Brad Friedel plays Goalkeeper in the English Premier League for Blackburn Rovers. He has played in three World Cups for The USA National Team and played at the top level in Europe for many years. He grew up in Cleveland Ohio. He played college soccer at UCLA and professional soccer in The MLS, with the Columbus Crew. Friedel talks to PSG International about systems of play, game preparation, coaching methodology and his new Academy for youth players in his home town of Cleveland, Ohio.
1. PSG International: Brad, most if not all teams in The English Premier League play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 System of play. Most, if not all teams play with a zonal back four. What are the major reason behind this and do think the 4-4-2/ zonal back four is the best organization/formation in the modern game?
Brad Friedel: I do think the 4-4-2 system is the best and most efficient to play. I also think 4-5-1 can be efficient as well especially if you have a lot of pace in the midfield so when you win the ball you can break very quickly while also making it difficult for teams to win the midfield against you.
Playing 4 in the back is the easiest formation for players to understand their duties on where and when to force players coming at them with the ball. If you play 3 in the back you need 3 very strong athletic players that are good 1v1 defenders and also must have two wingers that can attack and defend alike for 90 minutes up and down the channel. In my opinion playing 3 in the back puts too much pressure on these players.
2. PSG International: During a week of training leading up to playing an EPL league game as most teams don’t change formation frequently, what are the major elements that the coaching staff will work on from a tactical view during the week of preparation, and does each game differ that much from a preparation standpoint?
Brad Friedel: As each game is different each week of training should be different as it should be geared towards who you are playing. Our staff is very good at spending about 1/3 of the time training tactically on the opposition, 1/3 of the time on our tactical shape attacking and 1/3 of the time on our defensive shape according to who we are playing against. Sometimes games come very fast over here and that is where the experience of the players plays a key but for the most part our staff structures the training around what we need to work on to give us the best opportunity of defeating our next opponents.
3. PSG International: From a GK standpoint and how you relate to playing with you back four or defense, despite obviously keeping the ball out of the net, what are the major skills the team seeks from your? Playing out the back V Kicking long? Communication and organization of the back four? Going up to score a goal in the last minute if you are trailing? (Which I believe you did?)
Brad Friedel: The best save a keeper can make is the one he does not have to touch.
This is done by communication. I think a keeper needs to be in touch with his defense and help them keep their concentration and shape as they tire. The next most important aspect is a keeper can dictate the tempo of the game by his or her distribution. The game over here is very quick, the quickest in the world in fact, and sometimes it is important to try to slow it down. A lot of people have a misconception of the game over here as a long ball game. This is untrue and there is an abundant amount of skillfull players here. The reason the ball is distributed longer than in most countries is because every team pressures the ball so high up the pitch and you do not want to take risks in your half. If you pressure even Brazil in their half they will look to play long! Keepers can help or hinder their teams if their distribution is off the mark.
4. PSG International: Football has changed very much in the past 15 years in terms of coaching methods. I read an article recently that you (and other players) are now using Yoga as part of your training routine. What methods in the past number of years have you seen and use (outside regular training) that have had a benefit on the modern professional player?
Brad Friedel: Diet, for one, has probably changed the most. Each club now has nutritionists and chefs that dictate what goes into each of our bodies. Weight and body fat measurements are taken often to make sure the diet is working as well. I do Yoga every day now and wish I had done it from day one of my carreer. Along with Yoga there is much more emphasis on soccer specific and even postition specific weight training as well as CV workouts and cooldowns in the pool.
5. PSG International: What is a typical day for the Blackburn Rovers Team and Players, in terms of schedule? How many sessions? Team meetings?
Brad Friedel: A typical day would be players to arrive at 10:15 in the morning.
Keepers will start at 10:30 and outfield players will start at 11. During the season we will train once a day for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes followed by a swimming or gym session. Our chef prepares lunch around 1 to 1:30 which is then followed by a pro zone meeting. We are usually done by 2 to 2:30.
6. PSG International: In terms of analysis of games, how much is done at Blackburn Rovers, and at what level of depth does the analysis go to? Obviously, I would suspect a team review of the previous game and analysis of up and coming opponents. Do players have individual meeting specifically to define their responsibilities in games?
