11 Questions with Robin Schüßler

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 Robin Scüßler, U14 Coach KSV Baunatal:

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

Up to the age of 18, I never really thought about becoming a soccer coach or getting much closer to soccer. My first option was more of a coincidence, since our U19 (team at district level) had no coach. I played with most players before and should train them now. Since I am always very ambitious and want to do the things that I start well, I exaggerated at the beginning. The problem was also that the players just wanted to play a little bit together and then have a beer together.

Another problem was that my brother was playing there and I couldn't work this composition. I only stayed there as a coach for six months because it just didn't fit together.

The next chance I got six months later in my home club, where a good friend stopped working as a coach and now the position of U15 coach became vacant. He entrusted me to the team, which was not particularly ambitious, but at least had some really good footballers. This is where my path into football really started. I became more and more interested in details, read a lot of texts and books and got in touch with other people.

Three years later I got the chance to work as a trainer in a performance-oriented club. I am still active as a trainer here, I learned a lot and gained a lot of new experience.

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

In the end, my friend brought me to coaching. But to be more precise, it was the fascination surrounding this sport that has accompanied me since I was a little boy. I have been playing since I was five, even if never at a good level, and have followed every event in football. No matter whether it was on TV or live in the stadium. I loved the atmosphere, the struggle and the ambition of the players and above all the beauty of this game.

Around the age of eighteen I became more and more interested in football, read more, watched more videos and, above all, had a lot of fun standing and coaching on the pitch. It just felt good to help young players become better players. 

Which was probably a misconception, especially at the beginning. I could only motivate myself, had no idea about tactics or how to train properly. I used everything my own trainers had taught me. I quickly learned that this would not help the players, so I used even more time to improve and learn.

Above all, Spielverlagerung.de and the authors Martin Rafelt and Rene Maric brought the game closer to me and I devour their texts.

For me it is often a mixture of both. Without development there will be no success in the long run. Success can be very short-term and if you limit yourself to success, it may be that such methods tend to have a negative impact on development. 

For me, development means something long-term, which can also lead to success in the short term, but above all, in the long run, is more likely to lead to success. I myself am someone who always wants to win. But I also had to learn that, especially in the youth field, development is a gradual process and has to be accompanied by patience.

Above all, I also believe that the more successful a team or a player is, the better its development will go.

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

This is a difficult question that I cannot answer easily. But I can say which coach has had the most influence on my development in recent years. At the time I was just 20 years old and did my Uefa B license course at the sports school in my national association. At that point, I really thought I knew a lot and had a very arrogant way of showing it. I was only 20 years old, hadn't really achieved anything and really thought I knew a lot. How I should be wrong. My trainer at the time had a lot of experience as a trainer in the youth area in all NLZS. He also trained Manuel Neuer and Julian Draxler, among others. You could feel that in every conversation and in every training session with him. His sense of people was fantastic and he had a very good eye for details. 

Ultimately, we had an exam where we should coach a team ourselves. I was suddenly very nervous and my exam was anything but good.

It was very honest in the debriefing and I was told that my test was not good, that players would lose the fun of football if I always coached like that. Even if the way and the words were very hard for me at that time. It made me think and reflect a lot.

After that I changed a lot about my appearance, noticed how important it is as a coach to be good on the pitch, to coach well and not to be the center of attention. Since then I reflect on every training session and always try to improve.

What is the biggest misconception in football? Why?

The biggest misunderstanding takes place on the edge of the playing fields and in the bars and in most sports programs. The beauty of football, the aesthetics, is underestimated or not even seen. For many people, football consists too much of struggle and passion, but the essentials are not considered. How often do great games take place, are there great actions on the field and how often is it better to discuss possible wrong decisions by the referee afterwards. I wanted better reporting and a culture of discussion in football, where they just talked more about the content, about tactical things and about great actions from great players. I also wish for more playing time. Less acting and shooting the ball away. The game is played because it's fun, because it electrifies and excites people, let's not break it.

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

I would like to learn from the beginning how best to get players in the desired direction.

How I could best inspire the players for my ideas and then implement this in training. It is about being able to implement your ideas on the pitch as best as possible, being able to go ahead as a coach in training and thereby making the players better. Above all, a coach should be a professional on the training ground and know how to deal with the players so that they can make the best of themselves. Theoretical knowledge is very important and absolutely necessary so that you know how to design the training. But the most important thing in my opinion is still direct coaching and improvement on the pitch, preferably with the training concept that sets the framework.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Which would you start with?

It's probably a mix of the two. It ties in well with what I wrote earlier. You always need scientific knowledge and scientific approaches to make the training and development of the players as good as possible. At the same time, a good implementation in training is also required, which I would rather call art. As a kind of training or teaching art, so to speak. Accordingly, it begins with science and ends with the art of training.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

For a long time I was an ardent Bayern fan. Even as a young boy I emulated my father and ran around with a Mehmet Scholl jersey. My worst moment was the lost Champions League final in Munich against Chelsea.

The following year was a lot better with the win at Wembley at the last minute against Dortmund. A dream came true and I was happy for at least a week. Until then, I thought I would never see my favorite team win the Champions League.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

There are several coaches, players and teams, even away from football. I love sports per se and watch a lot next to football, including basketball, football, handball or ice hockey. In every sport there are very inspiring coaches who inspired and influenced me, for various reasons. 

In football I grew up with Pep Guardiola and the great Barca team. They were impressive games and I loved that kind of football. It really looked like art, it was played very smoothly and especially the El Clasicos captivated me. It was all the nicer when Pep Guardiola switched to my favorite club and I could be even closer to him and his way of working. I watched training once and was also able to watch many games in the stadium live, including one of the best games of FC Bayern Munich in recent years, the 7-1 win in Rome. FC Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola was the best FC Bayern I've ever seen.

Other impressive trainers for me are Marcelo Bielsa, Jupp Heynckes, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann. All stand for an active and attractive style of play.

This style of play is the beauty of the game. The beauty, which was the motivation for me to emulate these coaches. Since I had always played defenders myself, I was also inspired by more defensive players and coaches who stand out because of their passion. Diego Simeone is an example. Jürgen Klopp is also an incredibly great trainer because he is someone who was able to adapt and develop in the best possible way and was always successful. My favorite players are Sergio Busquets, Toni Kroos and Thiago, all players who are the heart of their team. They set the pace, stand out because they are technically so incredibly good.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into

coaching/scouting/analytics?

I would suggest that he should always be open to advice. Always listen to people who have a lot of experience in their field and have already experienced a lot. At the same time, however, always remain critical and question things, because too often in football things are viewed as facts and too little questioned. It is also important to know that you can never know everything. Especially at the beginning there is a big risk that you think you already know a lot. There is more and more to know, it is always a question of further accumulating knowledge and developing your skills.

Finally, of course, always try to question and reflect again and again. What could I have done better? How could I have done it better? What can you change in the future? Etc

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for fun not work!)?

I have to say that it is the ball. Far away as a coach, I am still a footballer and love to stand on the pitch and play with my friends. In addition to studying and doing a lot of work as a coach, it is simply a nice distraction and change. You forget a lot and switch off from everyday life.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work?Why?

A good question, since it is always coincidental that you take something from other sports. I like to play other sports, also because of my sports studies and so I come into contact with people from other sports. It's always a little bit of every sport. You can take a lot out of handball, where it's all about hardness and assertiveness, but also about patience and trying to fill in small gaps. I have a lot of respect for gymnasts, also because I recently had to do it myself. It comes down to so many small details, so many subtleties that decide whether something will be good or bad.

Runners and triathletes who have to run very long distances are very remarkable. The physical and psychological effort is enormous and it always takes a good sense to overcome these obstacles.

Then there are other sports such as hockey or football, which are still significantly wider in the analysis than football. In football in particular, you can analyze every little thing and draw conclusions from it.