By Jason Stockmann - Everyone knows fitness is key for a soccer player – very few sports exact the levels of endurance, stamina, speed and dexterity that the beautiful game demands. Though a goalkeeper may not need to reach the same level of endurance or stamina his or her field player counterparts hit, they definitely have
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett EPL November 22, 2014 Goodison Park Everton 2 v 1 West Ham United Everton put in a great performance as they defeated a very in-form West Ham side. On his 400th appearance, Leon Osman slid home the winner in a 2-1 victory over The Hammers. Everton took the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on long passes, receiving long passes, dribbling at speed, crossing and finishing.
This activity uses half a field with a goal and a keeper in goal. There are 5 groups of players to start. One group has balls just inside of midfield, in the middle of the field. One group is out wide waiting for the first pass. One group is 10 yards away from goal than the group waiting for the ball (they are defenders). One group is out wide on the other side and the last group is off of the end line (they are also defenders).
The player with the ball starts by either chipping or
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, diving and being creative in shot blocking.
The other day I was speaking with a friend who asked “do you think the game of soccer would be a lot different if keepers couldn’t use their hands?”. My first thought was “this is a typical thought process of a non soccer person” but then I started thinking more about this.
One of the most enjoyable training activities I have done is a simple shooting activity with a server just outside the 18 with a line of balls and a keeper in goal.
The server shoots on goal and the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Pep Guardiola has evolved the Bayern Munich team over the 18 months he has been in charge so it is almost unrecognisable from the treble winning team and style Jupp Heynckes left behind. The system has changed so much that the fairly rigid positions of each player has been replaced with a solutions to problems based style, and one major change has been the implementation of ‘inverted full backs’ in the manner that they cover 4 positions from 1 zone, almost like an old fashioned ‘halfback’ from the 1930s.
The positioning of this player allows the team to be flexible in the centre and wide areas, in both attack and defence, and in transition phases where the ‘halfbacks’ can drop off to form a back 4, or press high to counter-press with the 2-1 triangle covering behind them (DM & CBs).
Position of the ‘inverted Full Backs / Halfbacks in a 4-3-3
As we can see, the ‘halfback’ is in the position between centre and wide (the channel) between midfield and
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Bundesliga November 29, 2014 Olympiastadion Berlin Berlin 1 v 0 Bayern Munich This was not the match of the year, but Bayern once again made their case as an efficient vertical attacking side. When they took to the pitch Hertha Berlin knew that their defense was weak, especially
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with using dummies (mannequins) to force more accurate crosses.
Let’s start with a simple crossing and finishing activity. A player starts out wide with a ball., another player starts out near the corner of the 18, on the far side. There is a keeper in goal.
The wide player dribbles toward the end line, cuts in and then
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on forward dives.
Start with a keeper in goal, a server with some balls at the top of the 18 and two field players just in front of the keeper.
The ball gets played, on the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Positioning in modern football is a massive part of the success of a team, particularly in the development of an attacking game but also in ball conservation to defend, while defensive positioning has always been an important factor in a successful defensive unit. With Pep Guardiola (of whom regular blog readers will know I analyse his teams on a regular basis), his tactical innovations are changing the way the game is played and coached across all levels.
Inverted Full Backs to overload the centre and cover several zones with one player
The full backs of Bayern – Alaba and Lahm – can both be played in central midfield and at full back in both attacking and defensive phases. This gives Guardiola so many more options but instead of being a traditional coach and using
Continue readingHOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett English Premier League October 5, 2014 Stamford Bridge Chelsea 2 v 0 Arsenal By the time this match came around, Chelsea had already begun their championship run at high speed, 19 points from a possible 21 and already five steps ahead of trailing Manchester City. Arsenal, on-the-other-hand, were
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
This exercise is focused on improving Anaerobic Power which is required for acceleration and speed qualities. ‘Numbers’ game is appropriate and fun for almost any age group and ability level. Apart from physical area, it also focuses on 1v1/2v2 or 3v3 attacking and defending scenarios. It can be also used to develop skills needed to deal with underload (1v2/2v3) and overload (2v1, 3v2) situations.
Set up and Directions
Set up a pitch of approximately 20x30 yards. Divide a team into two groups of equal numbers. Organise them on each side of the pitch, next to the goal. Each player should have a number. Place one goalkeeper in each goal. Take coaching position as shown on the diagram. Prepare spare balls.
