How will changes to youth football impact your players? Elite coach answers

It's Only Kids Football

This week, Ben and Mike return with a thought-provoking episode featuring Saul Isaksson-Hurst, also known as My Personal Football Coach. Saul is an elite coach who works with top talents like Noni Madueke and has experience at Chelsea and Tottenham academies.

In this episode, he shares his insights on potential changes the FA may introduce to youth football formats. Saul believes that smaller formats will help prioritise skill development in younger players.

He explains how smaller-sided games can lead to 60% more scoring opportunities and 25% more 1v1 situations, how to teach tactical principles like balance and rotation without losing the kids' interest and why scaling back the "helicopter coaching" approach might be the key to success.

If you're looking to develop better players while still securing wins—or simply want to avoid becoming the coach featured on YouTube for all the wrong reasons—this episode is packed with valuable advice you won't want to miss.

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