All Posts by Mike Saif

0 ‘Hit the Ball’ 1v1 Game to improve Explosiveness

By Alex Trukan

The ‘Hit the Ball’ 1v1 Game is aimed at improving explosiveness and speed with the ball in a 1v1 competitive scenario. That will help the players to dominate duels against the defenders, improving the quality of ball control on the speed and under pressure. The organisation of the exercise, however, is not only focused on the dribbling content but also contains a passing element what makes it more competitive and match realistic.

Set-Up and Directions

Organise a 15x25 yards area with four cones, 5 yards apart, on each side. Place a ball on each of the end line cones. In 5 yards into the middle of the area, place another 4 cones in the same line as the end line cones. Divide the players into pairs. One player starts with the ball on one side of the middle area, while his partner positions himself on the opposite side of the central area.

The game starts with a player in possession of the

1 Possession - Breaking the Lines

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 40 x 45 yrds Teams: 5 v 5 (+ 5) Time: 20 Minutes Objectives To maintain possession To penetrate the lines of the defensive team Decision making to use the wings or the middle of the field This possession exercise focuses on maintaining it while looking to move the ball forward beyond the

0 Playing Out with the Goalkeeper

By Patrick Kasperitis -

The modern goalkeeper is required to use their feet almost more often than their hands. Players like Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich FC and German National Team) and Hope Solo (Seattle Reign and US Women’s National Team), whose stories involve relatively late changes in position to playing as a goalkeeper made their ability to play with their feet seem almost natural. On the opposite side we see fantastic shot stoppers like Simon Mignolet, who plays for Liverpool FC in England, come under immense criticism for his relative short comings playing with his feet.

The skills they use to help their team to play out of the back are things that we can train. We want to try to replicate situations they might see in the game. One of these examples is when the goalkeeper is asked to swing the ball from side to side. Our defenders in front of us are under pressure, we want our team mates to be able to be comfortable playing the ball back to us so that we can get to the

1 UEFA Champions League Final - Part 2

By Stevie Grieve

Evra pressing out of the defensive line to close down Messi, Rakitic or Alves at RW

As Messi plays the deepest of the Barcelona front 3, Patrice Evra was tasked to push out of the defensive line and play close to Messi, usually with Paul Pogba but often with Vidal close to Messi (Pogba moved to RM on 30 minutes for 6 minutes then back to LM).

When Evra pressed ahead of the defensive line, it often would leave a large space for Suarez, Alves or Rakitic to move into, which would draw the Juve defensive line over and leave them ‘over compact’ and vulnerable to a switch of play, particularly from Messi to Neymar or Jordi Alba.

Messi has been closed down but not enough to impact where he will dribble into and release the ball as the exit diagonally hasn’t been sufficiently closed enough as the

2 Sprinting and Sliding Game

By Alex Trukan

Sprinting and sliding game is designed to improve acceleration and speed over short distances. That will help players to win more running and 1v1 duels as well as forward runs with and without the ball. In the presented exercise, that is connected with sliding and intercepting skills to make the physical side more context specific and engaging.

Set-Up and Directions

Organise two gates 3 yards wide and one cone in between as shown on the diagram below. Set the players in a line behind the cone with one ball each. The coach should be positioned opposite the

0 Possession Under Pressure

By Renato Lopez Moreira - 

Today's featured activity is a small-sided.

It is a 5 v 5 game that is played on a 27 x 27 yard area for 10 minutes.

The players are not limited to a certain number of touches. The passes can be short or medium in length, with players moving without the ball to create options..

10 consecutive passes worth 1 point.

When the the ball leaves the team that touched it last is on defense.

Exercise

The Attackers exchange passes between them trying to

0 Dnipro v Sevilla - 27-05-2015

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Europa League Final May 27, 2015 National Stadium; Warsaw, Poland Dnipro 2 - 3 Sevilla Logically they were respected, but Sevilla wasn’t expecting such resistance from the Champions of the 3rd Division of Ukraine. Never-the-less, loaded-up and ready to fight, Dnipro caused problems for Unai Emery’s men, even though

0 Finishing and Combination Play in the Box

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Georgia Gwinnett College Women's Soccer Activity 1 There are three sets of cones set up in a cross pattern (as shown below). The distances for the crosses are eight (8) yards – five

0 Warm-Up for Mind and Body

By Patrick Kasperitis -

A warm-up is intended to be a wake-up exercise for the mind as well. We need to prepare our goalkeepers to be able to focus on a specific task with many different stimulants around them. This warm-up exercise will incorporate functional agility movements with handling and playing with the feet.

