Liverpool’s Martin Diggle: how simple practices can help you understand your players better
Player | Needs | Peter Glynn | 14.07.21
Liverpool’s Martin Diggle (pictured above) discusses the benefits of simple practice design and the importance of observing individual players. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.
Learning:
• How to support individual players during a practice session
• The importance of observation skills when identifying player strengths
• Redistributing time and effort into helping young players learn the game
Simple practice design can help coaches gain a better understanding of their players, believes Martin Diggle, head of coach development at Liverpool academy.
“I think that within all of us there's been a perception that ‘I'm coaching’ because I've got another practice to show,” says Diggle, who spent nine years working in elite coach development at the FA, before joining Liverpool in 2019.
“Sometimes I think we've got to reframe coaching,” adds Diggle.
“It should not be so much about the practice, it should be about my ability to observe and be obsessed with the individuals within the practice and how I help them.”
