All Posts by Mike Saif

1 Holes in the 3-1-4-2 System of Manchester United

By Stevie Grieve

New Manchester United Manager Louis Van Gaal has taken over a struggling side from last season, but despite the criticism that David Moyes endured, Louis Van Gaal's premier league start had delivered 1 point from 2 winnable games. This was followed up by a 4-0 humiliation from MK Dons. Despite fielding largely a reserve side, it did contain experienced first team and internationalists in Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa, Jonny Evans and David De Gea.
In the 3-1-4-2 attacking system, there are space to exploit in transition, or when the midfield press high. When the ball is played wide into the full backs, this may entice the already high positioned wing-backs to press high and

0 Quick Turns and Pullbacks

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick turns and pull backs.

Start with a player with a ball at his feet and three cones 5 yards away, in a line 3 yards apart (you can change the distance and make them shorter for quicker turns or longer for more running).

The player dribbles to the first cone and

0 The Benefits of Explosive Training

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on explosiveness training.

Three things keepers really need to work on are:

1. Being more explosive with their legs
2. Getting down for low balls quickly
3. Improving their range on extension dives.

This activity works on all three of the above items.

Start with a keeper in goal with 2 hurdles, a yard apart, in front of the keeper. There is a server with balls near the top of the 18.

The hurdles can be as high as you have available (and as

0 How Bayern Uses the Overload Tactic to Success

By Stevie Grieve

Bayern Munich opened the new Bundesliga season as Champions but without a fully fit squad and missing several key central midfielders, including Toni Kroos who was sold to Real Madrid. In central midfield, they had unknown teenager Gianluca Gaudino and David Alaba, not an ideal pairing on paper if you don’t realise that David Alaba is one of the best footballers in the world in several positions.

In attack, they had a potent from 3 in Robben, Mueller and new signing Robert Lewandowski, players who will always create and score chances.

The game plan for Bayern Munich was to nullify the threat of Kevin de Bruyne and Ricardo Rodriguez down the left side by limiting their space in transition, while pinning them back while Bayern were in possession by dominating the zone with a flood of players and a constant attacking presence.

Bayern set up – Flood the right side and look for 4v3 on the side

As we can see, Bayern would have 4 players wide on the right side, which enables them to

1 Finishing Drill to Improve Reaction Speed

By Alex Trukan

This exercise involving finishing in the penalty box focuses on developing reaction and starting speed. Therefore, players improve physical component in the engaging and fun practice what stimulates their interest and motivation. The content of this practice is especially relevant for strikers, however it will benefit any player in the penalty area who needs to react quickly in order to score a goal.

Set up and directions
Organise 5 players (the numbers are flexible) around the penalty box with two balls each, two players in the penalty box without the ball and a goalkeeper in the goal. Each outside player should be given a number. Also smaller area marked out by cones can be used. Recommended minimal amount of outside players is three.

As the coach shouts a number, relevant outside player plays the ball into the penalty box. The pass can be

0 Aston Villa v Liverpool-09-13-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett English Premier League 13 September, 2014 Aston Villa 1v0 Liverpool Liverpool paid the price for a lack of a cutting edge against a hungry, high flying Aston Villa team now firmly finding their feet under Paul Lambert and Roy Keane with a near-flawless start to the season. Aston

0 Crossing and Finishing to Improve Speed

By Alex Trukan

The crossing and finishing pattern exercise helps in developing starting speed. This physical component is particularly required in the final third of the pitch in wide areas as well as in and around the penalty box. Starting quickness and short distance speed often create difference and can determine whether player gets to the ball or into space first.

Set up and directions
Divide the team into 6 groups and organize as shown on the diagram below. Starting positions for the wingers should be placed around 15 m. from the penalty box. Strikers attacking centrally and defenders should start another 10 m. behind the wingers. Organize a goalkeeper in the full sized goal. All players should work position specifically whenever possible.

The practice starts by a horizontal pass to the second striker, who then

0 Creativity in the Final Third By Real Madrid

By Stevie Grieve

Real Madrid went into the European Super Cup match against Sevilla on the back of a summer of spending on big names Toni Kroos, and James Rodriguez. It will be hard for Carlo Ancelotti to balance his squad trying to accommodate Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso and Angel Di Maria within the starting 11, but this is a task the biggest manager must face if they are to be successful. Angel Di Maria brought balance and stability to the team, and a high assist ratio, something which Mesut Ozil brought to Cristiano Ronaldo (it seems as though assists aren’t enough to stay at Real Madrid).

With the players they have, creativity and quality in the final 3rd is not in short supply.

Ronaldo goal from Bale early cross – eliminated the possibility of the full back recovery

As Ronaldo switches play to James, Bale is wide to offer an outball should James be pressed. The main aspect of this scenario is that the

0 A Drill to Improve Quick Shooting

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible. Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on receiving and quick shots. Start with a player in the D and a server 30 yards away with balls. As a warm up the server plays balls into the D. The player must receive the ball

0 How to Speed Up Training

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays’ topic shows a simple way to speed up training.

This is going to seem incredibly simplistic but it’s something a lot of keeper coaches miss. If you want the keeper to work faster in training, add a second server and a second ball. The reason this works is the keeper is no longer in charge of how quickly a ball can be played in.

As an example, in the diagram below, the server volleys a ball to the keeper who must catch the ball and then quickly return the ball for the next serve.

3 Bayern v FC Schalke-09-06-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett German Bundesliga 6 September, 2014 Bayern Munich 1 v 1 FC Schalke Ranging from quite impressive all the way to plain poor, Schalke forced Bayern into quite the “transition” over the duration of the match of which they finished level in Gelsenkirchen. What happened to cause such a drastic

3 Changing the Point of Attack

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on changing the point of attack and taking advantage of the defensive shifts.

This activity uses a half field and has 4 attacking players, 3 defending players and a keeper in goal. There are outside zones from the 18 extended to the sideline and one of the attacking players starts in each outside zone.

The two central attackers can pass back and forth until one

0 One-Handed or Two-Handed Punch?

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on two handed punches and then the follow up save.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 35 yards from goal with balls and a second server 25 yards from goal, also with balls.

The server from 35 yards out starts by lofting a ball toward goal (this can be a

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