How to Get Your Players to Talk to Each Other

Good communication between team members is an essential ingredient in a good team. A pass should be called for and players need to be told whether they have space to turn or are closely marked.

Start talking with your goalkeeper

Communication on the pitch is very important, and judging by the amount of correspondence I’ve had with our coaches, it’s a topic which concerns a lot of you. In my experience one of the most important areas of communication is getting your goalkeeper to talk to the defenders. The goalkeeper is often pictured as isolated at the back, but he is the catalyst for the rest of the team to talk to each other. So use him...

He is the organizer of the defense

* Get him to organize your defenders when you are facing dangerous free kicks or you have given away a corner.
* It is important that you practice this in training. Make sure he knows it is his job.
* He's going to have to shout to get their attention, and the more he does this in practice the more it becomes second nature in matches.
* Communicating through your goalkeeper keeps him in touch with his defence. You need him to talk to the midfield as well.

Walk and talk your players through a move

1. During training get your team to walk through a move started by the goalkeeper who is shouting instructions to his defenders. “Dave’s on” or “John’s made a run”.

2. Get them calling to each other so they begin to realise that getting the ball from A to B is a lot easier if everyone is shouting their positions on the pitch or telling each other who is in a good position.

YOUR GOALKEEPER IS VERY IMPORTANT IN COMMUNICATING WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM, IF HE IS A GOOD COMMUNICATOR THE TEAM AS A WHOLE WILL COMMUNICATE SO MUCH BETTER.

Key coaching tips

Draw up a list of key words so your players know what to shout - TIME, MAN ON, SWITCH, LINE... and what they mean!