All Posts by Mike Saif

0 How to Beat a Four-Man Midfield

By Stevie Grieve

Borussia Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League Final, the 2014 German Cup Final, and lost Robert Lewandowski to their domestic rivals on a free transfer. They have however, now won the last 2 German Super Cups.

Jurgen Klopp has made some slight changes to his team and the structure and these slight changes worked perfectly against the 3-4-3 of Bayern Munich.

Positioning against the Bayern build-up phase

With Bayern playing a 3-4-3 formation, they have great width to circulate horizontally, so to counter this, Dortmund

2 2v2+2 End Line Game

By Alex Trukan

The 2v2+2 game is designed to develop anaerobic power altogether with dribbling and ball control skills. Relatively small space and constant pressure requires the players in possession to look for space and adjust by quick movement with and without the ball.

Set up and directions
Organise a rectangle of approximately 15x20 m. Divide the team into three teams of two. Two teams play in the middle area and two remaining players are positioned one on each side as shown on the diagram. The aim of the team in possession is to dribble through the opposite end line, which is defended by the other team.

The game starts by coach playing the ball into attacking team, which tries to

0 Arsenals Game Plan to Beat Man City

By Stevie Grieve Arsenal allow City to attack down the left; tempt Kolarov forward and use his space to counter via Sanchez Arsenal expects that Man City will use Kolarov down the left, so Alexis Sanchez is not to track back. Instead, Mikel Arteta will shift over and cover the space with Debuchy. When City

0 3v3 Wave Conditioning Practice

By Alex Trukan This modification of 3v3 game involves transition scenario. That places conditioning demand on both attacking and defending players. Regardless the decision made by central striker upon receiving the ball, supporting players have to make forward runs on full speed. Also defenders are required to make quick recovery runs. Players are encouraged to

0 Why Goalkeepers Need to Master the Drop-Step

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on the drop step.

The drop step is extremely important for the keeper when he is off his line and the ball is chipped toward to cross bar. The way he executes the drop step is if he is doing a drop step with his right foot, he turns his lower body to his right and his right foot goes straight back (making a 90 degree turn).

This activity starts with 3 cones making a triangle. Two cones are just a bit wider than the keepers normal stance and the third cone is 2 yards straight back. The keeper starts between the first two cones and a server is 10 yards in front with a ball.

The server starts by playing a ball right

3 Man City v Liverpool-08-30-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett English Premier League 25 August, 2014 Man City 3 v 1 Liverpool Manchester City made their first big statement of the new season with a punishing display against a Liverpool side who were gutsy but failed to take their chances, ultimately suffering from individual errors; a common theme

0 Bayern v Hamburg-08-30-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett German Bundesliga Saturday, 30 August, 2014 Bayern Munich 3 v 0 Hamburg The former Barcelona manager had a couple of surprises up his sleeve for his first outing with his new charges against Hamburg. Even if the formation seen was usual for a Pep Guardiola team, how

3 Timing Runs to Stay Onside

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on runs, up front, to stay onside.

This activity uses a half field with a keeper in goal, two defenders on the keepers team and two forwards attacking the goal. There is a midfielder, also looking to attack the goal.

The player with the ball is a static player and the two forwards are the ones looking to move to get open to receive the ball and get to goal. The thing to emphasize is

0 The Art of Transition Play

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on transition (both offense to defense and defense to offense).

This is a regular scrimmage with any numbers you want (in this example we will go with 4 v 4 plus keepers on a 40 x 30 grid but this could go up to 11 v 11 on a full sided field).

The rules are quite simple, everything is regular rules with one major change. Anytime the coach

1 How to Make the Second Save

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on a breakaway save and then getting back to save a chipped ball.

In a game, a keeper comes out and makes a breakaway save. Ideally, the keeper holds onto the ball and gets a moment to relax. The reality is, many saves in these situations result in a loose ball and a scramble. Keepers must be prepared for this situation.

In this activity we start with a keeper in goal and a server 30 yards out with a couple of balls.

The server starts by playing a ball into the 18. It can be a

1 4v2 Possession Game in Two Squares

By Alex Trukan

This exercise is a modification of a classical 4v2 possession game. Two squares instead of one are used, what places additional conditioning demand on players. Shuttle runs between squares require the power to accelerate which for example can be used during transition phase or when switching play.

