League for Canberra bid. That would provide a good kick start to a Football development solution for Under17 to 20 talented players going forward. There must be a way of putting this proposition to the donors. How and who gets this rolling?

Let me put this proposition to you - if Capital Football could construct a viable, cost neutral (to the FFA) youth team for the Under17 to 20 age group, Give it a Canberra name or perhaps Canberra United also (pity Deakin was allowed to take Canberra FC - never understood that one!), place it in the most appropriate competition outside the ACT, pay the players no more than is paid to Canberra United women's players (and that is next to nothing), restrict it to ACT players, have it well coached and supported in the same fashion as any other professional team (I am thinking of the AIS squad here), set up a separate entity to run this proposal (perhaps combine it with Canberra United Women's and have it run by a separate, truly separate organisation), be prepared to campaign this  team for a minimum of two years ......

Is this proposal or something like it, something you could be interested in and support?

Yes or No?

Start pushing your Regional Representatives (they are CF Board Members), Club Presidents get the pen going, CF Board members take up the issue at the next Board meeting, anyone out there that wants it to happen should let the CEO Capital Football know by letter or email that you want something done - and some time this side of the next Men's Under 17 or Under 20 World Cups!

A Canberra Fans Forum on this subject - it would be a cracker!

Its time for discussion and action.