Arsenal U18 head coach Dan Micciche: “I like my teams to be attacking, aggressive and adaptable”
Game | Style | Peter Glynn | 04.06.2021
Arsenal U18 head coach, Dan Micciche, outlines how he developed a concise playing identity based on three core principles.
Learning:
• How to develop a clear playing identity
• Critically analysing your game model
• Simplifying your game model to a series of headlines
Arsenal’s new U18 head coach, Dan Micciche, sums up his playing identity in three words: attacking, aggressive and adaptable.
The three concise headlines are a result of 12 months’ work developing a personal game model - a project which has helped clarify the 41 year-old’s beliefs on how the game should be played and coached.
“I think your playing identity is something which you can summarise in a sentence,” explains Micciche, who was promoted from his role as U15 and U16 phase lead to U18 head coach on June 1st 2021.
“So my personal one, in its most simplistic form, is: I like my teams to be attacking, aggressive and adaptable.
“I can remember that, I can relate to that and I understand what that means. I know why it's important to me and how I'm going to do it.”
A reference point to evolve and adapt
Critically analysing his beliefs about the game has been a beneficial process for the former MK Dons manager and England U16 coach, who joined Arsenal’s academy in 2018.
“What I wanted to do was basically have a reference for myself, somewhere where I could store information and I could adapt and evolve my work,” explains Micciche, who has also coached at Crystal Palace, Tottenham and MK Dons.
“I just found it really useful in terms of organising my ideas and sense checking it.”
Part of Micciche’s process involved asking others in the game to review the content and challenge it.
“I think it's easy to talk about philosophy and culture and playing style, but can you then put it onto paper?” he adds.
“Then can you then critically analyse it - whether it's yourself or people that you trust who are going to challenge you and expect a bit more detail and check that it is it aligned.”
“I like my teams to be attacking, aggressive and adaptable”
Headlines and underpinning detail
Micciche explains the ‘3 As’ that make up his playing identity are underpinned by layers of detail that link to different phases of the game.
“I break the headlines down into the principles of:
build-up
progression
finishing
And then vice versa in the defensive zones of the pitch,” he explains.
“Your principles are the things that you want to do in the different zones of the pitch in order to play the way you want to play.”
How the opposition may operate and other ‘what if’ scenarios should be considered if a game model is to be effective, explains Micciche.
“You can see something on the TV and the ball goes from A to B to C, but if the opposition block that off, do you understand what you're going to do next? Do you know how you're going to solve that with the ball?
“It’s important to know the ‘what ifs’ - I think that's what the best coaches do.
“And that's something that I'm trying to develop all the time so that me and my players know what the ‘what ifs’ are in different situations.”
“Your playing identity is something which you can summarise in a sentence”
Applying a game model on the grass and developing a ‘what if’ plan
How the principles of a game model are applied in training sessions and games is key, explains Micciche.
“We can all talk about how we want to play in a certain way.
“We can talk about the ‘what’ but it's the 'how' that is important: how this works on the grass and how you then link your analysis to your grass work.”
One way in which Micciche helps bring his playing identity to life is through ‘trigger’ words which help break down complex ideas for players.
“From a playing style perspective, I think you have trigger words which you can use with players.
“To the outside world the words might not make any sense - but with you and your players, they do. The trigger words can build a connection with the players. You build terminology which allows them to understand concepts very quickly.”
Knowing what information is for coaches and what is for players is a crucial part of the process, explains Micciche.
“As coaches we might need to know how certain concepts work, but the players don't need to know all that.
“More importantly, the players need to know why it's important and how to do it.”
“You build terminology which allows them to understand concepts very quickly”
A game model is ‘ever evolving’ and never finished
During Micciche’s four years working as England’s U16 coach he was part of the original group of FA national coaches and staff who helped create the England DNA game model. As part of the process, he learned that a game model is never finished.
“A game model is ever evolving.
“Dan Ashworth [Former FA Technical Director] used to say to us at the FA: ‘there's no point printing it because the next day it'll be out of date’,” explains Micciche.
“I can resonate with that. A game model is ever evolving, it's never finished.
“But at least you've got something to work from which gives you a structure and something to work from as an individual.”
Summary:
Develop a game model which is concise and easy to communicate to players
Update your game model based on current trends
Tailor your approach to the club and context you work in
Reflection:
Can you summarise your playing identity in three words?
Do you have a framework for understanding and coaching the game?
Have you ever asked for feedback on your game model? Who would you ask?