Set up and directions
Organize 4 squares as shown on the diagram below. Divide a team into two groups of 7 players. Then, divide those two groups into 5 attackers and 2 defenders. Four attackers and 2 defenders (4v2) should occupy one square, while the remaining attacking player should be in the opposite square as shown on the diagram.

The game starts as a classical 4v2 possession game. Players try to make min. 10 passes, what counts as a one point. If the defenders

2 How to Exploit the High Pressure Defense

By Stevie Grieve

Valencia entice pressure to exploit the spaces behind the press.

Valencia came into the Emirates Cup with a new coaching staff, hired from Rio Ave in Portugal. New manager Nuno Espirito Santo and his staff already had the preparation done for this game as his last game in charge of Rio Ave was a Portuguese Cup Final 1-0 defeat to Benfica, where Rio Ave had some good opportunities to score but it wasn’t be a historic day for them.

Going into this game, they knew the spaces they would be able to find if they enticed Benfica to press like they usually do, so set out to pass into areas where Benfica would press, then find a way out to find players in the attacking midfield line between the Benfica defence and midfield line.

They looked for these spaces from the opening minutes, unfortunately losing a daft goal from a pass against a team mate, but from the 2nd half, with the injection of pace from Rodrigo on the left, and Andre Gomes positioning and speed of distribution in central midfield, they looked much more threatening, especially when the Benfica central midfielders were enticed to press in pairs.

Valencia Game Plan

Provoke high pressing from Benfica – Central pressure – release WM between lines

When the ball is passed into a central midfielder, they will hold until

1 Everton v Leicester-08-16-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Barclays Premier League Sunday, 10 August, 2014 Everton 2 v 2 Leicester It has been a long summer, but finally the Premier League is back! It was a fantastic opening weekend and one of the matches was Leicester City vs Everton where both clubs entertained in a 2-2 draw.

0 Four-Stadiums Dribbling Game Intervals

By Alex Trukan

The practice is focused on dribbling and running with the ball skills, connected with physical content of the ‘power to recover’ ability. This game is especially attractive for players in the younger age groups, however, it can be used effectively even with senior players. Engaging practice design helps players to have fun, while working on conditioning.

Set up and directions
Organize four squares of 2x2 m., 15-20 m. apart. Divide players into four groups. Each group should have 3 balls and occupy one square. For younger players, treat each square as a stadium, letting players to choose the name for it (ex. Old Trafford).

The aim of each group is to collect as many balls to their ‘stadium’ as possible. The game starts on

0 How to Train Long Distance Shooting

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on shooting from a distance.

Start with a field that is 44 yards wide and 36 yards long (add a second 18 yard box to a regular one and it’s perfect). There is a goal on each end line and a midfield line. This is a 3 v 3 + 1 with keepers.

The ball starts with a keeper and the rules are

0 How to Start Quick Counter-Attacks

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with quick counter attacks via distribution.

Too often a keeper makes a save and then waits for both teams to clear out and then kicks the ball downfield. While there are definitely times when this is the right choice (when your team has been under intense pressure and needs time to catch their breath and change the area of the field the game is being played in) other times it’s best to play quickly to take advantage of certain situations.

In the situation below the black team is attacking and the keeper has just made a save. If the keeper looks up and sees this situation where he has a forward one on one with the last defender, he should look to play an early ball long to take advantage of this situation.

3 The Tactics That Made Mourinho Great

By Stevie Grieve

Jose Mourinho’s Porto won the UEFA Cup in 2003 then the UEFA Champions League in 2004. They did this on the basis of having a very strong defence, very organised in midfield with fast attacking transitions.

When I organised possession, they would play direct and often lose possession but look to recover the second ball while the opponent were unorganised and exploit space that they leave to press.

This week, I will look at the counter attacking phase and how Deco was the main attacking outlet in short pass counter attacks with plenty of support running at pace ahead of the ball, knowing Deco was good enough to find most passes in even the tightest of areas.

