By Alex Trukan Playing football is based on constant decision making. Players on the ball and off the ball have to decide which option to choose from a number of those available. This is based on cues and triggers – a player sees a certain picture and reacts to it in a certain, trained way.
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By Alex Trukan This game is designed to improve players’ aerobic power which is responsible for the ability to produce more actions throughout the game. This will help players to be engaged and affecting the game right until the end of it. From the tactical point of view, it incorporates overload and underload scenarios which
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By Alex Trukan When building up from the back through the centre backs, the spaces as well as options in front of them are crucial to progress the ball forwards. The key players involved in that are central midfielders. As the centre backs are in possession, they have to make a choice on their starting
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By Alex Trukan This shooting combination practice involves working on starting speed around the penalty box. This is important for players in order to gain advantage near the goal and be able to get to the ball before the defender. This in turn will help players to get into more goal scoring situations and eventually,
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By Alex Trukan The practice is aimed at developing players’ anaerobic endurance which is the ability to repeat and maintain the quantity of actions throughout the whole game. This means that players will be able to be highly involved even towards the end of the game. In addition to that, the practice contains elements of
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By Alex Trukan The throw-in is an element of the game which is often neglected and not focused on. This is evident across most of the age groups and levels. At the same time, we can observe that if executed correctly, especially in the opposition’s half, it can be used as an important attacking strategy.
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By Alex Trukan Having options to pass is an essential requirement of the effective football. It is basis for not only possession style but also for more direct approaches. Attacking ‘connections’ help the team to play away from pressure, circulate the ball as well as penetrate. The type of support available will determine what the attack will
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By Alex Trukan This practice is designed to improve players’ ability to recover between high intensity actions in a most efficient way. This will allow players to sustain the quality (speed and strength) of their actions for longer throughout the game. These physical outcomes are achieved in a highly technically demanding game containing a lot
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By Alex Trukan The following practice includes a simple 2v1 scenario with an overlap run. This is realistic and relevant picture which happens all over the pitch, from full back overlapping winger to central midfielder overlapping the striker. From the conditioning point of view, the practice develops explosive power which is the foundation to improve
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By Alex Trukan Moving the ball forwards is one of the essential requirements to create goalscoring chances and finish. In order to be able to secure the ball in more advanced positions, forward runs without the ball are needed. Forward runs are for example used to play the ball into the striker going in behind
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By Alex Trukan Formations are often the first thing that comes to our mind when talking about tactics. We hear numerous TV commentators introducing a team starting with a formation they play: 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1. Formation are a big part of the team’s tactics as it is a tool which helps to fulfil team’s style
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By Alex Trukan The ability to accelerate and be explosive is one of the key physical components in football that make a difference in the game. It is needed both in defence when recovering and pressurising as well as in attack when trying to beat a defender. This practice focuses on this conditioning element altogether
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By Alex Trukan First part of the article covered brief introduction as well as different types of ‘1v1’ situations according to the position of the defender. The second part of the article will look more critically at the whole concept of ‘1v1’ situation and how it is understood and coached. In order to better understand
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By Alex Trukan This practice has multi outcomes in all corners of the game. Firstly, from the conditioning point of view, it develops explosiveness and power. That is especially required when breaking through defences and around the opposition penalty box. From the technical perspective, it includes elements of passing, combination play as well as finishing.
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By Alex Trukan The presented game is aimed at improving players’ ability to produce more high intensity actions throughout the game. This is achieved in a conditioned game which has elements of defensive transition, combination play as well as recovery runs. The organisation of this practices challenges players to react quickly when losing possession as
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By Alex Trukan Dominating 1v1 situations has been a widely discussed topic over the last years. Many clubs have chosen to design their philosophy around this area stating that they want to consistently win ‘1v1’ situations both in attack and defence. That approach can be adapted at all levels of the game, whether it’s U6’s
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By Alex Trukan Position of a winger has primary importance in the attacking strategy of many teams. Initially, their responsibilities were based around winning duels on the wings as well as delivering crosses into the box. However, that has evolved over the last years and now being a winger requires more versatile abilities and intelligence
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By Alex Trukan This practice is designed to improve Anaerobic energy system which is responsible for short-duration, high intensity actions during a match. Therefore, players will develop their ability to produce high quality explosive bursts, which may be useful when applying pressure on the ball or doubling up to win the possession back. From the
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By Alex Trukan This practice is focused on improving players’ explosiveness and anaerobic power. It is crucial conditioning component which is for example used when losing the ball and making transition to defence and during recovery runs. In addition to that, combination play element is incorporated to make the practice more realistic and add technical
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By Alex Trukan Recent years has seen a rise in formations and styles of play overloading midfield areas and getting away from the traditional role of number ‘9’, replacing it with a ‘false 9’ and formations like 1-4-6-0. That has pointed many coaches’ attention to possible alternative roles strikers can have. One of the more
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By Alex Trukan This game is focused on improving aerobic endurance as well as 1v1 duels. From the physical point of view, it helps players to maintain many actions throughout the whole game, what will enable them to be more involved and affect the game more even towards the end of it. From the technical
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By Alex Trukan Playing with a midfield four when out of possession is arguably the most popular way of setting up your midfield unit to defend. It is also relatively the simplest way of defending to coach and play based around several roles and responsibilities. If executed correctly, it is also one of the most
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By Alex Trukan This practice is designed to improve aerobic power in an engaging and fun way. Aerobic power is a physical component that helps to recover between high intensity actions (i.e. sprints) as quickly and as efficiently as possible. It is therefore a fundament to be able to produce high intensity actions as frequently
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By Alex Trukan Full backs’ position has evolved over the years. Involvement of full backs in attack seemed very unorthodox several years ago, whereas now it is considered as a minimal standard required. Recent years has seen this position evolving even further. Primary example includes Bayern Munchen under Pep Guardiola, which introduced full backs playing
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