Go Sports Life

You can't help but learn when you coach players of this calibre- you even learn about human relationships.  Players at this level don't accept what they're told simply because of the authority of the person who's saying it.  We have to show them that we're right.  Here, the old story of 'the Mister is always right' does not apply.  In fact, it generally isn't applicable, and even less so with highly developed players, which is the case with any Barcelona player.  the relationship I had with them taught me one of my main virtues as a coach.  The tactical work I encourage isn't about there being a 'transmitter' on the one hand and a 'receptor' on the other. 

I call it the 'guided discovery'; that is they discover according to my clues.  I construct practice situations that will set them on a certain path.  They begin to sense this, so we talk, discuss things and come to a conclusion.  But for this to work, the players we coach must have their own opinions.  I would often stop practice and ask them what they were feeling at a certain moment.  For example, they'd tell me that they thought the right back was too far away from the centre back.  Ok, let's bring them closer to each other and see how that works.  We'd try this out two or three times, and I'd ask them again what they thought.  This is the way it worked, until all of us came to a conclusion.  This methodology is what I call the 'guided discovery'."

Pgs 20-21