The exercise is set up as below. I generally look to do all footwork at least off to the side of the goal for two reasons: 1) preserve the integrity of the ground inside of the goal area, and 2) when doing work with our feet, I ask our goalkeepers to try and avoid taking touches inside of the frame of the

2 6 v 4 Attacking Game

By Renato Lopez Moreira - 

Today's featured activity is a offensive game starting from free kick.

The game is played in a 75 x 75 yard area for one minute at a time.

The play is restarted after goal, shot out of bounds or when the ball leaves the playing area.

Exercise

The game starts with a corner kick. The

0 UEFA Champions League Final - Part 1

By Stevie Grieve

Juventus v Barcelona

In what proved to be a fantastic game of football both technically and tactically, the team with the most flair in attack proved to be the winners, but it was a game of defensive organisation in both teams, particularly in defensive transitions where both teams were incredibly quick to get back into position form an attacking phase, then become organised. Some clever tactical implementations where used, such as Ivan Rakitic and Dani Alves rotating positions defensively when the right back zone needed covered, and Gerard Pique playing as a single ‘defensive target’ when Barcelona defended.

We also saw Massimiliano Allegri block the influence of Lionel Messi in a penetrative way, not stopping his influence completely as he was able to open up the play with his range of passing and be a danger even 40m from goal, instead of the position we have become accustomed to seeing him in recent years as a false 9 and being the

3 Passing Sequence with Repeated Sprints

By Alex Trukan

The presented exercise is aimed at developing repetitive sprints ability with a passing content. From the conditioning perspective, the practice is focused on improving players’ ability to keep the amount of sprints high throughout the game, without a decrease in the quality. Therefore, it is especially relevant for improving players in 1v1’s and running duels. That is integrated in the passing practice ensuring players are motivated and improving in the technical corner.

Set Up and Directions

Organise a square of approximately 20x20 yards. Place two poles, 10 yards from each side of the square as shown on the diagram below. Divide players into groups of five and give each player a number from one to five. Every group of

0 'Find a Friend' Game to Develop Aerobic Power

By Alex Trukan

Passing and support exercise ‘Find a friend’ is an excellent method to develop aerobic power and capacity in a fun and engaging scenario. The main focus of the practice is to help players in developing an ability to sustain large volumes of physical effort due to faster recovery capacity. From the technical perspective, the presented game has various returns including: passing, receiving, support, creating space and movement. It is also highly adaptable to all abilities levels, numbers and age groups.

Set-Up and Directions
Organise a 25x25 yards box with four small boxes of 4x4 yards, one in each of the corners. Set one neutral player in each of the boxes, and divide the rest of the group into pairs. Two pairs are attackers and have one ball per two players. Minimum one pair is defending. Area size and

1 4-2-3-1 Defending Numbers Up Against 4-2-3

This article is an excerpt from our new best-selling book, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 by Stevie Grieve.

The Blacks play 4-2-3-1 v the Yellow 4-2-3 formation. The Yellows play 9 v 10 and when they win possession, look to counter attack quickly over the line with passes and dribbles. Players must not go chasing the ball and remember the distances between players are important, and moving forward to close down passing angles while closing off passing lanes into midfield are a crucial element of the defensive strategy. Above, the right back is in possession. The full back plays close to the winger, leaving a back 3 as the far side full back tucks in. The 2 holding players cover the spaces making an ‘M’ formation, playing close to the attacking midfielder and stopping passes into him. The 3 attacking midfielders press the ball and closest passing options, with the far side player playing almost in line with

0 Transition and Switching

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 24 x 26yrds Teams: 2 (6 v 6 + 1) Time: 20 Minutes Objectives To keep switching the field and move the ball away from pressure To transition from high press defense to offense Create angles of support and quick decision making This is a simple possession practice with multi

0 4 v 3 Defending Game

By Renato Lopez Moreira - 

In this exercise we work on a 4 v 3 defensive situation with a possibility to counter attack for the defense. This game could be used as a progression of last week's exercise.

The defenders have three small goals to defend while the attackers will have a large goal and goalkeeper to defend if they lose the ball.

The game area is played in a 27 x 38 -yard area. It's played for up to 2 minutes at a time.

