There’s a time each week as coaches prepare for opponents, when, the questions are simple. What does this do well? How can we stop them? What do we want to do? And how will they try to stop us?
Perhaps the questions are never that obvious. When your life is soccer 24-7, the process is usually more instinctual. You see a midfielders’ tendencies and subconsciously know the impact on your creators. You don’t need to spell it out. You might notice how a center back attacks a cross and realize that your crosses aren’t going to work, or maybe you see where players are denying space on one flank and realize where there’ll be opening someplace else.