oday we have the pleasure to share with you our talk with Dani Fernandez. Dani is currently coaching the U19s team at CF Gavà, fro mBarcelona. Furthermore, he is one of the teachers in the Catalan Football Association from 2015. We would like to take the occasion to speak about one of his star topics: positional game. We found ourselves listening to him with the feeling that we could spend more and more hours listening. Relax, enjoy, ... and, maybe, take some pen and paper.
Sonrisa de Gol (SdG): Could you please introduce yourself for our readers?
Dani Fernández (DF): First of all I would like to thank you guys this time we have to share some knowledge and talk about this lovely sport.
I started coaching very young because I have always been more interested in the technical and tactical aspects of the game than playing it. Even though I was not a top-level player, I used to try to understand why in each training session we would do one thing or another. I was lucky that in my first club, EFO 87 in Olesa de Montserrat, the technical director of the entity was, by then, Pep Segura (who would later work in FC Barcelona and Liverpol FC as the director of the Academy, amongst many other clubs) and he put us in the pathway to become coaches (not only to me but also to so many other colleagues). A few years later, when I had obtained some coaching badges, I joined Nàstic de Manresa together with Juanjo Beltrán where I was the general coordinator together with Marc Serra (currently coaching one of the U14s teams at FC Barcelona). It was then when Andrés Manzano, technical director of the Catalan National Teams, hired me as a coach for the U14s, with who we won the Spanish Tournament. The next year, Pere Gratacós became the main responsible of the National Teams, and he gave me the U16s, with whom we won again the Spanish Tournament. During these years I had the great pleasure to coach top-level players like Rafa Alcántara and Marc Muniesa among many others. That same summer, Josep Manel Casanova offerd me to join RCD Espanyol, where I stayed from 2013 and I had the pleasure to coach players like LLuís López, Marc Manchón, Alex López, Pol Lirola, Marc Roca, Óscar Melendo, Víctor Campuzano, Pablo Maffeo, Carles Pérez, Marc Cucurella, Javi Navarro…
I have also had the chance to coach at CF Damm in two occasions, one of the clubs with best technical and human resources and with a great desire to develop football players.
In the last years I have also had experiences at the UE Castelldefels (third division), CE Manresa, CE Mercantil, CE L'Hospitalet, and, currently, EF Gavà where I coach their U19s team and I am the responsible of the methodology of the club. Apart from coaching, from 2015 I am a teacher for the Catalan Football Association and I work in several Masters in Spain.
SdG: You have been in a lot of clubs and most of them of a very high level. Did you see big differences in the way these clubs understand football training?
DF: The biggest difference between clubs is their resources and their perspective. In Academies like Espanyol or Damm, the resources that the club give you are unlimited and their perspective is focused in the development of the player. Of course, the high level of the players allows you, as a coach, to perform a style of game where you dominate the ball. For mi, in a more personal level, the best thing of having belonged to these entities (and the same applies for the National teams) is the opportunity I had to work with people with a very high degree of knowledge. These people are the ones who allow you to grow and improve as a coach, not only from the people above but also from the other coaches. When I was in RCD Espanyol I worked with Manel Casanova, who is for me the best Youth Director in Spain. I also worked with Luis Fradua, Juanlu Martínez and Jordi Lardín among others. Also, at Damm, I have been able to develop my knowledge and my ideas, as well as it has allowed me to grow within an environment very pleasent for the coach, both in during my first stage with Cristóbal Parralo, and my second stage with Albert Puigdollers and Gerard Roca.
SdG: You have coached loads of Competitive/Performance temas. In these teams, is it mandatory to prioritize a style and an idea of play? Or are more focused in the scorelines?
DF: As coaches, we all have an idea about how to organise our teams so that they are recognisable. We shouldn't forget the individual characteristics of the players, which may not change the general idea of play but do influence its implementation.
For me, there is a series of fundamental aspects that are above the model/idea of play: the basic concepts of the game. This sport, like all colelctive sports, look to generate advantageous situations that arise from the movement of the players, the space, and the coordination of these actions.
I do agree with something that Fran Beltrán says: "football is, more than a game of styles, a game of stimuli". And everything we do on the pitch must guarantee the equilibrium of the team.
SdG: Staying a bit with this same topic, how much have you been able to implement your own way of understanding and coaching football in the clubs you have coached?
DF: When we are part of a big club, the idea of the vlub must predominate our own ideas as coaches because their aim is to have as many players from the Academy as possible reaching the last stages of their development within the club. Of course, when a club of these characteristics wants to sign you in, it also is because they think that there are several common points between thir idea and yours, as well as they think that you have the ability to make their players and team improve.
In a differenty type of clubs the most important thing is competition, and for that reason I think it is fundamental that the coach can be an active part during the ellaboration of the team so it is the most adecuate as possible to the way you as a coach understand the game, altogether with the objectives that the club sets.
I can say that, in 90% of the cases, I have had the possibility to be an active part of the process of building my team, and when it has not been like this I have tried to addapt and look for an equilibrium between the players I had, the objectives, and my own ideas. If I can chose, I like playing with a 1.4.4.2, having the possession of the ball and organise, when we don't have it, through zonal structures.
