To spark creativity, you need structure

As you can see, I’ve broken the pitch down into four zones and five channels. This is all about identifying the valued spaces that a team needs to understand, breaking it down by position and section on the pitch. 

The players can easily see the spaces and areas they need to protect out-of-possession, and attack in possession. 

When it comes to progressing the ball and being creative in attack, the areas to target are signposted so the players can go and express themselves knowing this is the right position to deliver in.

Repetition is key

Football is a game of patterns and attentional cues. The faster a player can identify these, the quicker decision-making and creativity come into play.

Once you build the structure, it’s all about repeating sequences and being attuned to vulnerabilities in opposition defensive structure, so that players are operating within that framework intuitively, without needing to spend valuable time thinking – or, even worse, overthinking, causing a rash decision or a moment of freeze.

Of course, for repetition we need a good acronym. I use the ’four Bs’ – Behind, Beside, Between and Beyond.

In practice, this principle is about reminding players that, in a build-up phase, the ball carrier must have team-mates that work hard, to provide passing options and angles behind, beside, between and beyond.

I like to encourage freedom with those options, too – dribbling, passing, clinical runs and crosses. That is where players can express themselves and collaborate on the pitch.

The ’four Bs’ principle provides the structure and repetition; the players unlock the creativity through what they do on the ball.

Bringing it to life

The best example of this in action right now is Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

A player like Erling Haaland, who acts as a true number 9, is drilled to occupy centre-backs and to always be in the frame of the goal, no matter what. That is the structure – but the creativity comes from the movements and actions around him.

My own Erling Haaland, when I was head coach of Tigres in Mexico, was Mia Fishel, the USA international now playing at Chelsea. 

At Tigres, I had the strongest roster in the competition, but my job was to take a team that hadn’t connected, or managed to win a final in three years, despite a hugely talented squad.

Mia was a huge part of that talent. I was so lucky to have a number 9 who could play off the front and overload midfields, turn, link up play and was very clean technically. 

We knew she was going to be a big player, so our challenge was to get her to stretch and go beyond, and be disciplined; to occupy centre-backs for longer.

A lot of my game plans were about blending Mia with the players around her. 

I had created a very fluid attack. We had two 10s, and players were regularly dropping in and out between defensive lines. The structure had to be precise, and Mia had to make sure she was in great positions to be creative and threatening.

Mia had to adjust, but she quickly became a versatile threat. Whenever we found ourselves in the final third, there were times she would shoot; on some occasions, she would dribble, or she would distribute to a team-mate. She was so dynamic, and almost impossible to defend.

We ended up winning a championship with Tigres, and it was one of the most rewarding moments of my coaching career so far.

Enhancing player development

Mia is a great example of how having a strong structure can also provide a great framework for reviewing and analyzing play with your squad.

My players built trust with each other on the pitch because of a clear structure. The understanding of roles and duties allows players to have confidence in each other, which, in turn, gives them confidence in their own play, too.

Part of your role as a coach is to develop players. If they understand structure, they will be able to improve their individual performance because they have a strong grasp of their role within it. 

Improved individual performance also leads to better team results.