“Simplicity is genius” - Bill ShanklyPass & move
Manchester United legend Paddy Crerand tells a story about how every time Sir Matt Busby got together with Bill Shankly to talk about football, they would discuss it in such a simple way that any six year old listening could of easily understood what they were talking about.
Manchester United legend Paddy Crerand tells a story about how every time Sir Matt Busby got together with Bill Shankly to talk about football, they would discuss it in such a simple way that any six year old listening could of easily understood what they were talking about.
The Liverpool way, ‘pass and move’ was built on a simple passing game that was honed by playing hours of five a sides and adapted small sided games. Shankly first experienced this playing with his fellow miners in his home village of Glenbuck. The village, which had a population of less than a thousand inhabitants managed to produce an incredible 50 professional players over 50 years.
Brian Hall, one of two players, along with Steve Heighway who were scouted by Shankly playing at their University, compared the learning he did at University with his experience at Liverpool’s training ground ;
“I spent 21 years of my life being educated and going from 1+1=2, to x+y=6 and then onto vector spaces and quantum theory. The higher up the educational ladder I got the more complex it became, but at Melwood they turned that philosophy upside down. The football teaching became less complex the further up I got. The game is essentially a very simple one."
Shankly was certainly not the first coach to adopt the ‘pass and move’ style. After the end of the 2nd World War the great Spurs coach Arthur Rowe had great success with his ‘push and run’ team.
It was all about passing the ball and then moving to create an angle, to find some space and keep the ball.
Adapted Games
Playing lots of games in training was great fun for the Liverpool players and Shankly would adapt the games to bring out the necessary training. For fitness and speed he had players play 3v3 on a pitch 45 x 25 yards. Players who could only last about five minutes were soon playing for thirty. When Shanks wanted players to work on their first touch he would have them play 5v5 on a small pitch so that they had to control the ball in an instant.
In Stephen Kelly’s biography of the great man he writes;
“Just about every morning whether it was wind, hail, rain or snow, he would slap a player on the back and say ‘Great to be a live, boys, all you need is the green grass and a ball.”
The emphasis on the 5 a sides were creativity and skill, but if some players were struggling there was always Shanks and his team of coaches on hand with some words of wisdom. Emyln Hughes explains further;
"People missed what it was all about. They would just see us do a bit of jogging then go straight into small groups for games of 5-a-sides, or maybe a bit of ball work. They never saw the little things that we were doing, teaching the players when to pass, how to move into space. Sometimes players would be corrected for passing to someone who was marked for instance. I was blessed as a player, I found it easy but some didn't and they had to be taught."
"People missed what it was all about. They would just see us do a bit of jogging then go straight into small groups for games of 5-a-sides, or maybe a bit of ball work. They never saw the little things that we were doing, teaching the players when to pass, how to move into space. Sometimes players would be corrected for passing to someone who was marked for instance. I was blessed as a player, I found it easy but some didn't and they had to be taught."
Small details made a difference. For example he would use cricket stumps for goal posts as he knew there would be lots of arguing as to whether it was a goal or not. It made it competitive and passionate.
John Barnes
Shankly legacy was passed on down through subsequent managers, Paisley and Fagin who were both coaches under him and Kenny Dalglish. John Barnes who played under Dalglish found the philosophy had not really changed; even years after Shankly had left the club.
“Liverpool practiced small-sided games every day and it was high-intensity stuff. We used to do a very light warm-up, jog around the field a couple of times to loosen the limbs, do a few stretches, put the cones down for goals and then go into five-a-side or eight -a-side.
It was the same every single day. There was no tactical work, none whatsoever. All the strategic stuff was done within the small sided games. Liverpool believed that everything we faced in five-a-sides would be encountered again on match day. That was why the five-a-sides were so competitive. Liverpool’s training characterised Liverpool’s play – uncomplicated but devastatingly effective.”
Shankly legacy was passed on down through subsequent managers, Paisley and Fagin who were both coaches under him and Kenny Dalglish. John Barnes who played under Dalglish found the philosophy had not really changed; even years after Shankly had left the club.
“Liverpool practiced small-sided games every day and it was high-intensity stuff. We used to do a very light warm-up, jog around the field a couple of times to loosen the limbs, do a few stretches, put the cones down for goals and then go into five-a-side or eight -a-side.
It was the same every single day. There was no tactical work, none whatsoever. All the strategic stuff was done within the small sided games. Liverpool believed that everything we faced in five-a-sides would be encountered again on match day. That was why the five-a-sides were so competitive. Liverpool’s training characterised Liverpool’s play – uncomplicated but devastatingly effective.”
“Practising on smaller pitches, Liverpool were always going to play a short-passing game. We only trained with small goals so there was little long-range shooting. We passed the ball until we got close enough to score. The philosophy centred on passing, making angles and one-touch football.”
Spanish Lessons
Real Madrid coach, Manuel Pellegrini while at Spanish club Villarreal, was interviewed in the Champions magazine. Here he he explains his philosophy and why they never play 11v11 in training, but how all his tactics are worked out in small sided games of 5v5.
“In an eleven- a-side practice game, a full back will intervene against a winger an average of seven times. In ‘reduced- space’ football, they intervene 14 times and in a shorter time span. A striker in a practice game will have, on average, seven clear scoring chances; in ‘reduced’ football it is 30.”
Spanish Lessons
Real Madrid coach, Manuel Pellegrini while at Spanish club Villarreal, was interviewed in the Champions magazine. Here he he explains his philosophy and why they never play 11v11 in training, but how all his tactics are worked out in small sided games of 5v5.
“In an eleven- a-side practice game, a full back will intervene against a winger an average of seven times. In ‘reduced- space’ football, they intervene 14 times and in a shorter time span. A striker in a practice game will have, on average, seven clear scoring chances; in ‘reduced’ football it is 30.”
The small sided game has all the ingredients of the eleven aside except the involvement is so much more concentrated. The players both attack and defend and are always involved in the game.
Back to Shankly in Liverpool, when he was not at the club he would often be outside playing football with the local kids. They would knock on his door and ask him out for a game. When Patrick Collins from the Daily Mail rang to ask for a quote, Shankly’s wife Nessie told him that he was out playing, Collins asked for how long and Nessie simply replied,
Back to Shankly in Liverpool, when he was not at the club he would often be outside playing football with the local kids. They would knock on his door and ask him out for a game. When Patrick Collins from the Daily Mail rang to ask for a quote, Shankly’s wife Nessie told him that he was out playing, Collins asked for how long and Nessie simply replied,
“Until he’s won of course!”
“We built Liverpool's training on exhaustion and recovery with little areas of two-a-side, three-a-side and five-a-side in which you work like a boxer, twisting and turning. Training was based on basic skills, control, passing, vision, awareness."
Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
Paul Cooper
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