Brad Friedel: We have the whole nine yards here. We have a system called Pro Zone which tells the manager how many sprints we did individually and as a team. What distances were covered, how many shots, saves, you name it they get it. We then have a team meeting on Monday and through the week we each have individual meetings. Sometimes they are about what we did in the past or what we need to do in the future, it all depends on performances.
7. PSG International: You played in the MLS. What’s your impression of the continued growth of the league and the standard of play on the field?
Brad Friedel: First of all I think it is great the MLS exists and still exists after the amounts of money the owners have lost up to now. Speaking to various people some clubs are now moving into profit which is a huge step in the right direction and means the league will probably be here to stay. As for the standard of the league it is not what it is in the larger leagues in Europe but it is good and continues to progress each year. I think in the first year of the league they had better individual players around the league and a big dip occurred for a few years. I feel they have addressed many of those issues and in a few years time it will be very competitive. One thing I like is there is not a 'best' team. Anyone can beat anyone which makes the league exciting. I just wish they would put FAR less emphasis on the way the champion of league is considered via the playoffs. The champion of the league should be the best record over the course of the season. The MLS cup should be secondary. It promotes that mediocrity can win you a championship!? That should not be the way.
8. PSG International: American players are making an impact playing in the stronger leagues around the world. There are now a good amount of USA Players in England. What are some of the factors that get these players to that level? (Youth, college, MLS and national team programs?)
Brad Friedel: I would say the best way the other American players get a chance over here is by more of us doing well, not just playing over here but making an impact. I don't think our youth system nor College system has anything to do with players getting over here at the moment. Of course the youth national teams do but not the youth club systems so much and definitley not College. The rules the Colleges put on players prohibiting the amount of games and training sessions is geared towards football and basketball not soccer. You have to play year round as the rest of the world does to be able to compete and develop. I think the MLS now has a large impact as there is a place for coaches from over here to go see players in first team professional action which is always beneficial and players have the ability to gain professional experience which was not available when I was 18.
9. PSG International: You now have an Academy in Cleveland (Your home town). What is the goal of the program and how does it operate?
Brad Friedel: The goal of Premier Soccer Academies, my academy in Cleveland, Ohio is to help develop a professional environment free of charge to live in residents in the United States. This is the first one that is in fact free of charge and it is based on academies from all over the world. It has taken us 5 years to develop this and we are opening our doors for the next school year. We have the best coaching staff assembled in the United States (and that is saying something as there are a lot of good coaches in the states now) for youth development and I hope people will catch on to our philosophies. We are not about winning games or the State Cup. We are about developing individual players to make the next step in their soccer lives, without regard to where they come from.
10. PSG International: What are some of the differences/similarities to the methods and organization used at the youth Academies in England as opposed to your academy in Cleveland?
Brad Friedel: Our academy is based on methods from Bolivia, Mexico, Holland, England, Germany, Norway and Chile. We have had many conferences about what is and what is not important when developing kids. We have pretty much the opposite outlook as most people in the youth club system in the states. We are just about the work alongside a few clubs in the states that we have found to have our same beliefs and are excited about that.
Our youth system is complicated because of the vastness of the country.
Hopefully we will have a model that can be replicated in many areas to help people develop kids, not just win games a brag about it, but get them prepared for the next level.
11. PSG International: Looking back at your career, what have been the key ingredients to making your career successful, who are key figures that have helped you and how did playing club in Cleveland, college at UCLA and professional with The Columbus Crew help or hinder you?
Brad Friedel: All my experiences have helped me. The negative ones more so than the positve ones. At the time I went to UCLA that was the highest level
on offer. My goalkeeping coach Tim Harris took me under his wing and
helped mold me into the person and goalkeeper I am today so I would say UCLA was the turning point for me. Sometimes where you play is not the important thing. The important thing is to always be humble and adapt to the places you are with respect. If you do that you will always learn a lot about yourself and others during the worst or the best of times.
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Premier Soccer Academy
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