The Next and Most Necessary Thing: How to instill a transitioning mindset

Apr 18

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UNLOCKING PHIL FODEN’S PSYCHOLOGY

Phil Foden, what a player. The way the man floats with the ball, in and out of gaps, flying forward planting seeds of doubt in defenders along the way. But his biggest strength is his short-term memory. Let me show you what I mean…

He scored a hat-trick against Aston Villa (April 3rd, 2024) but there is one goal in particular that really demonstrates who he is.

In the span of three seconds Foden:

loses the ball
recovers the ball himself
scores a rocket on a rope.

This is the goal.

In those 3 seconds, he goes through one of the most difficult psychological moments in football; losing the ball. The thought of having to chase after the ball for an indeterminate amount of time is often too much for players. The easy choice is to walk when the right choice is to sprint.

When a player is in possession of the ball, they are only one pass away from the objective of the game, scoring more goals than your opponent. But when you lose the ball, there is an additional step; recover the ball AND THEN start again to try to score.

This is mentally taxing.

When you lose the ball, it’s often a result of a miscommunication, misintended action, or a mis-execution. The feeling is it’s a mistake that led to losing the ball. Many players stay in the mistake because the weight of having to start all over again is too much.

The best players move on from the ‘mistake’ to the recovery of the ball without any lingering in the past. This is Phil Foden. Like a dog chasing his ball. The dog doesn’t think that the human keeps taking it, he just chases it again, over and over and over.

WHAT MAKES FODEN SPECIAL ACCORDING TO GUARDIOLA

Pep talks about what makes Phil special. “He’s a guy that makes a mistake and it’s forgotten in one instant and he’s thinking ‘next one’.” Guardiola points to Phil’s lack of memory.

Forget it and move on.

Forget it and onto the next thing.

Forget it and defend.

Think about the context of what Pep is saying. He’s talking about a young player who is trying to make it in the world of football, a world where you are given limited opportunities to demonstrate your value, one too many poor performances and you’re out.

Even within the pressurized system of football where mistakes mean you’re out more often than not, Foden is able to move on from what just happened to the next chance. Without giving more than a second’s thought.

THE CRUCIAL TRANSITIONAL MOMENT

One of the most difficult moments in football is when you lose possession of the ball. This happens because of a ‘mistake’; a misinterpretation between teammates, misintended pass, misexecuted action. Then it’s back to square one, defending. It can be mentally exhausting.

Players of all ages and all levels struggle with the moment when they change tasks between in possession to out of possession. It makes sense, it’s difficult.

The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposition. In possession, you are potentially one or two actions away from achieving that objective. The moment that you lose the ball you add an additional step, recover possession before you can score.

I have seen this firsthand as a coach my entire career. A team loses the ball and the easy thing to do is point fingers, head down, walk, how each player reacts to this moment of perceived failure is different but what is the same is that they do not move on quickly.

What players need to do is move on to achieving the next objective, recovering possession.

In some playing styles this might mean getting into a compact shape, or for other playing styles it’s about sprinting to immediately win the ball - this entirely depends on your game model.

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For Guardiola, this means immediately looking to recover the ball back as quickly as possible, not allowing the opponent to leave the area where they have recovered the ball. We can see this occurring when Guardiola yells at Jeremy Doku to run and defend after losing the ball.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T TRANSITION

Getting stuck on what just happened can be the difference between winning and losing. For example, earlier this year Brighton conceded a goal to Arsenal as a direct result of not thinking what needed to happen next.

They were down 1 nil with 30 minutes to play, the game still within sight. Brighton lose possession from what appears to be a miscommunicated pass. Arsenal quickly connect two passes and easily break Brighton’s back line leading to their second goal.

You can see their frustration as soon as the pass is intercepted.

Danny Welbeck stands in place.
Julio Enciso puts his hands up and watches Arsenal progress the ball.
Pervis Estupiñán slowly walks back before starting to jog.

