By Anthony Hazelwood - The ability to successfully control a ball during a receiving or dribbling action is crucial to meet individual and team tactical agendas. This activity aids the player to practice a first touch into a vacant space action and to follow it up with a dribbling change of direction activity. Technical Activity:
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Defending By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART ONE Introduction 2016/17 Defensive Failures PART TWO Transition to Defending and Counter-Pressing PART THREE 2017/18 Team, Data and Key Players PART FOUR Guardiola's Defensive Principles INTRODUCTION - A Difficult Week 04/04/18 - Liverpool 3:0 Manchester City (Champions League Round of 8 - 1st
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Defending By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART TWO Transition to Defending and Counter-Pressing Transition to defend and counter-pressing These are the main principles of play in transition that Guardiola always tried to carry out on the field since Barcelona and Bayern Munich seasons and they deserve a particular focus,
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Defending By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART THREE 2017/18 Team, Data and Key Players The 2017/2018 team, data, defense principles of play, key players "It is important that the tackle belongs in your team as a skill, but the tackle is the last choice; I don’t train tackles. I
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Defending By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART FOUR Guardiola's Defensive Principles General Pep Guardiola's defense principles of play It is very remarkable to understand how Pep Guardiola has always based his defense phase on some main principles of play and he realized them on the field with all the teams
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By Wayne Henderson - Sometimes rather than be Specific as to which definitive element of goalkeeping you, as a coach are looking to work on for a certain session, You may need to work on as many different elements as you can within a short space of time. you might be having your first look
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By Mike Saif Question - I do a lot of possession work during my training sessions, but I still think we could do a better job of keeping possession during games, especially in midfield. What can I do to improve this? I don’t know exactly what kind of possession exercises you are doing with your team,
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By Mike Smith Don’t pass to your line. One of my coaching mentors used to use this rule during training and scrimmages to help a very young and inexperienced high school team develop vision, composure and move the ball. Initially, we would revert to “traditional” soccer during games( which wasn’t the greatest), but mid way through
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By Philip Joe Cauchi The ultimate aim in soccer is to win by scoring more goals than the opponent. To score we need to push players forward and create scoring opportunities. This is however easier said than done, as the opponents will make it very hard for us to create the space needed to have
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By Steven Smith Area Size: Full width and half field of length Time: Full progression will take about 12-15 minutes Setup: Two lines of four defenders face each other in a 40-yard gap in functional back third. Execution: Ball is passed from members of the same line and on coaches command the ball is passed to
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Attacking By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART ONE Introduction Manchester City's 2017/18 Team and Key Players PART TWO Formations and Attacking Shapes PART THREE Formations and Attacking Shapes Continued PART FOUR Counter-Attacking Set Plays INTRODUCTION "I'd rather my players to thank me for improving them, rather than for the titles."
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Attacking By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART TWO Formations and Attacking Shapes Formations and attacking shapes on the field This is the basic starting line up with the back four (1-4-3-3): Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Sané. In the second season with Guardiola as
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Attacking By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART THREE Formations and Attacking Shapes Continued Formations and Attacking Shapes Continued When the opposition decides not to press the start of the moves and to defend the width, leaving the center players as defenders of the depth, the offensive phase is usually poor,
Continue readingWORLD CLASS COACHING Pep Guardiola Attacking By Luca Bertolini Table of Contents PART FOUR Counter-Attacking Set Plays Counter-Attacks Manchester City scored 28 times (18% of all goals) after a counter attack during this last 2017/2018 season. This following scheme sums up the average percentages of each match; 3% of counter attacks ended with a goal. We
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By Anthony Hazelwood - Passing and receiving a soccer ball during a match is a penetrative or possession-based action between a pair of soccer players. The ability to perform these actions will be dictated by a decision-making process guided by the presented on-field scenarios. To solve these on-field situations, these two points should be considered:
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By Steven Smith Just as one vs. one attacking is an essential part of the success of a team, so goes the importance of defending in the same setting. The skills required for this includes technical ability to defend as well as tactical decision making. The role of the first defender is to delay the attack
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By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity has three groups of three players playing in a 3 vs. 3 +3 activity. The idea is to have a fluid possession game. The objective is to transfer the ball from one neutral player on the sideline to the other. This activity is a muscle tension activity that targets
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By Tom Mura Question - I am getting complaints from parents about playing time for their kids. Some players get more playing time than others because they are better players. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this? ************************************************************ Some coaches like to give equal playing time for all players. Other coaches give
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By Scott Housden - Moving across the goal at speed whilst being ready to save a shot is of course paramount to any goalkeeper. This drill will encourage your goalkeeper to not only move at speed across goal but also attack the ball with ease when shot stopping. Set Up The set up as shown in
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By Mike Smith Running 3 forwards almost always guarantees scoring opportunities. Using 3 defenders is an aggressive approach. 3 player midfields simplify things and a sweeper is a great safety valve. While each approach has its pro’s and con’s, together, the 1-3-3-3 is an aggressive approach which can catch an opponent off guard and really advance
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By Philip Joe Cauchi Introduction: It is futile having to have a solid back line if they are constantly under pressure. At one point the opponents will find a crack where to penetrate and get a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Frontal marking is the ability of the frontal block of the team (midfielders and attackers) to
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By Steven Smith Area Size: Approximately 55 yards of width including space between the grids Team Size: Groups of 8 Time: 15 minutes for full rotation of all teams Setup: Two grids are set up 20X20 yards with a 15-yard gap in between them. Teams are divided into three groups of 8 (or other combinations of
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