All Posts by Mike Saif

1 How Atletico Successfully Attacked Barcelona

By Stevie Grieve

In last weeks article, I looked at the recent Champions League match between Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona, which Atletico won 1-0. I look at their defensive set up and how they made it difficult for Barcelona to score, and in this weeks article I will look at one specific area where they targeted to create chances based on Atletico’s direct style of play, a weakness in the Barcelona back 4, and how they put one of the strengths of Atletico’s play against one of the weaknesses of the back four.

Raul Garcia v Jordi Alba in an ariel battle

Quite often we see a big target man playing against a big center back (Andy Carroll v Martin Skrtel or Per Mertesacker) and its 50-50 of who will win. A better idea is to put

2 Anaerobic Endurance in 5v5+4 Conditioned Game

By Alex Trukan

This Conditioned Game is designed to improve Anaerobic Endurance needed to sustain high intensity actions. The type of the practice ensures high engagement and effort from players. In opposite to technique and skill type activities, this practice has more football context, what makes players understand the relevance of it.

Set up and directions
Set up a pitch with two goals and dimensions of 30x40 yards. Organise two teams of 9 players (8+goalkeeper). Four players from each team should be positioned inside the playing area, while another four should stay outside the area on the attacking half (2 next to the goal from each side, 2 on the opposite touchlines). Inside players can use their teammates positioned outside but they in turn can only use 1 touch to play back and they can’t score. There are no corners (goalkeeper starts from a goal kick). After the goal is scored, the game starts from the goalkeeper as well. Players should be encouraged to reset the game very quickly. Number of players used can be varied but that should reflect dimensions used.

As we can see on the diagram below, outside players can only

1 Chelsea v Atletico Madrid - 04-30-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Champions League 2nd Leg (0-0 aggregate) Wednesday, 30 April, 2014 Stamford Bridge Chelsea 1v3 Atletico Madrid What we had on display in Atletico Madrid’s 3-1 win over Chelsea in the 2nd leg of their Champions League Semi-Final on 30 April, 2014 at Stamford Bridge was nothing short

0 One-Touch Passing For Speed and Movement

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 1 touch passing with movement

Start with 4 players positioned in a rectangle that is 30 x 15 and 2 other players in the middle.

The player in the top left hand corner (player 1) starts with a ball and begins by

0 Dealing With Floated Crosses

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on floated crosses from end line as the attacker comes toward goal

When a player is on the end line with the ball, close to the corner, the keeper can stay back toward the center of the goal and prepare for the cross.

The reason the keeper can stay back like that is there is

2 Passing and Anaerobic Endurance

By Alex Trukan

Passing is recognised as one of the core skills in football. This pattern practice focuses on improving this component altogether with anaerobic endurance. That will enable players to sustain the quality of actions throughout the whole match.

Set up and directions:
Organise four cones (2 cones and 2 markers) 20-25 yards apart from each other diagonally as shown on the diagram. Divide players into two groups and set one group on one marker and the second group on the opposite marker. Only one ball will be used in the practice but min. of 4 balls should be placed around and supplied immediately when needed. The practice starts as the first player passes the ball to the opposite group.

After the pass is made, opposite player plays the ball back (one or two touches) and the game continues. Player who has made a pass sprints to

0 Tactical Analysis – Atletico Defending v Barcelona

By Stevie Grieve

In the recent Champions League Quarter Final clash, Barcelona drew 1-1 at home to Atletico de Madrid, and went into the 2nd game at the Vicente Calderon needing to score to have a chance at qualification for the Semi-Final.

Atletico have caused problems for every team they have faced in the last 18 months, and in particular Barcelona, who have had three 0-0 draws with Atletico previous to this game, and this would be another scoreless game for Barcelona, who lost 1-0. Barcelona have struggled to score for various reasons, so I will look at some key features of Atletico’s defensive play.

Atletico Narrow Low Block

As Barcelona like to attack through the centre, via Iniesta and Messi predominantly on the inside left and right channels and looking for

0 Dribbling Square for Speed

By Alex Trukan

The exercise is based on competitive and engaging dribbling game which is used to develop explosive speed. This physical component can be used to win running duels in the situations with and without the ball. Technical focus of this practice includes dribbling and ball control skills.