This isn’t rare. I’d say this is a common response. Which is why what Phil Foden does stands out to us. He’s trained his brain to forget and act.

No time to wallow.

No time to linger.

No time to regret.

Just go. What’s next? Lose the ball, defend (whatever that means in the playing style).

PEP’S BARCELONA: TRANSITIONAL MONSTERS

Guardiola’s Barcelona (2008-2012) are known for their attacking fluidity and possessional sequences, but what set them apart is their counterpressing (transitioning from attack to defend). They would recover the ball within seconds after losing it.

Collectively, without any additional thought, they would move on to the next action after losing possession.

Like a dog chasing a ball in the park. Each player knew and acted on their transitional responsibilities depending on the circumstances.

Side note: in order to organize transitional moments you need to train them so that players recognize and act on their roles in relation to the game variables (ball, teammates, opponents, etc). This requires individual playing style principles included in your game model.

HOW TO CONDITION A TRANSITIONAL MINDSET

This kind of thinking Phil Foden applies is more likely something that is more natural to him, however, as coaches we can help players improve their ability to think about the next action. It’s actually very simple to do. It’s all about creating similar conditions in training.

It’s impossible for players to think of the next action if there isn’t a next action to act on.

With any training activity, you simply have to ask yourself what is meant to happen when the ball changes possession?

For example, in a 4v2 rondo, what happens when defenders recover the ball? It’s often that the defending players becomes the attacking player but this usually happens after some kind of bib exchange or the attacking player walks to the middle of the rondo to start again.

How is this conditioning players? After losing the ball, the game briefly stops so that the defender and attacker can take up their new positions. Once the group is sufficiently satisfied with the positions the game restarts.

Let’s really think about that. The attacker loses the ball and they have time to contemplate their mistake, get ready and then start on the next action. Is that what happens in a match? “I’ve lost the ball. Hold on, let me get ready to defend.” Absolutely not. Just rewatch Phil Foden.

It doesn’t matter what the activity is, ask yourself, what happens when the ball changes possession?

The simplest solution is each team has an objective. This is naturally present in football but you could do this with any activity.

This might mean that the defending team has to score in a small goal, dribble into a zone, or pass to a target player after they recover the ball. This forces the team/player who loses the ball to prevent the opposing team/player from achieving their objective.

Let’s go back to a 4v2 activation rondo. If the two defenders have to score in a small goal just on the outside of the rondo after recovering possession or dribble out of the designated rondo area, now both the attackers and defenders have a next action that they must act on.

You can incorporate this into any opposed training activity. Which begs the question, if you had to do an unopposed training activity, could you implement it as well? Short answer, yes, although it wouldn’t be as natural (obviously).

Start by imagining the unopposed activity as a part of the game scenario. Using that imagery, where might the player have to defend afterwards? Now incorporate a second action that the player must act on after their on-ball action, usually with either a second ball or physical movements.

The difficulty with unopposed activities is that you and the player will have to imagine a lot of it which means that the conditioning of actions is not environment dependent. It will all be fabricated and entirely planned. This is why unopposed activities should only be done if needed.

KOBE BRYANT’S WISDOM

What we are talking about here is how players transition. How quickly do they move on from the mistake that led them/their team to lose the ball and move on to the next action. This relationship with failure goes deep to the core of every person.

We all have some kind of relationship with failure. There are those who get stuck after we experience a setback and simply can’t go on. And there are those learn what they can learn from their experiences but move on. The latter group is able to keep doing the work.

Kobe Bryant explains this so well, “There’ll be times when you succeed and times when you fail. Wasting your time doubting whether you’ll be successful or not is pointless. Just put one foot in front of the other, control what you can control. If you win, great, you’re going to have to do they journey again. If you lose, it sucks, but you’re going to have to do the journey all over again anyway.”

Using that insight, we can transform his words into a powerful mental tool for all players to bear in mind as they play. “If you score a goal, great, you’re going to have to do it all over again. If we/you lose the ball, it sucks, you’re going to have to do it all over again anyway.”