The Eddie Munnelly Podcast, Unscripted and Creative Coaching

By Ross Bennett

I personally was very keen to get Ed (Eddie Munnelly) onto this podcast, a good friend of mine and someone I have worked with in the past, a coach that is probably under rated or slightly unknown to many, but I hope this episode demonstrated just why I was so keen to get him on. I purposely titled this episode unscripted and creative coaching, as it was my first time, I wanted to go completely free, with no script or plan. Yes of course we had done podcasts previously with loose structure, especially amongst the co-hosts but never this ‘rogue’ with an external guest, although Ed being a good friend of mine helped the process. To put it into real perspective, I had never not sent a script to a guest that is coming onto the podcast, to ensure they are prepped for what I am going to ask, but to ensure the conversation is as detailed as possible. I wanted to show off Eddie’s skill set, as I knew he would give the listeners, the highest quality insight regarding coaching, regardless of how much prep (none) he had off certain topics. This highlights Ed’s high level creative nature, and exactly how he adapts within his coaching, and trust me, the podcast did not disappoint.

Eddie, who is currently a FIFA Talent Coach, working with all level coaches in Finland in a greater aim to raise competitiveness across the globe. Prior to this, Eddie was a youth player at Leyton Orient, player and coach at Crown and Manor a development programme to help young players sculpt a career in the game. He was able to pick up some sessions, and then some coaching with Tottenham development centres. After this he got his move into full time football where he worked with every youth age group in his time there. He then wanted to push himself, he felt stale and learnt the most he felt he could. So, he ventured to South America on a discovery of observing and learning from some of South America’s best football clubs and how they train. He was clear that some of these methodologies heavily influence his work today. Then Covid hit the world, and as Eddie returned to the UK, the constraint of the pandemic forced a demand for some specific training as players couldn’t do this at their club. This was the start of JusBall Performance, a coaching consultancy which Eddie talks about in detail within the podcast. He then joined a foundation called Kinetic where he managed the football programme across various educational sites that aimed to get players into the pro game via an alternative pathway, alongside upholding a good education. And it was from here that Ed took a job at FIFA, in which he is currently based in Helsinki, but unaware of his next project after September.

Ed spoke about his passion to develop players, and not really having an itch regarding 1^st team football. We spoke about the coaching role that caters for the young developing players training in the 1^st team squad, but lacking training opportunity to develop. This transition coach could be something that he’s interested in in the future.

Eddie’s coaching definition is ‘Coaching is maximising and unleashing potential in individuals’. This leads onto to lots of various subtopics, Ed goes by as part of his coaching mantra which include the below:

• Understanding your player.
• Planning a programme based on individual needs.
• Connection outside of football with the players.
• What’s the North Star and how to get there?
• EVERYONE has a strength, and something they are good at. Maximise it and work on restrictions if they are going to limit the player progressing.

Ed and I then spoke about how you the connect with players you don’t naturally connect with He spoke around the flood light and spotlight within group sessions. Focusing each session specific to 3 players under the spotlight, and the flood light giving secondary outcomes to others. This is rotated around so everyone gets the detail that’s needed over time. Ed spoke about relationship mapping with players, and whether he needs to spend more time working on a connection off the pitch.

Session planning –

• Who is in training? How does this affect the tactical plan?
• What are we looking to work on?
• When in the cycle is it relevant to the game and physical loading?
• How do we get that outcome?

Ed always plans in pictures – what’s the end game and key practice look like, what’s the development practice to prep for that session, and then what’s the first mechanical type session, to teach the details of the session. Then he has the appropriate number of progressions, and regressions able to apply within the session depending on how the group respond. One thing that is prevalent and high priority is training with the correct pitch geography and the sub conscious learning that takes place within training sessions. This essentially means ensuring your practices are done in the same area of the pitch as a game, so the transfer is more likely.

One thing Ed speaks about when discussing his session planning is the 3R’s: Repetition, Realism, Relevance. Depending on what you want your players to learn, at what stage you might put practices on that work on more of 1 R than the other. For example (and this is my example that wasn’t used in the podcast), if you’re looking at developing a winger and FB’s ability to attack 2v1 in wide areas, before you get to the game where the players need to recognise when to work off each other’s movements, when to receive the ball, how we get them the ball etc… This all creates high realism, and relevance to the 11v11 game if played in a phase of play / game format. However, if we need to work on specifically how the wide player takes their 1^st touch to allow the FB to overlap / underlap and at the timing they do it, then needs to be put into a 2v1 situation, and more repetitions of this practice are needed. So, the realism is reduced as the game is being manipulated to a very small aspect, but this aids as a development practice prior to the end game. Then the final game then shows you and the players when and where it’s possible to create a 2v1. One thing you can do in the final game is manufacture certain start positions to increase the repetitions of a certain scenario whilst still allowing the game to flow. Eddie does caveat all this detail with some info on how to make the game simple and bring it back to its roots, 22 players trying to score, and defend, and all detail needs to be linked to the simplicity of the game.

There was some good discussion and points around the variation of training, having variation within the sessions to stimulate the players, based on the players needs. This needs to ensure though, whatever the construct of the session is linked to the next practice and the goal(s). This detail of what the individual needs in relation to certain topics.  Eddie’s analogy of brushing your teeth practices as arrival activities for the individual to work on independently provides a nice angle of the player having ownership of their individual progress. This layered on top of the player having a good knowledge of their individual programme so there is clear intent within sessions. This requires though you to take your players on a journey to invest in this and maximise development. This included detailed reflective practice to give accountability to both the player and the coach on whether the session has provided the opportunity to work on the players individual programme.

Eddie also looks at the similarities of practice across the world, and the biggest similarity of playing style across the board, a possession based attacking brand that presses high out of possession. Eddie spoke about his time working with the Kinetic Foundation, where he branded his style as solution-based football, depending on what the opposition gives you. He speaks about his observations in Argentina and South America and how every session had some form of finishing in it. And more specifically within the two boxes, as games are won and lost in both boxes. Many practices arguably focus on some element of build up play, so some food for thought for designing practices. He also elaborates about three key moments within an individual function, and he relates it to being very similar to the way GK’s train. So, if a striker is doing finishing, there is a second phase shot like a rebound, and a transition to press the centre half. This allows the individual to think about the next possible action and ensure the transition is smooth. He speaks about some of these methodologies being used within his own work. Another place he mentioned that he was really impressed with was Sporting Lisbon and the intensity they trained their young players. He spoke about some of the practices he saw and how they wanted players that could run with the ball at speed.

The podcast finishes with some detail around Ed’s private work at JusBall, and how he classes his services as a full mentorship, not just coaching sessions. He provides some detail around the analysis of the individuals game, as well as the development of the individual as a person with meditation, recommended books to read, and how impression management is so important within a club.

These blogs I write, when I try to provide some key info from detailed podcasts, give me with so many challenges trying to capture so much detail. So, I hope this blog provides a good insight on the detail that Ed spoke about within coaching, but I strongly urge you to listen full to the podcast, as although Ed doesn’t have the same ‘high’ profile as someone like Mick Beale, or Chris Ramsey, you must take my word for it, this podcast is second to none in terms of coaching detail and philosophy and the 45 minute chat with a good friend of mine in the industry was a pleasure and very rewarding.