I wrote a blog last week about the decreasing tempo of the Veikkausliiga, and on different ways in which it could be improved. In it, I acknowledged how it was skewed by my perspective, and so I wanted to bring another viewpoint – and eventually other viewpoints – to the table.
So when I got a chance to ask Jussi Leppälahti some questions pertaining to this trend, I jumped on the opportunity. The questions were asked in Finnish, and translated to English by yours truly, so if there are any misused terms or some roughness in the flow of the text that’s all me.
Who are you? What is your current role within Finnish football? What is your football background?
My name is Jussi Leppälahti, I’m the head coach of JIPPO Joensuu, currently playing in the Finnish third tier (Kakkonen). My background as a player is from FC Honka as a youth player, and from FC Espoo and HIFK in the third tier as an adult. I retired from playing in 2010, at age 24 and I have coached for 13 years in youth and adult football.
The Veikkausliiga tempo is slowing down, does this worry you? Why? How much?
A very difficult and multifaceted question. I know that player agents and scouts relate player level to league level, and that the low tempo of the Veikkausliiga can therefore affect the likelihood of a player getting a move to a better foreign league. The low tempo of the league can also make the players comfortable with a level of play which is far from what is needed in better leagues. Thus it is probably an issue that should be discussed through facts, as you did in your blog.
The decrease in tempo doesn’t worry me per se, but it worries me if it is only being discussed carelessly on the top level, without bringing concrete and realistic solutions to the table. The low tempo is an eternal question for Finnish football, because it has to do with the know-how of the players – the actual problem is the deficiencies in player know-how, which directly leads to a lower tempo game.
How do you think the decrease in tempo affects the game, the players, in the short/long term?
Let’s start by defining tempo as the amount of actions within a particular time unit. The tempo can then decrease for two reasons: either because opponents don’t press the ball carrier to decrease the amount of time they have to make decisions, or because the ball carrying players are acting slowly when doing game actions for other reasons. Considering this notion, it is clear that if the players don’t become familiar, or if they are not familiarized with, doing game actions quicker, developing to the following level of competition becomes challenging – breaking through on the international scene is difficult. This is true both on the team level as well as the player level.
Outside of the Finnish league system there is less time and less space, which means that there is suddenly a need to do game actions in a smaller window of time.
Why do you think that the tempo is slowing?
The first big theme is that player know-how is deficient. Know-how is a sum of many parts.
Firstly, the player’s ability to make diverse movements, in other words physical motor skills, and on-the-ball skills need to be on a high level in order to be able to execute game actions explosively. The average Veikkausliiga player has severe deficiencies in both departments. You cannot produce game actions according to optimal decision making if it isn’t something that your body can physically do or if you cannot produce the technique required.
Secondly, the basic level of technique among players should be at a high level in order to achieve international levels of tempo as an adult. Among adult players today, this is possibly at an even worse level. Do players know the concept of the third player intuitively? Or the basic models of moving into a position where the ball can be played to you? Or upkeep of body position and models of movement? Do players know to pass to the optimal foot? Do players know the basic mechanisms of creating space? Do they know the basics of evading marking? Or positioning between the lines? Shadow movement? Or the basic decision models for overloads in different directions? These basic concepts of playing should be under control when the player reaches adult age, but aren’t currently. These are matters of player development. That being said, it gladdens me to see that the next generation is better than the previous one in these matters.
Another big theme is whether we are refining players in the right way from a physical and player position perspective at B-junior and adult levels. The answer to this question is unfortunately that we rarely are.
A third big theme is the ability of coaches at Veikkausliiga level to coach a higher tempo game, which would include a high line of pressure and quality progression. Let’s take this moment to emphasize that tempo doesn’t increase by fumbling vertically in a disorganized manner, as almost all Veikkausliiga teams used to do about 10 years ago. The level at which Veikkausliiga teams progress the ball in an organized manner these days varies a lot. It is heavily dependent on whether the coaches can teach their team to form quality situations for vertical progression.
How would you apportion responsibility for this development among these stakeholders: Palloliitto, the league, the teams, the coaches, the players, the players’ representation (parents, agents etc)?
I think everyone needs to carry their responsibility. We need to get better players and coaches to the adult level – in order for that to happen we need effective cooperation between all stakeholder groups.
What could these different stakeholder groups do to increase the tempo/intensity of the domestic game?
Better players and coaches aren’t developed through a snap of the fingers. We need long term, efficient work in order to work on the aforementioned themes. It is obvious, for example, that coaches want to win games. If their player material is lead footed, and the basic concepts of defending among the players is lacking, they will pull back their defensive line and guard their behinds. This, again, will affect the actions of the attacking team.
It would obviously be nice if the teams in the Veikkausliiga would, as an example, start to press higher and in a more synchronized manner, but to learn how to do that requires testing, teaching and time. It doesn’t work by just setting out to do a lot of running in the opponent’s half. Decision makers within the teams should be able to understand if the coach strives to develop new patterns in the long term, and believe in this long term thinking, if so.
Can you think of any low hanging fruits for Finnish football – ideas which would be fairly easy to implement which could have a large impact?
There are surely inexpensive things. The Veikkausliiga teams can surely afford to train for longer, as well as preparing for and recovering from training in a better and more diverse manner. Do more tactical training, use video more/better.
Nutrition is one thing that is definitely lacking which has an immediate impact on performance. Are the fat percentages of the players at a sufficient level?
The match schedule could be implemented in a better manner, because it also affects player performance as well as the ability to act explosively on the pitch.
Massive thanks to Jussi for answering my questions! I’m thinking of making this into a series of sort, with perspectives from different stakeholders of Finnish football – if you’re in a position of influence in Finnish football – maybe you’re a player, maybe an FA/league rep, maybe some other stakeholder – and feel like you want to make a contribution, hit me up on Twitter– my DMs are open – or via email.
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