FORMER REPUBLIC OF Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley is this week’s guest on How To Win At Dominoes, the coaching podcast presented by Shane Keegan and exclusive to The42 members.
Since hanging up his boots and taking his badges, Carsley has become a highly-respected coach including stints with the Manchester City Academy and, most recently, with the England U21s under Aidy Boothroyd.
He shares the lessons learned from the first chapter of his coaching career including the importance of embracing the things he didn’t know and learning from them, and how watching Pep Guardiola’s first-team training sessions at City reminded him of the value of keeping things simple.
“When I first started coaching, I’d spend hours putting a session plan together,” Carsley recalls. “Put the goals in, put the poles in, take the poles out, put the mannequins on, take the mannequins off, put the bibs back on — it’s so complicated.
“If we want to break lines with passes, let’s just do a simple possession that encourages players to play through when they’re getting closed down. Really simple things. If we’re working on deep crosses, let’s have the players practicing deep crosses and then the timing of the run to get on the end of it. Really, really simple things.
“When you see the best doing it that simple, it makes sense, rather than trying to come up with the next genius idea where people go ‘amazing session’.
“Ultimately do the players understand it and can you repeat it in a match? Is it realistic that what your style of play looks like?”
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