What is Momentum in Football?

What is “energy”?

What is “momentum”?

LET ME DESCRIBE THE SCENARIO THAT UNFOLDED AT MY GAME THIS WEEKEND

First, I’m going to describe it to you as I experienced it.

Two minutes into the game, we give up a penalty kick. We’re down 1-0. The rest of the half, it feels like we are in complete control of the game. We go into halftime losing 1-0 but I feel confident if the boys keep playing how they are playing, they will turn it around.

30 seconds into the second half, we score. It’s 1-1. Four minutes later, we score again. It’s 2-1. We continue to control the game. The momentum and energy feel to be in our favor. 13 minutes before the end of the game, we score again. It’s 3-1.

But then 10 minutes before the end of the game, we give up another penalty kick. It’s 3-2. Now, the momentum and energy seems to be in their favor. They create chance after chance. One minute before the end of the game, they score. It finishes 3-3.

As I reflect on my way home, I start thinking about momentum and energy. I’m a logical person so I need to explore this more. Later on, I texted my colleague Chris Bentley about it. With one simple question, he unravels this intangible idea of momentum and energy for me.

“WHAT BEHAVIORS ARE REFLECTED IN “ENERGY”?”

Now I’m going to describe it to you as I re-watched it on video.

The game starts and the boys are flying to press the ball carrier. There is immediate pressure every time we lose possession. This high press continues for most of the game. In the first 25 minutes, the opposition attempts to build up with their backline but the high press is successful and we pin them in their half of the field.

At the start of the second half, our immediate pressure creates two quick goals. This continues throughout this half allowing us to keep the ball in the opposition’s half. This was the ‘energy’. This is the tangible player behavior that caused the players and myself to feel the ‘momentum’ of the game. After they score to make it 3-2, everything changes. The immediate pressure is gone. Upon losing possession, there is a retreat towards our goal.

With the help of Chris’ question and the video, I was able to land on the actionable, tangible description of what happened. It’s moments like this in my coaching that show me the importance of outside input to be able to grow as a coach. Chris provides me a thought to get me out of the echo chamber of my own thinking and the video provides me the visual proof of what happened. Without these two elements, I would have been stuck with trying to solve “energy” and “momentum” in training.

HOWEVER THIS DOESN’T END HERE

The next step is getting the players’ perspective about why there was a change in behavior after the opposition’s second goal.

This will be next week’s newsletter.