By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick passing combinations and shooting.
Start with three players in a triangle just outside the 18. The first player has a ball. There is a line of players outside the triangle with balls waiting to take the first player's spot. There is also a keeper in goal.
The first player passes to the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Pep Guardiola a main exponent of ‘positional play’ (or ‘Juego de posicion’ in Spanish) and uses a system based on overloads via occupying multiple defenders, occupying specific spaces, creating overloads and spaces to attack into whenever possible, and looking for ways to turn 11v11 into a 2v1 or 3v2 by placing players in areas where a zonal defence can be exploited.
A common feature of this is positioning a player in a pocket of space between the lines and in particular in the channels between wide and central players while between the lines. If a defender comes out of his zone to press, this leaves a gap for another to move into, and often de-stabilizes the defence for a few seconds, which is often exploited and leads to scoring chances.
If a player is unable to receive in any position, often they will only stay there for 2-3 seconds then make another quick run; the position will be interchanged with someone else, and the defenders have the decision – mark or stay in zone. The attackers regularly rotating positions causes confusion and often leads to Bayern overloading 2v1 or even leaving someone 1v0 in a dangerous area against the defensive line.
With the regular movement and occupation of several defenders with 1 or 2 players, this frees up players in defence or midfield to overload, gain control of the centre of the field then force the defence deeper.
Playing against positional play with a zonal defence is a job which requires a well drilled team and have the ability to deal with playing 3v2 or 4v3 in wide zones, but
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The main physical aim of this practice is to develop anaerobic power. That will help in producing more powerful and quicker actions during the game. Organisation of this practice ensures the flow and continuity of play, what makes it engaging and enjoyable way to develop football specific fitness. From a technical and tactical perspectives, this practice has also many returns such as dribbling, RWTB, shooting as well as counter attacking.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise a pitch of approximately 25 x 35 yards with one goal on each end. Divide the team into groups of two players. Each group starts next to the goal with one ball per pair. Also, two goalkeepers are needed, one in each goal. The size of a pitch should be large enough to allow counter attack to take place.
On a coach’s signal, one pair starts attacking towards the
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Player Focus Dimitar Berbatov Monaco 3 - 1 Arsenal Perhaps fortune does favor the brave, but the Champions League favors solidarity. One of the most recent latest editions have once again reminded us of this; that whatever the initial game plan is the most organized and cohesive team
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
In the Champions League encounter between Schalke and Real Madrid, Schalke played the their usual deep 5-3-2 formation adopted by Roberto Di Matteo since he took charge earlier in the season. They normally play quite passive and only engage to press in numbers, specifically in 3v1s in the channel or when there is a good chance of a regain and particularly 2v1 against the touchline.
Schalke blocking Real Madrid’s channel attacking zone
As Kroos, Isco on the ball, Ronaldo and Marcelo are in the same strip of field. Schalke are able to control any forward passes, so Isco elects to dribble with no
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on technical training of diving and coming forward on the dive.
This can be used after the exercise from last week's post.
Start with 2 lines of staggered cones, 5 yards apart. There is one keeper who starts at one end between the two lines and a server 10 yards away, in between the cones.
The keeper starts by moving forward and the server
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 1 v 1 play and getting shots in tight spaces.
Too often we work on shooting with a stationary ball or with a lot of space to work within. This activity helps prepare the attacking player to be able to get a shot hit in a tight space.
Start with an attacking player on the top of the D, a defender at the top of the 18 and a keeper in goal. The attacking player has a ball.
As soon as the attacker touches the ball, the game is
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
From the conditioning point of view, this exercise is aimed at developing physical strength and power. Individual challenging for the ball included in this practice forces an attacker to shield and protect the ball what develops his physical abilities. In addition to that, technical side is developed through ball manipulation and control in tight areas under pressure.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise a square of approximately 15 x 15 yards (area should be adapted to the group characteristics). Five players with one ball each start inside the square. Four defenders, without the ball start outside the square, one on each side. Number of players is flexible, however, there should be one defender less than attackers.
On the coach’s signal, defenders come inside the
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett La Liga February 7, 2015 Vicente Calderon Atletico Madrid 4 - 0 Real Madrid Real Madrid was humbled by their rival on the 22nd round of La Liga fixtures. With a defense reduced to a reserve squad due to the absences of Ramos and Pepe, Carlo Ancelotti's men
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on coming forward on dives.
Start with a rectangle that us 8 yards wide and 4 yards deep. There is a keeper in the middle of the rectangle and a server, with a ball, on each end line, 10 yards away.
One server starts by playing a ball to a cone. The keeper must get out of the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
In the recent Champions League match between PSG and Chelsea, Chelsea set up to play compact and defensively with an emphasis on counter-attack, with a high prioritization with blocking PSG’s left with lots of players on that side of the field, with Willian, Cesc, Ramires and Ivanovic all regularly defending on that side against Maxwell, Matuidi and Lavezzi.
