Decision-Making In Football

We often look at great football players who may not be the quickest or strongest physically but who have what appears to be a natural ability to do the right thing at the right time, during a game that is packed with variables and pictures that are ever-changing.

With the modern game becoming faster-paced both in and out of possession, decisions by players need to be made more rapidly than ever before.

But is it a natural ability, or can better decision-making be coached in players?

This course brings together the expert knowledge of our football coaching and academic Mentors to help you understand what good decision-making is.

You will learn about the science behind how good decisions are made and how you can develop sessions to coach your players to make better decisions and become more creative in matches.

Through this course, our expert Mentors will guide you through the underpinning science behind decision-making and help coaches understand how they can develop players who make better choices on the football pitch.

This course will enable you to:

• To understand what decision-making is and science behind the process of decision-making
• To understand the mechanics behind each step of the decision-making process
• To have an understanding of what good and bad decision-making looks like but more importantly why these decisions have been made
• To understand how to create coaching sessions that support your players to make better decisions.
• To understand the considerations and adaptations when coaching decision-making.

01: What Is Decision-Making

In this lesson we introduce the decision-making process and consider what good decision-making and poor decision-making looks like is.

02: Decision-Making Skills

In this lesson we delve deeper into the decision-making process and looked closely at the different stages and skills that are required to make the most effective decisions.

03: The Mechanics and Theory Behind Decision-Making

In lesson three we build on the knowledge learned so far and help you understand how experience and memory can affect how decisions are made. We also look at a master at work, and assess how Xavi Hernandez acts before, during and after having possession of the ball.

04: What Does Decision-Making Look Like?

In part four we consider the principles and theories of decision-making and apply them to match situations, sharing a number of various moments in games, from an individual and team perspective, both in and out of possession, while attacking and defending.

05: Developing Decision-Making and Creative Players

In this lesson we arm you with a whole host of practice ideas from Pro-Licence Coach Ben Garner with the focus on improving decision-making and awareness. We also share ‘game-realistic’ practices to mimic scenarios within a football match to provide more challenges and pressure for players.

06: Considerations and Adaptations

In the final lesson we offer principles and advice around planning your sessions, preparing yourself as a coach, ensuring players understand the messaging and are receiving appropriate information. There are also session concepts to help you learn about where your players are currently with regards to their game awareness and ability to make decisions.

07: Course Summary

The course summary goes through everything we’ve learnt throughout the course and offers some further reading and references to help you understand ‘decision-making’ and level-up your coaching.

This extensive Decision-Making in Football course has been developed in collaboration between our MiMentor technical and academic experts, supported by our team of football coaches.