Playing Out From the Back: Are You Willing to Lose Ugly First?

So you want your lot playing out from the back. Good. First, an honest question, and your answer decides everything: are you willing to lose ugly for six weeks?

Because that's the deal nobody tells you. Building from the goalkeeper — short passes, working it through the lines instead of launching it — means your kids will give the ball away in horrible places while they learn. You'll concede daft goals in October. If you and the parents on the touchline can't stomach that, don't start, because the worst thing you can do is teach it on Tuesday and ban it the second it goes wrong on Saturday.

Even Guardiola's Barcelona — the side that turned the keeper into an outfield player and made this whole thing fashionable — didn't trust it overnight. It took time and nerve at the very top. Your nine-year-olds get the same grace or it doesn't take.

The trade-off is the whole story here: short-term pain for long-term players. Teams that hoof it win more under-10 games and produce fewer footballers. Teams that play out lose ugly in autumn and look a different animal by spring. You're choosing which one you're building.

Monday, the six-week version: week one, keeper rolls it to a centre-half who can pass, nothing more. Build from there. And before week one, the speech to the touchline: "We're going to give some away. Don't groan. They're learning. Clap the brave pass, not the safe one." Mean it.

It leans entirely on the backwards pass and good angles — get those first. Ask the Gaffer for the full progression for your age group. We go again.