England mastermind Gareth Southgate drawing inspiration from NBA and NFL

Jay Asser 11:05 09/07/2018
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  • The best coaches in the world often have the success they do, not because of what they know, but because of their ability to recognise what they don’t.

    That seems to apply to Gareth Southgate, who has England in the semi-finals of the World Cup in part because of his willingness to think outside the box.

    Southgate hasn’t just gone outside the box though – he’s gone outside his sport.

    If you’ve been paying attention to the Three Lions’ gripping campaign in Russia, you’ve noticed how they’ve managed to turn set-pieces, a previous crippling weakness, into a strength. That hasn’t been by accident.

    Many of England’s finishes on the end of set pieces have been the result of picks, or screens, of all varieties. Whether it’s been a single player occupying a team-mate’s defender, or multiple players springing free the target of a cross, Southgate has constructed a number of choreographed plays that take inspiration from the NBA and NFL.

    Southgate has attended NBA and NFL games over the years, including the past two Super Bowls, and has spoken to coaches in both sports to get a better idea of how to create and operate in space.

    It’s not a one-to-one comparison, of course. There are a total of 10 players on the court at any given time in basketball, compared to attacking teams in football having around eight players near the box during a close-range free-kick or corner. While there’s much more room to work in on a field than on a court, the amount of bodies in front of goal makes it a congested affair. American football is comparable in terms of players on the field, but especially on passing plays, the spacing isn’t nearly as tight as it is during set-pieces in football.

    That means Southgate has had to take principles from those sports and adapt them for his side. It’s not as if it’s the first time a football coach has recognised the value of borrowing concepts from other team sports – Pep Guardiola’s interest in the NBA is well known – but the 47-year-old Southgate, who is in the midst of his first major gig, deserves credit for bucking the conventional approach despite not having the cache that other managers do.

    And the results speak for themselves. After not scoring once on 72 corners during the 2012 and 2016 European Championship, as well as the 2014 World Cup, England have banged in four goals off 29 corner attempts at this tournament. They’ve also found the back of the net once from a free kick.

    If England go on to win the whole thing, Southgate will rightly be lionised. But even if it doesn’t, in fact, ‘come home’, it shouldn’t be forgotten how Southgate’s against-the-grain tactics have jolted England’s international hopes and laid the groundwork for what could be a bright coaching career.

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