When a goal is scored or the ball leaves the

0 Claiming Balls Out of the Air

By Patrick Kasperitis -

Claiming balls out of the air is such a difficult skill. It involves so many different variables that the goalkeeper has little control over. We have to work with our goalkeepers to make sure that they are able to block out as many of those variables and distractions as possible and focus on:

• tracking the ball
• using good footwork to keep body in good position
• going for and jumping for the ball with strength and confidence
• Catch and hold onto the ball while coming out of the air

There are many exercises that can try to improve these individual aspects. This exercise will work to improve the

0 Movement and Rotation in Possession

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Coach Georgia Gwinnett College Women's Soccer Activity 1 There are four teams of four players each divided into the following groups. In each end zone there will be two players from one team. Then,

0 Reaction Save Exercise

By Patrick Kasperitis -

Whenever a goalkeeper is making a save there are equal parts anticipation as reaction. Sometimes though the reaction side becomes the most pivotal of these two. Reaction saves are about concentration, body quickness, and at times creativity. Here we have two exercises. One that is a warm-up involving shuffling/jumping and working to improve the quickness of the hand movements. The second exercise deals with the possibility of deflections.

The Warm-up is set up as illustrated below.
- Server 5 meters away
- one hurdle in front of goalkeeper

Goalkeeper will perform footwork and then will receive ball. Goalkeeper does not know when the ball will be served. The Server has complete control over when the ball is played. They can do it after on repetition of the footwork or after 10! (Should probably vary it up but go no more than 3-5 repetitions without

0 Too Much Focus on One Player

By Stevie Grieve

Since January, the return to form of Lionel Messi has seen him reach new heights in performance, unseen ever when he was World Player of The Year for 4 seasons running (2009 2010 2011 2012) and now he has changed his role in the team to play as a deep inverted winger, who has almost a free role as Dani Alves and Ivan Rakitic adapt the RB and RCM positioning to change and cover for Messi as he goes looking for solutions from deep.

We often see Messi in a position where he can play a now trademark diagonal through ball from the inside right channel to the inside left channel, where Thierry Henry, David Villa, Pedro, and now Neymar are the main beneficiaries of his fantastic through balls and lofted passes from this deep position.

In the game v Bilbao, they tried to overload Messi 2v1 and 3v1 on the touchline and block his access to the dribble diagonally towards the centre backs with the ball protected on his left side, but often left his supporting team mates unmarked or left the space inside open to be attacked by the supporting team mates. Often, this would mean that Messi would simply make a pass and allow his team mates to attack the defence with players on the

0 3 v 2 Attacking Game

By Renato Lopez Moreira - 

In this exercise we will work in a 3 v 2 offensive situation with a possibility to counter attack for the defense. This game could be used as a progression of last week's exercise.

The attackers try to score in a goal defended by a goalkeeper. The defenders can counter attack three small goals if they win the ball.

The game area is played in a 22 x 32-yard area. It's played for up to 2 minutes at a time.

When a goal is scored or the ball leaves the

2 Break Through Attack 3 v 3 + 3 Game

By Alex Trukan

This modification of a small sided game is aimed at improving endurance capacity and power. However it also challenges players to make short duration high intensity busts in a counter attack scenario. From a tactical perspective, it focuses on transition to attack. Relatively big space and the middle zone challenge players to run with the ball. This practice ideally works with three players on each team but also can be adapted to suit the numbers!

Set-Up and Directions

Organise a pitch of approximately 35x45 yards. Divide the area into three thirds with the middle one being the smallest one (up to 10 yards width). Divide the team into three groups, set goalkeepers into goals. The game starts with two teams playing on one goal using one third of the

3 Atletico Madrid v Barcelona - 17-05-2015

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett La Liga May 17, 2015 Vincente Calderon Atletico Madrid 0 - 1 Barcelona After Messi’s goal shortly after the hour mark, the movement of Barça on Atletico Madrid’s lawn became a small rehearsal for the upcoming Champions League final. Even if the Colchoneros have less to offer in

1 Sevilla Blocking Diagonal Passes

By Stevie Grieve

Europa League holders and this seasons finalists, Sevilla, are a team with a strong defensive unit and a strong attacking process, particularly on the counter attack.

Against a possession orientated team like Fiorentina, they allowed the Italians to have the ball and then defend from areas where they felt comfortable to make Fiorentina predictable; on the sides where Fiorentia played with ‘inverted wingers’ in a 4-3-3.

From the wide zone, they looked to block the cut inside with close positioning to play 2v1 or if the play was with a midfielder or full back in a wide zone, they would ensure they had solid defensive triangles to cover the pass through the movement to engage 1v1 on the side which would often be in 2v2,3v3 or 4v4 scenarios.

To do this, the central midfielder on the far side would look to cover any angle between the 2 closest pressing players to the ball and block anything diagonally between the