Cues

If you ask veteran high level players why they did something on the field, you may not get the answer you would expect. Often high level athletes do a lot of things out of “instinct” or, as I like to say, out of habit. It is hard for the player to explain why or how it was done. It is something that has been learned over time, and at this point, is done on a subconscious level from meaningful repetitive training. As it is said, “Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent.” Ok, but what IS learned over the many hours of training that produces these fast and efficient high level skill movements from elite players? I’ll give you a cue…

A cue is a “response-producing stimulus, often not consciously perceived, that results in a specific behavioral response.” During games, the play happens so fast that many of the decisions a soccer player makes, the smaller and frequent decisions, are done without a formal thought process. Many coaches are good at telling players how to do things on the field, but tend to leave out the cues that help explain the why and when. These cues are what high level players use to "make decisions" so quickly. So... when do players learn these cues and how do coaches help this process?

Let’s use individual defending as an example. Often, you will hear coaches tell players to “not dive in” or “you have to tackle that ball.” But why and when? Why should the player not try to tackle or tackle the ball during the game? Well, there are cues that players need to learn from an early age to help answer those questions.

Some cues for a player to try to win, or tackle the ball, are a bad receiving touch by the player receiving the ball, an under-weighted (softly hit) pass, the attacking player is facing their own goal, the attacking player’s head is down, or the player takes too big of a touch on the dribble (just to name a few). Now, with practice and reinforcement from an early age, the hope is these cues would tell players when to try to win the ball. When the cue is recognized, the body reacts accordingly allowing the defender to win the ball quickly. In the pace of a game, if this has to be thought about, it will take too long for the player to make the decision.

On the flip side, the player should not try to tackle the ball if the player’s touch allows them to bring the ball under control quickly, are facing the defender’s goal, the player’s head is up, and the attacker has a lot of space and time. Trying to tackle the ball at these moments can be costly for a defender. These cues would tell the defender to try to get in a good defensive position to limit the players options going forward, try to make play predictable for other defenders, and try to delay the attacking player from going forward or playing a penetrating ball forward.

Again, the decision whether to tackle the ball or not needs to become a reaction to these cues so the player can react in “real time” of the game. If a coach or teammate is telling a player to tackle the ball or not to dive in, normally it is already way too late.

Scoring a goal is one of the most difficult things to do. Player’s who have a "nose for the goal" are some of the highest paid players in the world. Are these player’s just natural goal scorers? Were they born with a gift? Maybe it is a gift, but it is wrapped in cues.

Great goal scorers use cues to find the easiest way to score goals. A player’s decision to score a goal needs to happen before or right as the opportunity is created. Players who struggle to score goals will seem indecisive or unsure around the goal and when they have a chance to take a shot. Although they may make a good decision and create a good chance to score, it happens just a little to slow for it to work. The goalkeeper or a defender has enough time to get in a good position to stop the shot or win the ball.

A goal scorer uses cues, without knowing it, to make decisions on how to score goals. Messi’s genius around the goal, and why he is arguably one of the best goal scorers of all time, has obviously something to do with his skill, but I think it is more about how quickly he reacts to cues in the game. Many of his goals look effortless as he lifts a ball over a goalkeeper or quickly deflects the ball into a seemingly defenseless goal?

When a player has an opportunity to score a goal, there are cues that need to be recognized that will affect how and when the player strikes the ball. A couple cues a player may consider is where the goalkeeper is located, is the goalkeeper moving and in which direction, and how is the goalkeeper standing (or is the Gk standing). This should influence how the ball is struck by the player to try to score. Again, this needs to happen quickly and without much thought. The action of striking the ball needs to be a reaction from one or more of these cues.

When players are coached on how to score goals, normally the coaching points are limited to “stay over the ball, be composed, lock the ankle, and follow through” and other technical points (all which are very good).  But do we teach players the cues on when and why to strike the ball to score? The cues to how and why to strike the ball are even more valuable for a player than just the technical aspects of striking the ball. Should the player strike the ball with their laces, inside of the foot, outside of the foot, or the toe (yes, toe)? Should the shot be low or high, how much speed does the ball need, and should the player try to bend the ball? Obviously this is a lot to consider in a fraction of a second, so this is not something players can really consider. It needs to be something done as a reaction to learned cues from years of playing and proper instruction.

A couple more cues…

When and where to make a run into the 18 yard box to get a cross from a teammate?

A very difficult thing to teach a player and coaches can get frustrated by players making runs too early or too late and in the wrong area in front of the goal. A cue for when an attacking player should run into the 18 yard box would be the player with the ball pushing the ball out from under their feet and picking their head up. This is a simple cue that tells other players that their teammate is about to cross the ball.  Where and why do the players make their runs? The cues for this would be where the defenders and goalkeeper are standing (or where are they not standing), where is the player starting the run into the box, from what area of the field is the ball being crossed (closer to the end line or farther out from goal), and will the cross swing towards or away from goal.

On the defensive side of this situation, the same cues for the attacking players indicating the ball will be crossed are the same cues for the defensive players for them to react and position themselves appropriately to defend the cross.

Should the player pass the ball to a player’s feet or play the ball into space?

First, how is the player who wants the soccer ball standing? If the player is moving towards the ball, facing the player with the ball, and maybe pointing at their feet, these cues indicate the ball should be played to feet. If the player is moving or facing away, pointing into space, or is being closely marked, then the ball will need to be played into space. Often when these cues are missed, you see players playing the ball over a teammate’s head or a ball played on the ground behind a player running into space.

There are many more cues in many situations that players need to learn so they can produce a reactive, or instinctive, response to them during games. Learning and understanding these cues is an invaluable part of a player’s development during their younger years. As the game becomes faster and more complex, these simple cues need to be automatic as there is little time to really think about them during the run of play.

It is critical coaches teach these cues along side technique and tactical aspects of the game to their players. This will allow the players overtime to associate cues in the game with the technique and tactical elements of the game being taught. Ideally, players will begin doing the right things automatically without much prompting from the coach or teammates. The players will be using the cues that the game presents to them to react and perform quicker and at a higher, more effective level.