The Coaching Letter

with Ciaran Deely, PhD
Learn Adapt Perform

Hello everyone,

I’ve wanted a bit of space in DSS to share something you can bring to training, an idea I’m still working through myself, and a few things worth your time from elsewhere in sport. With clubs sitting down to review the season, I keep coming back to something Kevin Mulcahy raised in our DSS Autumn Webinar Series. Most of us could open our winter plan and show you how the running will progress. Where on the same page could we show you how our players will get better at playing together?

FROM MY NOTEBOOK · What are we asking the manager to do?

Michael Carrick’s United went in two down to Roma after nine games without a win and came out with a 3–2 victory. You could see the appeal of the man who took over as interim. Sometimes a dressing room needs a clear message and a bit of belief before the next half starts.

A permanent manager also has to decide how the team will play in two years’ time and who needs games now to get them there. That goes for our clubs too. If the chair wants six U20s brought through, I’d ask one question before taking the job. Will you still want me to pick them if we lose our first three league games?

🔗 See link 1 at the bottom of the newsletter.

ONTO THE PITCH · Give the next pass a chance

Here’s the full DSS 3v3+3 Practice Plan to use with your players. For the first block, follow just one support player. As the ball travels to a teammate, are they already moving to give the receiver an option, or do they only start moving once the receiver is in trouble?

At the break, ask the receiver when they first spotted the next pass. Play another block with the same numbers and space. See whether the support arrives any earlier. That gives you something specific to look for when you bring the practice back next week.

A PLAYER DEVELOPMENT QUESTION · Who surprised you this season?

Before your review meeting, ask each coach to write down the name of a player they changed their mind about this year. Beside the name, finish this sentence: “The first time I saw it was when...” You might find the player had improved. You might also find they’d been capable of it for months and moving them to wing-forward finally gave them a chance to show it.

Members can find the End of Season Review – for Manager & Coaches under Community → DSS DNA. Fill it in separately before comparing answers. Log in to the DSS Coaching Community.

THE JOURNAL CLUB · What could the receiver see?

Aksum and colleagues looked at 1,686 possessions at the European U17 and U19 football finals. Players scanned less often under tighter pressure. When you run the 3v3+3 above, watch the passer as well as the receiver. A ball delivered a second earlier might buy a teammate the time to look over their shoulder. I’d try that before stopping the game to tell the receiver to scan again.

🔗 See link 2 at the bottom of the newsletter.

TWO QUICK THINGS FROM ELSEWHERE

Andy Moran on The Football Pod. If you have ten minutes in the car, start at 17:00. The Mayo manager gets into improving individual players. At 33:00 the conversation turns to 2027. Even when you’ve won Sam, somebody still has to sit down with the corner-back and work out what he could add to his game.

Harry Kane and the Ballon d’Or. After winning it, Kane spoke about how long he had to wait and work for his chance. Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich, Leicester. Imagine asking for a report on him after each loan. I’d keep that in mind the next time we’re tempted to put a ceiling on a 17-year-old.

🔗 See links 3 and 4 at the bottom of the newsletter.

ONE FOR THE DIARY · Upcoming at DSS

5–6 November. I’ll walk members through the End of Season Review on Thursday, followed by a Gaelic Football practice plan and video on Friday.

9–13 November. On Monday our Discussion Drop-In tackles Positions, Potential & Player Development. On Tuesday we’ll show you around the DSS App and Coach Tyler, the new AI-Assistant from DSS that members can access 24/7. The Drop-In video and blog follow on Thursday, and Barry Mullane has a hurling practice plan and video for Friday.

Log in to the DSS Coaching Community.

ONE FOR THE DIARY · Upcoming outside DSS

Saturday 14 November · Creating High-Performing Management Teams. Cork’s online workshop is one for anyone putting a backroom team together this winter. I’d bring a practical question along. When a player is hearing one thing from the manager and another from a selector, whose job is it to have that conversation?

🔗 See link 5 at the bottom of the newsletter.

DISPATCHES · What I’m doing at the moment

A fair bit of my DSS time is going into the website, the blog and the DSS Knowledge Hub. The job at the minute is getting the resources into places where a coach looking for something on a Tuesday evening can actually find it. I’m also working on this letter and the walkthrough of the season review. I’d love to hear which part gets your management team talking.

Away from DSS, I’m bringing Caiden to soccer, tennis and swimming. Watching from the side as his dad gives me a different view of coaching. At swimming, once he pushes off the wall, the coach has to let him have a go. It’s got me thinking about how often, on a football pitch, we keep talking to a child right through the thing we’ve just asked them to try.

OVER TO YOU

What’s one thing your team can do now that they couldn’t do in March? Hit reply with an example. I’d be particularly interested in what you changed at training that helped it happen.

Regards,
Ciaran

Dr. Ciaran Deely
CEO
DSS Coaching
www.DSScoaching.ie

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LINKS FROM THIS LETTER

1. Michael Carrick’s half-time conversation against Roma
2. Aksum and colleagues on scanning in youth football
3. Mayo manager Andy Moran on The Football Pod
4. Harry Kane on the work behind the Ballon d’Or
5. Cork coach education calendar and workshop details