11 Questions with Christian Dobrick

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Christian Dobrick, U19 assistant coach at Holstein Kiel:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

As I have always been a player who was very interested in training processes and tactics, it was very important for my coaches in my home club to hear my opinion as captain and to integrate myself into our tactical approach. When I was just 18 years old and still a U19 player at my home club TSB Flensburg (5th division), my coach asked me if I would be interested in training our club's U13 team in the next season. It was the lowest possible league, but I figured out that I really would like discover coaching and educate our younger players in the club. So while I was finishing school, I started to become a coach. 

The following year (2016), after graduating from school, I only focused on football for a year and coached two youth teams in my home club even though I got just a small compensation for the job. The club's youth manager quickly noticed that I was very detailed and ambitious and the boys soon started to develop beyond expectations. Then my current club Holstein Kiel became aware of me and signed me up for the 2017/2018 season for the U10 team, which was my first opportunity to work with highly talented young players of a professional club.

What attracted you to coaching? What’s more intriguing now winning or developing players?

I never thought I would be a coach. And I never would have thought that it would be realistic to live from football without ever being a professional player myself. It has just happened. When I was a player I was always very interested in why we lost or won and why the coach choose to play the way we played. I was never satisfied with the answer that the opponent was just the better team. 

I was concerned with the question of why he did better and wanted an answer that went beyond individual quality. So I started to deal with tactics and training. I watched a lot of football, read biographies, specialist literature and tried to implement my theoretical knowledge as a player on the pitch in the U19 (together with my later assistant coaches Kilian Witt and Andrej Gering, who were players in the same team).

When I started being a coach myself by accident, I realized how much fun it was to develop a plan that ensured that my players not only performed their best but that everyone developed individually in the long run. But at the latest in my second season in my hometown as a coach of my U15 team in amateur football, the coaching job grabbed me because I realized how much the boys gave back to you when you deal with them as people and players in a positive way. 

Supporting and developing them by involving them in the process was so incredibly exciting. This is still one of the things that I enjoy most about football and as a coach in general – to work with people. But the higher the league in which you coach, the more important the role of victory becomes. 

Victories make it much easier for you to work and develop the players. Therefore, development goes together with winning for me when the focus is still onto the overall process and not single games. If you develop your players with passion, then you will win.

Who is the first coach/teacher that resonated with you? What stood out?

When I became a coach myself, Erdal Kösgeroglou, a very experienced youth coach from my home club, supported me in my development. His son played in my U15-team and he gave my advises and reflected my actions. Above all, he helped me to become a leader and trusted person for my players alongside the pitch. He was at my side with advice and action and so far - outside of my family and beside idols I admire - has influenced me most as a coach. 

Especially when it comes to standing by your beliefs and supporting those who are important to you, Erdal was an absolute role model for me since he is a guy who stands strong for his way of coaching but also is reflecting himself and his work. Ultimately, he also helped me to have the chance to succeed as a coach in football by providing me with substantial support and was still supporting me on my way to my current club Holstein Kiel.

What is the biggest misconception in football? Why?

In football there are many dogmas, myths and truisms that only exist for the reason that they have been unreflectedly repeated so often. Our coaches told them to us since a generation ago these things were told to them by their coaches, too, and so on. They are like the lies that were declared truth at some point as they were told that often that no one can remember what even the truth sounded like beforehand. 

Many of these dogmas, such as that small and slender players cannot prevail, are gradually shattered by reality. Therefore, it is not easy to spot the biggest misconstruction. However, the biggest misconstruction in football for me is probably to believe that without the ball you can truly control the game. 

Football is not just about structure and dynamics, but also about action and reaction. You can only dominate without the ball if your opponent has no idea how to facilitate the ball. A team that manages to have the ball and stay in the action state will always play better than the team that is just trying to deny the other team what it supposedly wants. 

If you forget that football is an 11vs11-game with one ball, you may win occasionally but never really play football. Always remember: We all started the game because we loved to play with the ball and not chasing it. And as coaches we started since we want to develop footballers and not only defenders.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

In general, it really depends in which position and at which level you're working. Many of the skills you build learning by doing – trial and error, every time. In my opinion, the most important aspect of coaching is how you deal with people and how you treat them. 

As I started as a coach, I always asked myself what I disliked about my coaches as a player in the past and how I can avoid doing these things that are toxic for the players, individually and collectively. How to push the players out of their comfort zones while still involve them in the process? How to deal with things they do which I didn't like (on and off the pitch)? 

Empathy was by far the most required skill at first. Because every coach should know that it is not about himself – it is about the players. You are not responsible for success in the first place,  but for the people who enable this success.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? 

Which would you start with?

Implementing a model of playing, organising a suitable periodisation, planning every single training session – all these points should be backed up by science.  If you have no clue why you play the way you play, how do you intend to convince your players to play this exact way? You should know every single aspect of your plan. That is the scientific part – it always starts with a proper structure and good planning. 

You have to analyse every aspect of the situation that your team finds itself in: the infrastructure, the league its playing in and the possible outcomes. But to convince your players from your plan is more like art, because you have to talk to every single player in a different way. Even though we always tell them otherwise, the players are far from being equal. So to find the right tone is an art – and again all about empathy.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

My favourite sports moment by far is the Champions League Final 2011 at Wembley. Even though I was incredible happy as Germany won the World Cup in 2014, it was the Final in 2011 that inspires me every time I rewatch the match.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Due of my answer to the seventh question it is kind of predictable I think but the team and coach that inspired me the most were clearly the FC Barcelona under Pep Guardiola. I think many coaches would pick that answer. So it is not very special in that respect but there are so many aspects about them that just make them a role-model for modern football. 

Seven players from the own youth team in the starting formation, with a coach from the own youth. They did not win because they were superior in height, weight or pace but since they were the better footballers. All their disadvantages they compensated by their incredible skills with the ball on their feet. They were playing a style that not only revolutionized football itself but the way coaches think about the game in theory, and that was, by the way the most beautiful to watch, in my opinion. And as the perfect end point, they repeated their 2009 win over the best English team of that time in England's football heart. 

However, I do not want to neglect that I am still absolutely inspired by Tim Walter and his Holstein Kiel. I have learned a lot from Tim and he also redefined my understanding of football.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into scouting/analytics?

I don’t think that I am in the position to give any advice about these things. First of all because my job as assistant coach of U19 is not much about scouting or analytics, even though it's a part of my job sometimes. Above all, however, I cannot give a good indication because at the age of 23 I am still very young in the world of football. If you fulfill your obligations every day, a lot of things just come of their own accord. Writing articles for Talentkritiker.de, watching countless games and videos and, in the end, simply practicing on the pitch helped me, to become a better version of myself and get access to the job.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for work or fun)?

Even if that sounds a bit strange: Definitely Spotify! I just couldn't do without music at work. I love to lock myself in my chamber, watch the video of our last game and listen to music to think about solutions.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst/scout? Why?

I really enjoy watching track and field athletics, especially running, because I love to run by myself. It improves me more as a person than as a coach, because it’s a lot about discipline to push yourself to the limit when you do a good and fast run. In tactical theory, however, basketball is the most interesting because of the positional play. And because of my roots, of course I also appreciate a good handball game.