Building a high-performance culture

Caudwell on player development 

We have developed a game model which has a high emphasis on outplaying the opposition. Heavily reliant on players ability to outplay opponents in both 1v1 and combination. We believe that this will create technically excellent players who display creativity and excellent decision making. 

The program focuses heavily on the individual and uses the team as a vehicle to deliver our objectives. We want our players to have a “you v you” mentality, understanding they are all on their own unique journey and that their development is not a linear process. It is important to understand how young people learn to get the best from them and to know that performance can look very different to potential. We have some robust data and grading processes that allow us to track a player’s journey both subjectively and objectively. 

Our talented player performance program especially encompasses our multi-disciplinary approach using some innovative processes, particularly when transitioning players into our first team. We have used VR programs and a cognitive testing called BrainsFirst to track the development of our players. The development of the total player occurs both on and off the pitch and the detail to this comes from all the departments working with them. Our best v best games program also allows them to test their skills against the best players from the clubs across Europe.

Caudwell on game model

The game model is a multi-disciplinary approach monitoring the success of our individuals through a player grading process considering both technical and tactical elements and also the psychological aspects of the player through decision-making on and off the pitch. Additionally we use a Smartabase app to monitor the success of our game model in each game across our phases, which considers behavioural markers from our outplaying style to our coach behaviours. 

The analysis team also collect specific data for our teams linked to our game model so we can track its success over time; for example, comparing our ability to progress the ball through the thirds of the pitch by line-breaking passes from our defensive to mid third through our centre backs. We also have coach dashboards that monitor how our coaches deliver our game model through our bespoke coach methodology. These reports are shared across the phases and also have reflective opportunities through the Smartabase app for our coaches to feed back on individual games.