Don't leave substitutes on the bench on cold days

Don't leave substitutes on the bench on cold days
By David Clarke
I was talking to one of the parents of my team at the weekend and he was furious that his younger son, who plays for a different club, had been made to sit on the bench for the whole of the first half in a match earlier that day.
It was a cold day on Sunday, with a fierce wind making it seem even colder. His son had been playing away at a rather bleak spot.
He got there half an hour early so his son could warm up, but despite going through the 30 minute warm up he then had to stand around with the other substitutes for 40 minutes. Boy was he cold.
According to the manager it was "his turn" to sit out the half. In my opinion the coach was being lazy, he didn't have to make a decision on who was or wasn't playing well and shuffle his players around accordingly.
The substitutes are roll on, roll off so they can go on for 15 or 20 minutes and take it in turns to stand for short spells.
It isn't fair to your players to make them turn up early then stand around in the cold for 40 minutes - all it takes is a game plan which you can put into action the minute you arrive at the match.
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A defensive tactic coached by players
Watching play from the sidelines is always different than when you are actually playing in the game. During matches I always get my substitutes to stand next to me so I can point out things that are happening tactically that are either benefiting or hurting the team.
Which is why during training sessions I use one of Tony Carr's Smart Sessions which gets the players to take on the role of coach and instruct the team in tactics.
The session is about movement and shape in relation to the ball. It's a 3v3 game with an extra player on each team who shouts out the tactics - he becomes the coach.
This is also great for communication between players. The team in possession has to keep the ball, while the other team - under instruction from the player coach - must use defensive positional tactics to stop the other team from passing.
You - the real coach - should stay quiet in this exercise and let your players show you what they can do. At the end give them marks out of 10 for their ability to move as a group and keep the correct shape under instruction from the player-coach.
Set it up like the diagram below: