Game models in football are discussed constantly. Most coaches have strong opinions about them, but fewer can describe their own model with depth — or stop to ask where the underlying thinking is actually leading them.

In this episode: a new paper by Jones, Kubayi, Stone and Davids that reframes what a Game Model is and what it should do. The core argument is that when a Game Model becomes a script, meaning telling players what to do in advance, it reduces their exposure to the informational complexity of the real game. The player who has learned what to do stands waiting for the right moment to execute a pattern, instead of reading what the game is actually offering. Along the way: affordances and why they appear and disappear in seconds, the difference between skill acquisition and skill adaptation, constraints-led approach, coach feedback reframed as questions that direct attention rather than prescribe solutions, and a new way of visualising the Game Model itself as a continuous infinity loop with a Transition Nexus at its centre. A Sam Allardyce anecdote about the West Ham way, too, which lands well for this context.

The thread underneath: if you're coaching from a traditional Game Model, you're trying to build a team that executes your system. If you're coaching from an ecological dynamics perspective, you're trying to build a team that reads the game and adapts.

Further reading

• Jones, G., Kubayi, A., Stone, J.A. & Davids, K. (2026). Game Models in Football Coaching: An Ecological Dynamics Perspective. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport.

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