Set up and directions
Set up a square of 4x4 yards as shown on diagram below. Two players start opposite each other between the cones, one of which has the ball. The aim of the player with the ball is to run away from the second player. Both players can only stay outside the square and move in the same direction (clockwise/anticlockwise).

As we can see on the diagram below, the aim of the player without the ball is to

0 Possession Conditioning Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Newsletter. Today’s featured activity shows you how to work on passing a receiving while building in a lot of fitness.

Start with groups of threes. Two players are 20 yards from each other and the third player is in the middle with a ball.

The player in the middle (1) starts by passing to

0 Ball Familiarity

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with ball familiarity.

We do various drills, keepers watch video’s, we do video analysis, keepers pay for extra training. It’s all good BUT if a keeper isn’t comfortable with the ball in his hands, it’s all for naught.

When I started out as a keeper (and even before that when I was a basketball player) I tried to always have a ball in my hand. I would throw it in the air and catch it. I would throw it against a wall and catch it. I would

1 How Bayern Munich Make Space to Attack a Cross

By Stevie Grieve

In the recent Champions League match between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, Bayern needed to draw 0-0, win 1-0 or 2-1 to go through, while Manchester United needed an away goal at least keep themselves in the tie, and they got the away goal early into the 2nd half via a fantastic strike from Patrice Evra from 30 yards. There were scenes of jubilation as all United players, subs and even coaches were almost celebrating victory, but the joy was shortlived as Evra was at fault for 2 of Bayerns 3 goals within the next 15 minutes. I will look at the 1st goal and in particular how he lost Mandzukic to allow him to make it 1-1 within 3 minutes of the Evra goal.

Bayern forwards movement to choose marker and attack the front side

As the ball is passed wide, Muller and Mandzukic crossover and change who their markers will be, Mandzukic v Evra at the far side is a

6 Liverpool v Man U - 03-16-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Premier League Sunday, 16 March, 9:30 AM Old Trafford Man United 0 v 3 Liverpool Usually when we discuss how a match was won, we tend to talk about what the winning side did to break down the opposition and secure the win. However, in some cases,

0 Strength and Speed in 1v1 Possession

By Alex Trukan

This exercise is focused on speed and strength in individual possession scenario. Physical components developed in this practice improve the ability to keep the ball under pressure of the opponent. This is integrated with dribbling and ball manipulation skills.

Set up and directions
Organise a square suitable for players’ abilities and baseline fitness level. Half of the players with one ball each start in the inner area of the grid, while second group spreads around the square as shown on the diagram. On the coach’s signal, outside players run into the middle of the square and try to get into possession of the ball. Inside players’ task is to keep possession until the next signal of the coach. The exercise is suitable for flexible amount of players and almost every age group!

As mentioned previously, on the coach’s signal, outside players try to get into possession of the ball. If they do so, player who has lost possession tries

0 Speed Ladder Goalkeeper Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

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

This activity uses 3 speed ladders but you can easily use cones if you don’t have the ladders.

Start with 2 ladders parallel to each other and a 3rd ladder perpendicular to the other 2 but at the end of them. 2 keepers start behind one of the ladders and there is a server 10 yards from the 2 parallel ladders.

The first keeper starts by taking 1 step in each hole of the ladder and when he

0 Correct Spacing For Combination Play

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on spacing and combination play.

Start with a 30 x 30 grid broken into quarters. There are two teams of twos in the middle and two supporting players for each team on the sides.

To start, a yellow player, on the outside, has a ball and passes to

1 Spurs flat Midfield In Transition

By Stevie Grieve

Since Andre Villas-Boas was (wrongly in my opinion) sacked, Tim Sherwood has made a case for staying on as Head Coach of Tottenham Hotspur, by bringing back an old-school type of 4-4-2 formation, introducing Emmanuel Adebayor (mainly to get the fans onside as AVB didn't use him) and when asked about the turnaround in fortunes of the team during his initial few games in charge, his response was very much a case of “I just put an arm around the players and make them feel good about themselves” – something that the English media love, and something which wears off on the players after the coach has been found to be struggling tactically when it matters.