The game starts by coach passing the ball into the playing area and calling a
Continue readingPERSONAL MESSAGE FROM MIKE SAIF Unfortunately I was involved in a serious accident recently. I want to apologize for things being quiet at WCC. I explain all in the video and although things have been a little quiet around here, we have big plans for some great new stuff coming real soon.
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Bayern initial set up – 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid
With Alonso (yellow) screening infront of the defence and playing laterally, this allows Rode (yellow) and Hojbjerg (orange) to be free to drift between the lines and support if Robben or Ribery (Red) stay wide. If they stay wide, Bernat/Rafinha stay deeper and tuck inside as inverted FB’s and help overload centrally to look for forward passes through the defence.
Bayern 4-3-3 with 1v1 zones on the side and inverted full backs
As Robben and Ribery are excellent 1v1 players, staying wide opens up a lot of space in
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The passing and dribbling square exercise is focused on improving technical skills along with physical capabilities. The main emphasis is placed on aerobic endurance maintenance which serves as a basis to improvement in anaerobic power and capacity. Apart from that, this practice enables the group to develop two different core skills – passing and dribbling. That can be used to suit the needs of individual players.
Set up and Directions
Organise a square as shown on the diagram below (area size depends on the number and characteristics of players). Divide a team into two groups. One group of 4 players takes positions around the square with one ball per group. Every player from the second group needs one ball each and should take starting position inside the square.
The outside group passes the ball to each other in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. Players inside the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on attacking with pressure or playing away simple. Start with a 4 v 4 game plus keepers in a 50 x 40 grid with full sized goals (the number of players and size of the field can
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on dealing with distractions.
Start with a keeper in goal, a server 15 yards out and two players in front of the keeper. The server has a few balls.
As the server shoots a ball, the two
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on crisp, hard passes on the ground and receiving the same type of passes.
In a grid 12 x 6 with a midfield line, there are two groups of 2 players. Each group is on one side.
One team starts with a ball and makes a crisp hard pass, on the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
In the last few seasons, Arsenal have tried to play a possession and pressing system, but often with massive instability, mainly through Mikel Arteta’s bad decision making at the bottom of the midfield triangle when deciding to press (and often foul) or drop off.
As he was always more of a controlling central midfielder than a deep playmaker in the #6 position, adjusting to this position in an attacking sense has been a lot easier than the defensive aspects needed for the role, such as pressing, covering, screening passes into strikers, tracking runners and offering protection to centre backs.
In the recent game against Manchester United, the lack of stability in the Arsenal midfield out of possession was again evident, particularly when pressing, and often with no stability around or behind the pressing zone.
Example; Rooney’s goal for 2-0 in the 86th minute
In this image, the ball is rebounded to the central midfielder. Above the dotted line, there is only 1 player able to confront the ball carrier and delay play, and not from a weak side position. This dictates that
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays featured activity is a simple drill that works on catching and footwork.
Start with two keepers facing each other from 5 yards apart. Each keeper has a ball in his hands.
Each keeper tosses the ball, underhand, slightly to
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The presented practice can be used across all age groups as a fun game as well as conditioning exercise. The main focus is on developing speed and agility when dribbling with the ball.
Set-Up and Directions
Organise eight cones in a circle and set min. 2 players on each cone. Every player needs a ball. The dimensions of the circle will depend on group characteristics. Each group has to have a designated number.
On the coach’s signal, a player from the first group called becomes an attacker and a
HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Bundesliga November 8, 2014 Commerzbank-Arena; Frankfurt Bayern Munich 4 v 0 Frankfurt Bayern Munich went for the jugular when they faced Frankfurt. Frankfurt tried to keep up the pace with aggressive pressing, but the Eagles had their wings sliced off, as they were caught ball watching excessively often and
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on attacking in numbers up situations.
Start with a 20 x 20 field with two full goals and a keeper in each goal. There should be a midfield line.
In one half is a 2 v 2 matchup and the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on reacting to runs in the box.
Start with a keeper in goal, a player on the end line at the corner of the 18 and two players ready to make runs.
The players start their runs and the player on the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
One element in tactical development is the ability of players to do the unexpected to open up scoring chances. Tactics allow for the team to have a structured playing style which leads into a game process to find a way to win a game, but often a game is won by players in attacking areas making a chance to score from a piece of inspired play, often in tight situations.
Origi creates a chance for Chadli
De Bruyne dribbles inside to look for a diagonal pass into the feet of a player between the lines or into the
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