How being skilful can unlock intelligent play

The modern game needs players who have the technical ability to solve the problems the game presents. Here, we examine how this ability combines with three other factors to help players unlock intelligent play.

The greater the technical base of a player, the more they can affect the game. But exactly how can players use their skill intelligently?

Well, intelligent play consists of four main elements:

• intentions
• perceptions
• technical actions
• individual tactics.

Combining all of these skills and actions will lead to intelligent play.

But what do each of these elements really mean? Let's take a look.

INTENTIONS
This is what your players are aiming to do once they recognise the situation they’re in.

For instance, if your player receives the ball in the opposition's half, their intention should be focused on attacking, penetrating and trying to score. After all, this is the main objective of the game. With that in mind, they may intend to do this by passing forward, dribbling with the ball or travelling through gaps and into space.

PERCEPTIONS
This is all about your players having the scanning, planning and awareness skills to see if they can achieve their original aim or if they need to change their approach.

For example, the gap in the defence could close, the original pass may not be on, or the opponent’s defensive cover could mean that dribbling isn’t an option anymore. In this situation, players will need to think quickly to find another solution. They’ll need to scan to get vital information from an environment that’s constantly changing in order to make good decisions and change their intentions.

To be able to do this effectively, players need to be comfortable receiving the ball. This will allow them to look up and search for options rather than looking down to focus on controlling the ball.

TECHNICAL ACTIONS
These are the skills that your players are actually capable of doing, such as passing, turning, dribbling and shooting. If players have been provided with a great experience and plenty of opportunities to practice, they’ll have a large toolbox of skills they can use.

While it’s still important that they develop social, mental and physical skills, having a good technical ability opens up the possibilities on the pitch. In this scenario, after seeing the gap in the defence has closed a little, your player could still be technical enough to pass through the small gap. But they could also quickly turn to look for other options or travel into different spaces.

INDIVIDUAL TACTICS
Finally, this is how your players implement their actions. How they change speed, use disguise, use their strength and body movements to solve the problems in the game and create issues for their opponents.

To round off our scenario, an example of an individual tactic would be your player dribbling (technical action) and keeping the ball close to entice an opponent to close them down, drawing them out of position (tactic). This will then create space for one of their teammates to exploit.

All players can use individual tactics, and they probably have good experience of doing so without realising it.

Remember playing tag in the playground? Looking for gaps, timing your run, hiding behind others, adjusting the speed of your run, using body movement to avoid being tagged. They’re all individual tactics. A means of getting your own way to achieve your objective.

Overall, all four core elements inform your decisions in a constantly changing game. So, helping players develop their skills in all of these areas will allow them to show intelligent play on the pitch.

EURO 2020: ENGLAND V CROATIA