ChatGPT Teaches Us To Finish
Your coaching job isn't safe.
Good morning!
We’re going to talk about finishing this week. I’m going to share some ways I train players to become better finishers, how ChatGPT is going to take our coaching jobs, as well as my frustrations in Malawi where there seems to be the worst finishers I’ve ever seen.
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Neat Reads
Neat Reads is a segment where I share an article or post that interests me and relates to our weekly theme.
Mohamaed or “@MoSquare” on Twitter wrote an in depth statistical analysis on Victor Osimhen. What interests me about Osimhen is that he resembles a “Proper #9” better most strikers these days. You can read it here.
With such a large focus on build up play, players who can drop into space and receive, players who carry, etc. we focus less on what makes strikers good - striking.
Victor Osimhen isn’t inept with the ball at his feet. However, he’s at his best when he’s getting onto cutback crosses or through balls from behind him for him to finish.
ChatGPT is Taking My Job
I’ve used ChatGPT to help me make schedules and plans for things before. I’m a bit useless at doing that.
I wanted to see how much further I could push this AI tool beyond just making a calendar for me. Is ChatGPT better at coaching football than most coaches?
I asked ChatGPT: Good morning! Can you give me a mind map of finishing in soccer?
And it produced this:
FINISHING IN SOCCER
Technique
Proper Shooting
Form & Power
Accuracy
Positioning
Creating Space
Finding Gaps
Anticipating
Decision Making
Shot Selection
Placement & Power
Timing & Vision
GAME SITUATION
1. Counter Attack
Speed and Timing
Breaking Defenses
Score!
Set Pieces
Communication & Coordination
Utilizing Height & Positioning
Score!
Not bad for someone who's never played football before.
I followed.
Me: Thanks! This is a lot more in-depth than some coaches can go into. Can you teach me more about how to finish in soccer?
ChatGPT: Sure, here are some tips on how to finish in soccer:
Proper technique: The first step to being a good finisher is having proper shooting technique. This includes things like keeping your head down, striking the ball with the correct part of your foot, and following through with your shot.
Positioning: Knowing where to be in front of the goal is crucial to scoring. Strikers need to be able to read the game and anticipate where the ball will be played in order to put themselves in the best position to score.
Decision making: Making good decisions is key to being a good finisher. This includes things like shot selection, knowing when to take a touch or shoot, and being aware of defenders' positioning.
Game sense: Having a good understanding of the game and the situation you're in is important for finishing. This includes things like understanding the pace of the game, recognizing when to make runs, and knowing how to take advantage of certain game situations.
Practice: Practice makes perfect, so it's important to work on your finishing regularly. This can include things like shooting drills, practicing in-game situations, and working on your technique.
Mental preparation: Being mentally prepared to take a shot and score is just as important as the physical preparation. Visualization, positive self-talk, and confidence are all crucial for success in front of a goal.
By focusing on these key areas, you can improve your finishing in soccer and increase your chances of scoring goals.
Know what’s frustrating? This isn’t too different from a document my old boss and mentor Darryl Hellam created.
I don’t think ChatGPT is taking up a coaching role any time soon, but it is very interesting to see how much we can use it to help us. My mind wanders all the time. I have a hard time expressing my ideas clearly. So for me ChatGPT is best used as a sounding board for ideas when your friends are busy or live on the other side of the planet.
Exercises of the Week
Exercise of the Week is a segment where I share some of my favorite relevant exercises I have used in training before.
You’re getting two exercises this week because I’m feeling generous.
Before you crucify me for having lines in training please consider that this type of training in isolation is necessary for such a technical skill. How come goalkeepers seldom do small-sided games? Why is it so often one on one technical work?
This first exercise is great. I use it with my U14 girls group here in Malawi. Each player gets anywhere from 30-50 shots with each foot before we move onto our next exercises in training! Great for getting reps and easy for coaches to spot mistakes and correct technique.
This next one is great fun. Players love to see their friends run 100m to chase the ball they shot over the goal. I stole this game from a coach and now friend who visited Ascent Soccer last year. Rory, if you’re reading this I’m not going to keep giving you credit for ideas I take from you - I’ll be ruined.
Additionally, the conditions above encourage realistic finishes. You’re welcome to add or take away any. I find it useful the reward players with bonus points in our very competitive academy set up here in Malawi.
This exercise also allows for quick transitions when the team that was defending the shot gets to grab a new ball and play at match pace. A speed that is very hard to get consistently in training.
Coaches Corner
Coaches Corner is a segment where I ramble about training this week and answer some questions I get from Substack or Twitter.
Ramblings
I’ve never seen worse finishers before I came to Malawi. In fairness, it isn’t their fault. Players here aren’t developed outside of our academy because there isn’t any infrastructure. For context, players here don’t have grass pitches, goals and footballs - almost all kids play barefoot (which makes it difficult finding properly fitting shoes - a conversation for a different day.)
Players in Malawi play on dirt pitches in their community with a really worn out football or a ball of hundreds of plastic bags that have been baked together over a fire to form some sort of ball.
In addition, there are no goals. Maybe there’s a makeshift goal made of tree branches but for the large part most young people here play short passing possession games. For certain football purists this could be a dream. The realty is it makes it incredibly difficult to turn natural footballers and athletes into someone who can finish.
It is exhausting seeing my teams create a dozen chances and put just one or two on target. You know what’s going to happen before the ball even gets to the striker.
The solution? Isolated finishing training like in the first exercise.
I’ve used that exercise all the way from U12 boys to several of our youth international players.
It works. It’s effective. It’s realistic.
Q&A
I didn’t get any questions from my first issue last week. I’ll try not to take it personally.
Leave a comment this week and I’ll answer it in the next newsletter!
Final thoughts
Thanks for joining me this week. I hope you learned how to create perfect strikers. When your U14 wonderkid secures a move to Bayern Munich or Nyassa Big Bullets please give this newsletter a shout out.
If you enjoy Mo’s article about Osimhen let him know. He doesn’t write a lot about players coming through now - instead focusing on fun players from years ago.
I’m always interested to hear your thoughts and ideas so please feel free to send me a message or leave a comment above in the Q&A section.
I’d greatly appreciate it if you shared this newsletter with a friend or every single person you have ever met.
See you next week!
Other ways of finding me:
Medium: https://medium.com/@cameron-herbert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CamH___
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-herbert-football-coach/
What is your go to exercise when planning a session?