Tag Archives for " Chelsea "

Coaching the Back Three - Conte - Part One

WORLD CLASS COACHING Coaching the Back Three - Conte By Stefano Santona TABLE OF CONTENTS Part One INTRODUCTION COACHING DEFENSIVE DEVELOPMENT Part Two 3V2 DEVELOPMENT 6V4 DEVELOPMENT Part Three DEFENDING EXERCISES ATTACKING EXERCISES Part Four CONDITIONED GAMES DEFENDING BY FINISHING CONCLUSION Introduction Tactical evolution is not a linear process. It is a path made of breakages,

Continue reading

Coaching the Back Three - Conte - Part Two

WORLD CLASS COACHING Coaching the Back Three - Conte By Stefano Santona TABLE OF CONTENTS Part Two 3V2 DEVELOPMENT 6V4 DEVELOPMENT   3. 3v2 DEVELOPMENT 1° exercise: 3v2, covering an overlap 1° exercise: 3v2, covering an overlap Area size: depending on age and quality of the players;  Number of players: 6 (2 defenders, 3 offensive players, 1

Continue reading

Coaching the Back Three - Conte - Part Three

WORLD CLASS COACHING Coaching the Back Three - Conte By Stefano Santona TABLE OF CONTENTS Part Three DEFENDING EXERCISES ATTACKING EXERCISES   5. Defending Exercises 3v5; control the central lane Area size: depending on age and quality of the players Number of players: 9 (3 defenders, 5 offensive players, 1 gk) Objective: defensive movement, keep up

Continue reading

Coaching the Back Three - Conte - Part Four

WORLD CLASS COACHING Coaching the Back Three - Conte By Stefano Santona TABLE OF CONTENTS Part Four CONDITIONED GAMES DEFENDING BY FINISHING CONCLUSION   7. Conditioned Games 6 V 6, score on the sides. Area size: depending on age and quality of the players Number of players: 12 (6 defenders, 6 offensive players) Objective: find the

Continue reading

Tactical Series Antonio Conte - Part One

WORLD CLASS COACHING Tactical Series Antonio Conte By Jonny Carter and Michael J. Louter   TABLE OF CONTENTS Part One INTRODUCTION THE CONTE CHANGE TO 3-4-3 AND WHY? TRADITIONS AND CONVENTIONS OF THE 3-4-3 - BECKENBAUR TRADITIONS AND CONVENTIONS OF THE 3-4-3 - CRUYFF Part Two TRADITIONS AND CONVENTIONS OF THE 3-4-3 - DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY THE

Continue reading

Tactical Series Antonio Conte - Part Two

WORLD CLASS COACHING Tactical Series Antonio Conte By Jonny Carter and Michael J. Louter   Part Two TRADITIONS AND CONVENTIONS OF THE 3-4-3 - DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY THE SHAPE OF PLAY THE SHAPE OF PLAY - DEFENSE Traditions & Conventions of the 3-4-3 | Defensive Philosophy The way the 2016/17 version of Chelsea FC defends opposition build-up

Continue reading

Paris SG v Chelsea

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett Champions League Paris SG 2 v 1 Chelsea Victorious over Chelsea at Parc des Princes, PSG has done half the work in leading them through the Champions League quarterfinals. After a dominating, but uninspired, first half, the Parisian club accelerated after the break and undermined Chelsea’s game

Continue reading

Congestion on Chelsea’s Right Side

By 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

PSG-Chelsea1

In the 2nd half, instead of playing directly into the

Continue reading

Tottenham v Chelsea -01-01-2015

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 reading

Chelsea v Arsenal-05-10-2014

HOW 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 reading

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

Continue reading

Chelsea’s Midfield Rotations

By Stevie Grieve. The complete article can be found in the February issue of the WORLD CLASS COACHING Magazine in the Member Drills Database.

Jose Mourinho has had unparalleled success since 2004, he has won every possible trophy domestically in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain, while winning the Champions League twice in this period. His teams are always defensively strong, have a very organised system to deal with defensive transitions and are always incredibly dangerous on the counter-attack.

One aspect of Jose Mourinho’s teams that don’t get the praise they deserve, is the fluid attacking play that he gets from his teams, and this Chelsea team have some great players which allow for a fluid and attractive style of play, but the Mourinho defensive transition is always an element to look for, which explains why Juan Mata is being left out of the team in favour of Willian.

Chelsea Movements – Lopsided 4-2-3-1 – higher on the side that Hazard plays in

Blue; Back 4. Black; Mid 2. Yellow; Mid 3. Red; Striker

Chelsea Rot Pattern 1

Left side (3 + 11 controls the movements); When Ashley Cole plays at 3, he will overlap and give Hazard more

Continue reading

How to Exploit the Central Midfield of the 4-2-3-1

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 Advanced Tactics here  AND his new book, Beating the 4-2-3-1.

This article is an excerpt from the chapter called "Exploiting the Central Midfield" from our new book, Beating the 4-2-3-1.

Attacking the centre of the 4-2-3-1

When attacking the 4-2-3-1, one of the main strengths is the base of 2 players infront of the back 4, but playing in a manner which forces one of the players to come out and press, especially against a dribbler who likes to play quick passes in their stride while running, can be an easy way to penetrate the midfield line, pull a central defender out for a through ball into a run behind the defence, or even allow for long range shots if enough space is created.

Drawing out one of the defensive midfielders isn’t always easy - playing with several players occupying the same space can allow for wide attacks, wide play can force one of the players over to help the full back press the ball and leave central space.

Chelsea v Napoli – Napoli’s 3-5-2 (3-4-1-2) overcomes Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1 via central attacks

Wing Backs provide support on the sides to move holding midfielder over to play 3v2 on the side

4-2-3-1 Napoli Chelsea 1

Cavani pulls wide to leave Hamsik and Lavezzi playing 2v4 against Chelsea’s centre backs and holding midfielders. Napoli’s left wing back support’s on the overlap bringing

Continue reading

Passing and Possession With Creativity

Watch Chelsea Academy Coach, Ben Mitchell in action and gain a blueprint for creating your own progressive passing drills   Get your players passing like champions! Creative Passing Drills is a five-part video series that shows you how to run progressive passing and receiving sessions that give your players more touches than conventional sessions. Led by Chelsea Academy

Continue reading

Attacking With Creativity

Take a virtual pitch side seat and watch how Chelsea Academy Coach, Chris Woodward trains players to move, think and react so they can be more creative in attack   This special six-part video series runs you through a complete creative attacking session with Chelsea Academy Coach Chris Woodward. Watch how Woodward trains a group of

Continue reading

Can Arsenal Finish Strong? Liverpool - What Problem?

Liverpool are only one win away from a European spot (3 points behind 5th place Tottenham).  Is all the hoopla about their poor start way overblown? Will this be a different season for Arsenal?  Here's what I'm getting at. Arsenal typically start the season playing well.  The weather is nice, playing surfaces are pretty good

Continue reading