One part of Sherwood’s 4-4-2 is that there seems to be an insistence of a ‘see-saw’ midfield, with the deepest central midfielder covering the middle line of the field. This is fine, as the other central midfielder doesn't drift any more than 12m away from the covering midfielder, as this can leave the midfield open to penetration, especially in transition – even more so against a team with 3 central midfielders.

In the recent game against Benfica in London, Spurs lost 1-3, mainly due to Benfica being the better team individually, but tactically also. Benfica regularly won the ball in the final 3rd, and could counter attack through the centre of midfield as Spurs central midfielders were too far apart to close down the space, and definitely too far away to press and delay the counter attack.

Spurs attacking build up on the left side

Eriksen – a natural number 10 – receives on the left side, from Naughton, the left back. As he receives, there is a

0 Anaerobic Capacity With Dribbling

By Alex Trukan

This exercise is focused on developing anaerobic capacity. Improving this physical component enables players to sustain maximal speed and strength of actions throughout the whole match. In addition, the practice integrates dribbling and ball manipulation.

Set up and directions
Organise a square of appropriate dimensions to suit group characteristics. Place cones or sticks around the area as shown on diagram. Distance between each marker should be 6-8 yards (players should dribble on the distance of 15-25 yards overall).

Organise players with one ball each in the middle of the square. Their task is to dribble in the square (low speed). This can be altered with ball manipulation or juggling. Exercise is flexible in terms of number of players. The amount of dribbling “stations” should be adjusted accordingly to enable all players to practice at the same time.

On the coach’s signal, each player dribbles on the maximal speed to the nearest available group of cones and makes a

0 The Purpose of a Set Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays topic is a bit different in that it looks at the purpose of drills instead of at a particular drill.

At some of the coaching courses they teach you to NOT use the word “drill”. Instead, we should use “game”, “exercise” or “activity”. Part of the reason seems to be that “drill” seems to have a

0 The Reliable Goalkeeper

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with the reliable keeper.

Keepers dream about making the spectacular save. They dive through the air saving the shot into the upper corner and 70,000 spectators go crazy. The momentum shifts and their team counter attacks and scores the winning goal with little time left in the game and the team wins the championship!

Above is how the dream goes and occasionally (very rarely) it might work that way.

The more common occurrence is the keeper

2 Liverpool’s Diamond Midfield

By Stevie Grieve

Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers have shown tactical flexibility all season, changing from 4-2-3-1 at the start of the season, to 3-1-4-2, to a 4-3-3 before moving to a 4-1-2-1-2 recently, giving them a tactical edge over the opposition as he can change Liverpool’s structure to allow them to gain control of the match through a variety of ways.

Liverpool Diamond Midfield v Manchester United's 4-4-1-1

Liverpool marking in midfield while ball is on the side

Here, Gerrard has nobody to mark so he fills in the space between the defence and midfield, as Johnson blocks the forward pass, as Skrtel marks

2 Overlapping Runs with Aerobic Power

Jebreel Bubtana

This is a great exercise to teach your team how to make overlapping runs and work on their aerobic power.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1, with two feeders and three others who will be working and overlapping.

The feeder at the top of the diagram starts with the ball. As one of the players starts to

0 Shooting and Finishing From Wide

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passing, movement, receiving and finishing.

This activity has a lot of running, passing and shooting. A keeper starts in goal, there is a player wide on each side, another player is near midfield and a target player is at the top of the 18. A few extra players are on the end line. The keeper starts with a ball.

The keeper plays the ball out wide. One of the extra players

0 Low Dives High Dives and Scrambles

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on low dives, high dives and scrambles.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 12-15 yards out with balls and another ball at the corner of the 6.

The keeper starts with a low ball to the keepers right. The keeper dives to

1 Porto’s Midfield Protection Tactics

By Stevie Grieve

One of the main benefits of playing with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is that you can have a high level of flexibility using the 5 players in the midfield. We regularly see teams who like to press playing almost a man-man marking system, particularly in central midfield, where most attacks are constructed.

Another advantage is that defences are best protected via defensive triangulation between defence and midfield when close to goal, which covers most angles and forced 1v1 dribbles to make penetration opportunities.

Porto Midfield man-marking system

Here, Porto play 1v1 all over the field, meaning that 1 player is free from each team, so when Napoli are in possession, it is