SdG: Let's take the chance that we have a big expert in positional game with us today and let's discuss some more detailed aspects of it; taking into consideration that spaces play a very important role in positional game, how important is it to lose the mark and the ways the player can do it?
DF: Well, right now I would tell you that, even though I have written about it, I would say that positional game per se does not exist. It is obvious that we recognise specific aspects and concepts when we speak about positional game, but I think that, at the end of the day, these are just labels that prevent us from deepening our understanding of the game. I think we are part of a game of advantages, which arise from how we occupy the space, how we interact with each other, and how the opponent influences our game. From here, there are some fundamental concepts (which are just comunication aspects) that allow the team to understand the game in a common way.
- Movements/trajectories: players' and ball movement.
- Spaces: create them, occupy them, and use them.
- Body position, position, and orientation.
- Situation of the game.
- Coordinative relationships between two or three players.
- Perception.
Probably there are a few more, but these ones described above altogether with the intention of each technical action permits us to identify, build, and use the advantages that appear during the game. As a player, the best I understand the environment and the better collective coordination I have, we as a team are able to solve the different situations of the game in a better way.
About losing the mark and the types of support that a player can give during the game, I think they are fundamental because they permit, through movement, to create specific advantages and make the opponents move in movements of attraction. The concept of space and how to occupy it is essential, usually, when we lose the ball. This can have 3 origins:
- Wrong interpretation of the situation: cognitive mistake
- Wrong technical execution.
- Colective inadequate occupation of the space. Sometimes we will need to get closer or further away from the holder of the ball... I think we have mistaken positional game with concepts like playing at different heights/channels, space between centre backs, drive to attract, play within the half spaces... these can't be immutable truths as they will depend on specific situations of the game. [Depending on] how the opponent's arganisation I cannot present the same behaviours if they press me in my own half than if they wait in their own half.
SdG: And still related to this topic, how does Dani Fernández introduce the space of phase and their dynamism in training?
DF: I think that this question needs some background. First of all, Seirul·lo's theory about the space of phase has allowed us to understand the game from a more dynamic perspective and leave a bit aside the concept of position, which is more static. This dynamism, which can be synthesized in being always playing, needs to be specified because, otherwise, can be understood as something excessively abstract. From my point of view there exist a series of situations of the game that we must dominate because we will always find them and go futher than the style itself:
- How do I behave during high pressure.
- How do I attack a team that do not press.
- How do I organise if I want to perform high pressure.
- How do I organise if I want to defend in my own half.
- Dominate the boxes, both in attak and defence.
If we want to be a balanced team in all these situations, we must dominate them and the changes of phase during all these situations of the game. If I decide to start pressing highit is probable that the pressure is broken and I have to come back, so I will end up (even if I like it or not) defending in my own half. And this is an aspect of the game itself, not about my style or my likes and dislikes.
If we translate this to training, firstly I have to say that I completely agree with something that Rubén de la Barrera says: "everything is coachable", everything can be and must be trained. For this reason, as coaches, we must dominate the different methodological proposals and didactical forms. The drill itself is not relevant, the important bit of information remains in its main objective and the coaching points we give our players and how we guide them. Another fundamental aspect is patience, because without it we will not find any improvements. Sometimes we want our teams to grow and develop at the same rate as we gain knowledge rather than doing it at the team's capabilities and possibilities. To design a training session I really like Javi Pérez's (currently at NAMA and former General Director of Granollers and Sabadell) proposal:
- Conceptual sessions: introduction of the concepts, situations, and gestures.
- Assimilation sessions: we focus on aspcets related to the concepts and situations as well as we integrate them with micro corrections that are related with what we want to achieve.
- Sessions of preparation for the competition.
For instance, if I wnat to work on aspects related with the build-up phase of the game against a team that presses high, it is important that my midfielders fully understand concepts like:
- Closing/opening passing lines.
- Attack the pressure of the first defender.
- Combine movements and heights as a function of the position of the holder of the ball and considering if he is being pressed or not.
- Fundamental aspects: look behind, look around, modify my body position and look far away, recognise if I am in a position to receive the ball or to attract defenders,...
I can work all these principles using several didactical approaches: passing chains, positional games, ... where I keep the coaching focus on individual aspects or around small relationships that, then, allow me to develop and evolve these drills to more complex ones where we demand that everything appears in a more natural and realistic context. We must not forget that, by training, we develop habits and that during that first passing routine we must keep in mind that aspects like shar passing, timing of the pass and the actions, speed of execution, ... must always be present.
Many times, we speak too much about causing rules and, for example, in a complex positional game demanding proper defending will lead to a better attacking phase per se. That's the best rule we can introduce. If I want to challenge my best centre back in the way he controls the ball as well as his passing during the first circulation of the ball, maybe using my best attacker as direct opponent will estimulate him more than any other causing rule I can think of.
And something I find extremely relevant and important is to speak to them in a simple language, because if we speak to them with a technical language, the player may not understand what we are saying.