Deco initiates the counter attack

Here, Costinha wins the ball and passes to Maniche, who splits the midfield with a 1st time pass to Deco who is

5 Arsenal v Man City-08-10-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett 2014 Community Shield Sunday, 10 August, 2014 Arsenal 3 v 0 Man City To some, it is nothing more than just an over-hyped friendly. To others, it is the first official match of the season. Regardless of which camp you fall into, the Community Shield is an occasion

0 How to Stay Onside in a Break-away Situation

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on getting to goal and staying onsides in a breakaway type situation.

Start with two attackers just across midfield and a defender at midfield. There is a second defender 10 yards back from the attacker with a ball and a keeper in goal.

As soon as the attacker with the ball touches the ball, the game is

0 Goalkeeping Specific Fitness Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, fitness and balance.

There are still too many coaches who think that running laps is an effective way to work on fitness. Others lean toward full field or half field sprints. The problem with this type of fitness work is, while there is a place for it, it’s not the type of movement that a keeper does. Keepers do a lot of forward and backward movement but more in the 5 yard range as opposed to the 50 yard range. This is an activity to work on the type of fitness and movement that is more applicable for keepers.

Start with 6 cones staggered in two lines 5 yards apart. The keepers start in a line at one end and there is a server 10 yards from the last cone, on the other end.

One thing to emphasize from the very beginning is

1 Mourinho’s tactics from Porto 2004

By Stevie Grieve

Since I was young, I have always had an interest in tactics, specifically successful coaches, or coaches who have seemingly come from nowhere. When Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto won the UEFA Cup in 2003 against Celtic, I enjoyed the direct style of play much more than I enjoyed watching Celtic’s direct style of play, mainly because it had some unpredictability, fluidity of movement and the talents of Deco as a number 10 in a midfield diamond.

Costinha’s role was an interesting one; a common thing in all of Mourinho’s teams has been the utilisation of a defensive midfielder who sticks to his position and protects the defence – Costinha, Claude Makelele, Esteban Cambiasso, Thiago Motta, Xabi Alonso, Nemanja Matic – but for me it was interesting because it was a ‘new’ position as I had grown up in Scotland with a 4-4-2 and no set defensive or attacking midfielder, and certainly not within a diamond midfield which is common in Switzerland and Italy.

Mourinho’s Porto were a strong defensive team with pace and efficiency in attack, with a good supporting cast in midfield in the form of Thiago, Nuno Maniche and super-sub Dmitri Alenichev.

Porto’s defensive solidity - Establish a block width, depth and compensation system

Wide area turnover; Porto drop off and form a flat back 4

As the ball is lost on the side instantly the back 4 drop off and get

0 Race with Speed and Shooting

By Alex Trukan

This exercise connects ball control, dribbling and shooting skills with conditioning content. The opposition included in the practice demands speed and power from the attacking players. Therefore, speed and speed endurance qualities can be developed. The exercise can be done with various amount of players at all levels.

Set up and directions
Set up a square with min. 5 small gates in front of the penalty area. Organise a goalkeeper and two groups as shown on the diagram below. Each player from the attacking groups has one ball.

The practice starts on the first touch of the attacking player. His aim is to

0 Improve Your Flank Play

By Keith Scarlett

This activity is a 4 v 4 game plus 2 flank players plus 2 neutral players to regulation goals. Two goals should be set up about 25 metres apart. The field is 30 metres wide. A channel is made along the sidelines 5 metres wide.

Each group puts on the field, one player in their offensive half in the channel and

0 1v2 Transition Conditioning Practice

By Alex Trukan

Transition from attack to defense is regarded as an essential component of every practice by many professional coaches. This exercise includes this phase both in the attack-defense and defense-attack versions. Moreover, physical demand placed on players develops power to accelerate, which can be used to exploit unbalance in the oppositions’ defense.

Set up and directions
Organize a rectangle of approximately 30x40 m. with one goal on each end. The size of double penalty areas can be also used. Set-up four different stations. Divide players into groups of 3/4 on each station. Coach’s position as shown on the diagram. Each player from the bottom right group needs a ball. Moreover, min. 6 balls should be placed by the top right station.

The practice starts with the first player from the bottom right group playing a ball to