Tactics or technique for children in football?

Tactics or techniques for children in football? As a parent, having a child who is passionate about playing football is wonderful. You have a child who is interested in playing the most global sport in the world. Forget for a moment about the fact you know your child will be fitter and healthier from playing football. It could legitimately be a springboard to a career as a professional footballer. If that does not excite you, we aren’t sure what will!

However, as you start sending your child to football training, you might worry about their learning. Watching your child undertake football training in Dubai, you might notice a lack of tactical work. This might concern you. You believe your child could be a top-quality central midfielder – why is your child playing right-back today? Why do they not play in their preferred position?

And why does the coach keep changing the formation? You want your kid to learn. So why are they not sticking with one system? You don’t see legendary coaches like Jurgen Klopp changing their appearance every week, do you?

The crucial thing to note here is that tactical training for children in football is folly. Every child has to learn about tactics to make it a professional. You need that internal hard drive loaded with plays, repetition, formations, positional movement, and understanding of your teammates. However, almost every successful football nation brings football tactics into the discussion in the teen-to-late-teen phases. Why?

Versatility is essential to understanding the game

You might see your child, a de facto central midfielder, playing full-back. It might annoy you – you might see it as a dumb coach wasting their potential. However, before you start demanding answers, shift the train of thought here for a moment.

You want your child to learn tactics, but tactical education stems from versatility. Your child might never play full-back. However, in any game, there will be moments where they have to momentarily fill in for a teammate, such as a full-back. How can they truly understand the role if they have never played there?

Good coaches ask players to move out of their comfort zone and fill roles that force them to try new things. The way a central midfielder sees the pitch is a different angle and thought process of a full-back. Major players see the whole field, front and back. Full-backs see their wide angle of the pitch and across to the other side. Therefore, being able to put yourself in the role of another position and understand what they see is vital.

Good tactics involve players moving around the field like one massive organism, filling in holes and creating gaps through unique movement and positional play. If your child wants to learn tactics, playing games more about technique is vital. Why? Because they play tactical roles that they’ll need to fill in later life – even just for a moment.

Understanding our teammates is more important than rigid tactical roles.

If you want to try and play with your teammate, you need to put yourself in their shoes. While nobody expects the little 5’5″ winger to fill in for the 6’3″ central defender, they must fill in for the roles around them. This means being able to do things like drop into the full-back role, or a full-back to make the overlapping run to become a right-forward, is very important.

At the same time, a central midfielder might need to drop between the two central defenders as the full-backs push on. They might lack the physical profile to play main defense, but it’s a position commonly taken by a central midfielder today.

If nothing else, it allows a player to understand how a teammate feels and how a teammate might see the game. Today, it is common for modern coaches to play players’ out of position’ because it suits the role of the team. For example, many couples today play a full-back in a central defensive role when playing a three-at-the-back system.

Getting your child used to filling positions on the pitch outside the rigid structure of what they expect is vital. Ironically, practicing shape all day will dilute the ability to move into different classes and roles as needed. Instead, a technically-developed game of football forces players to think, adjust, and adapt this way.

Tactics are for adults – without technique, you can never make it

Today, a player who makes it to the top of the game with nothing more than a tactical brain might suffer. You won’t get a game if you lack the physique or technique. Thanks to your great tactical mind, you might become a coach. But your tactics will only matter so much without being able to play the game properly.

For a youngster, it is better to be technically adaptable enough to move into nearby positions easily – even for a moment. Instead of trying to build your young child into a tactical expert who can masterfully play one role, youth training is all about improving their technical talents. 

Why? Because without being able to have a strong enough technique to contribute, your tactics will not matter. Tactics are also easier to learn when you have the technical skills to play multiple roles. You start to understand what is being asked of you better because you have the technical foundation to help you understand the requirement.

When you need to get by purely on a great football brain that is not backed up by either physicality or technicality, though, you will suffer in the future. If the ambition is ever to try and make it as a professional in the football world, technique is always the preferred training method. Tactical shape and discipline will come in the future. For now? For now, the secret is to become technically adept enough to fill multiple roles from a young age.