SdG: With the introduction of the spaces of phase we encounter a change of paradigm because each player starts from a given position but then that same player has a specific role within the team. Which would these roles be both in attack and defence? Or they depend on the characteristics of the player? Maybe it is more linked to situation and/or ubication games? How do you relate them?
DF: The idea of functional roles, which I heard for the first time from Fran Beltrán, does not look to put the focus in the fact that we have a specific role, but that we always have something to do depending on our distance to the ball and depending on this, I will do one thing or another also considering what the context is. For instance, in a situation of high pressure, a given players becomes from being the first defender (where he will take into consideraration what type of trajectory he performs, his body orientation, etc) to be the second one in a few seconds (or even he may be out of the game and still has a defending role, because his own ubication makes him an option for the counterattack). This is why we say that roles are dynamic and, hence, these would be:
- First defender/attacker: space of intervention.
- Second defender/attacker: space of mutual help.
- Third defender/attacker: space of cooperation or far away players in width and depth. An important aspect to take into consideration when talking about the space of cooperation is identifying if I am the far away player in depth or in width. It is not the same to be far away in depth (usually in the last line), who will be aware of protecting the own goal and to make distances smaller, than being the far away player in width, where I will usually close down passing lines and angles of pressure.
Last but not least, something that Juan Salvadores always says when talking about those players who do not intervene directly in the recovery of the ball neither in the build up of the game, is that they become the fourth defenders because that distance places them in a position that provides equilibrium to the team.
The most important part of all this is that the players understand these roles and the fact that they constantly change, and that each of them will demand different behaviours with different characteristics.
Regarding situation/ubication game... I do not really like that terminology because I thinkg that it labels the game too much. In basketball or handball they do not give these kind of names and they focus their attention to deepen in the game itself.
SdG: When talking about positional game we assume, or it is implicit in the concept itself, that we are dealing with the offensive phase, but we never refer or pay any attention in the importance of the defensice structure. What defensive principles are important in this regard in order to develop a good positional game? Or the fact of understanding the game as a continuum makes these connotations dissapear?
DF: Even though the game is a continuum, that does not mean that I stop facing situations where I need to defend and recover the ball. And, above all, it is not a matter of taste, because I may like to press high but if the opponent breaks that pressure or either decides to play a long ball, I may have the ability to do a different thing, otherwise the team will conceed a goal.
First of all, and I do respect any different opinion and point of view, I am a big fan of zonal marking, because I think that given the characteristics of our game (space and rules) is the one that allows me to always have eleven players defending.
From a defensive perspective, we have some general principles that depend on the situations I mentioned before:
- Reduce space in both width and depth.
-Basic defensive positioning and its evolutions.
- Identify moments and points/areas of pressure.
After this, we can focus more on aspects of coordination between lines and organization of the defensive line, knowing how to defend both inside and outside the box. For us it is very important to control and focus on the micro aspects of the game, something that I leartn from Pep Segura: to defend properly, you must control the defensive fundamentals, which are not that many:
- Mark the player with the ball.
- Mark the player without the ball.
- Cover-switch.
- Defensive triangle.
- Defend the half-space
- Defend the overlap.
For instance, we must insist in the subject of trajectories of pressure towards the first defender in situations o the game with high pressure, something I learnt from Pere Romeu. Or getting the habit of using the defensive feint.
All this I am talking about we use to train it a lot and, sometimes, it is necessary to do it through more analytical or introductory.
SdG: Just to finish and in a more persona tone: what does it mean to be a coach for you? Who are the coaches that you look at and why?
DF: For me being a coach is a lifestyle. It is not the only thing in life, but a coach is a coach the 24 hours of the day.
Regarding the second question, in my starting days, I had three main references: Arrigo Sacchi, from whom I learnt, especially, the idea of a pressing zone. I think he really is, with difference, the best coach of the history. Also in my starting days I looked at Van Gaal, who I had the pleasure to visit many times during training sessions during his second stage at FC Barcelona. Finally, Juanma Lillo because I think that it is because of him that we have so many ideas and concepts in today's football.
Nowadays, I really like Marcelino García Toral, Mauricio Sarri, Roberto de Zerbi, Antonio Conte and Maximilliano Allegri.
Apart from them, who are all elite coaches, I would like to mention people with whom I have shared staff: Toni Clavero, Vidal Paloma, Pol García, Camilo Speranza, Carles Martínez… and colleagues from other clubs like Luis García, Aitor Maeso, Miguel Ángel Samprón, David Fernández… Also, other people I look at in coaching terms are people with whom I have been able to learn in different aspects: Pep Segura, Pep Clotet, Óscar Cano, Dani Guindos, Isaac Guerrero, Mikel Etxarri, Marc Vives, César Frattarola… And, especially, those who are part of my day-to-day life and with whom I have conversations that make me think: Fran Beltrán, Pere Romeu, Sergi Runge, Albert Ballesteros, Enric Soriano… with whom we always interchange ideas and rethinking situations of the game.
We end up our talk with Dani with the feeling that we have had the privilege to attend a magistral class. We can only say that we have learnt loads and that we feel an infinite nostalgia of those years when he taught us in the FA. We just hope that you guys enjoy as much as we did!
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