Normally, Costa would go to help and Matic would drift over to provide cover for the right side incase PSG broke though and exploited the space, while PSG would often send over Verratti and Cavani to provide extra bodies to try to find an overload.
Consequently, this means that often 8-11 players would be found on one side and within ¼ of the field or less, resulting in Chelsea blocking the vertical attacking actions PSG were looking for on the right side with Maxwell and Matuidi giving left sided balance and crossing opportunities.
PSG Tactical Alteration at Half Time- 3-4-3 with Switches to free Maxwell and Matuidi
In the 2nd half, instead of playing directly into the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Todays featured activity works on receiving balls, turning and quick touches. A player starts in between 2 cones that are 6 yards apart. There is a server, with a ball, 10 yards away. The server plays a ball on the ground, directly to the player. The receiving
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The presented exercise is focused on improving Aerobic Power, a physical quality essential for quicker recovery between high intensity efforts, which is possible due to the better oxygen supply to the working muscles. In addition to that, this practice also develops passing, creating space and movement in order to maintain possession.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise a square of approximately 30 x30. Divide the team into three groups of four. One neutral group stays outside the square, while two groups compete against each other inside the area.
The aim of the black team in possession is to
HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett English Premier League January 1, 2015 White Hart Lane Tottenham 5 - 3 Chelsea Talk about a way to end the holiday season in the Premier League: Chelsea's Jose Mourinho sank defensively at White Hart Lane while facing a Tottenham side with very fresh legs. Mauricio Pochettino's men
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
This continuous passing pattern exercise is an engaging way to develop anaerobic endurance along with technical skills of passing. It is especially suitable for medium and advanced level players as in order to achieve physical objectives, it requires constant concentration and high intensity technical work. Once the players learned the rhythm of the practice, it is highly effective method of achieving specific fitness goals.
Set-Up and Directions
Set up four cones 10-15 yards apart and one in the middle. Organise three players as shown on the diagram below. One player on a bottom left cone has a ball. For a larger groups of players, organise separate squares to work in.
The exercise starts with a bottom left player passing the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on hard passes, applying high pressure and receiving a ball under pressure and beating a defender.
Start with a 40 x 20 grid with a line 15 yards from one of the end line. There is a player on each end line and the one closest to the line in the middle has a ball.
The player with the ball drives a
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick movement, balance, and catching.
Start with a keeper standing in a 6 x 6 square. Each corner is numbered 1-4. There is a server 10 yards away with a ball.
The server calls a number and the keeper must
Continue readingBy Sean Pearson
Session Length: 90 mins
A lot of sessions focus on defending when players are dribbling the ball towards the defenders. I can’t remember seeing a session that focuses on defending players with their back to goal. This is an extremely important part of defending, because if done right will frustrate the opposition, slow down the opposition’s attacks and make them predictable. A lot of what I will cover will be counter intuitive to your players as they will want to lunge, kick and pursue the ball but is important not to let them do any of this and to be patient to know when and where they can win the ball.
Warm-Up Time: 10 mins
To warm up the specific muscles used heavily in
Continue readingSmall-Sided Game - Supporting the Striker By Sean Pearson Area: 45x30yards Players: 10 Teams: 2 Length: 20-25mins This game has 3 zones. 2 end zones (10x30) and a middle zone (25x30). 1 striker and 1 defender allowed in each end zone and the defender must stay behind the striker. Everyone else in the middle zone. Each
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on positioning, reading the game and saving long shots.
Start with a 20 x 44 grid just outside the 18. There are three groups of 3 and a keeper in goal.
Two teams are on offense (in this case the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a warm up for combination play with a little bit of pressure.
There are two groups of four in a 20 x 20 grid with two balls. To start I’ll show this with only one group. Two players are on end lines and the other two are in the middle. The ball starts with one of the outside players.
The player on the outside starts by
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
This circuit exercise is focused on improving quality of football actions as well as technical and tactical aspects of 1v1 situations. From a physical perspective, it helps to develop speed and strength in order to make players more explosive and sharper. That can be especially used in short sprinting duels which happen all over the pitch.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise three hurdles and a coordination ladder as shown on the diagram below, place one cone in front of the hurdles, one in between hurdles and a ladder, and a third one next to the ladder. Distance between the cones should allow 10 second break between the work on the ‘stations’. Set one group of players with one ball each behind the first cone. Organise goalkeeper in goal and one
Continue readingBy Sean Pearson
This session is purposely detailed to give you, the coach, as much information on why, where and how specific things should happen.
Session Length: 1hr 30mins
Warm-Up Time: 10mins
HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Bundesliga January 30, 2015 Volkswagen Arena Wolfsburg 4 - 1 Bayern Munich The 4-1 victory of Wolfsburg over Bayern Munich came from two sources: Wolfsburg’s sharp teeth and Bayern’s ability to bite itself. Bavarian losses are rare and they always warrant an explanation. This time the defeat was
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