Session #41: The Pre Season Series

Pre Season Week 1 Session 1

Welcome to The Patient Build Up! If you love the World Game you’ve landed in the right place. You’re here but haven’t subscribed?! Let me help you with that..

Recommendations

At the start of every piece For Coaches, I will give a couple of recommendations that have helped me or caught my attention. It will be anything from online articles, podcasts or books. This week I want to share a podcast and an article.

“En Inglaterra se entrena a 36 ó 37km/h... en España, a 34″: An interview with Rafa Benitez for well known Spanish newspaper Diario As - so naturally it’s in the native language. This interview was conducted in July 2024, just before the Euro final and it’s interesting to read Rafa’s thoughts on English and Spanish football. He speaks about the importance of experience as a coach and needing time to learn about players and how to best utilise them. You grasp from his answers that he isn’t very big on “possession” football in the traditional Spanish way. An interesting read.

“57% of balls played out from the back are lost, 1% of them lead to a team scoring a goal, 2% you concede a goal and 15% the opponent creates dangerous situations. The best teams win 50% and 40% of first and second balls; the “lesser” teams between 40% and 30%.”

Momentum Does Not Exist: Train for the process, not the result: Another great article from David Garcia. Any coach reading this article will immediately identify with the story being told and the ‘momentum’ of games. Highly recommend this article for coaches to reflect on their training, language and how they manage and help their players.

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Welcome to For Coaches on The Patient Build Up. Every week you will find educational content here that you can use in your own environment. The aim of this content - be it sessions, methodology ideas or general advice - will be to provide theoretical knowledge that coaches can adapt to their own environment. I will try my best to make sure that everything that goes in this section is as objective as possible and always taking football as the starting point. In fact I encourage all who read this section to reflect on it and understand how it fits into his or her environment. In simple terms understand the abilities and inabilities of your players and adjust it accordingly. Always remember that the players should be at the forefront of what we coaches do.

As many of you know, I’m currently based in London, UK. This means we are currently in the off season period. While this may be synonymous with “rest”, it’s possibly one of if the not the most crucial period for coaches. Where we can take some time off the pitch to build an actionable and intentional plan for (hopefully) success in the upcoming season. So while I go through this period, I will be sharing some of the training sessions I will be delivering as part of the Pre Season Tactical Periodisation with my Under 19 team. The sessions will be detailed and have three main objectives:

• Build the on pitch culture.

• Develop a strong and adaptable Playing Identity.

• Gradually build the football fitness of the players.

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And so to the very first one. Week 1 Session 1: Attacking - Progressing Centrally. The first session will be preceded by a meeting to create collective objectives, expectations and begin to develop our winning culture.

1. 5v2 Rondos

ORGANISATION:

• 21 players (+/- 3) divided in 3 groups of 7.

• 3 x playing areas 12m x 10m.

• Footballs ready for restarts.

EXPLANATION:

5v2 rondos with central link player. Focus is on retaining possession while playing around and through opponent using the link player. The rondo has 4 progressions:

1. Free - defenders stay in for a set time even if they win the ball back.

2. Two touch limit.

3. If link player (CM) receives and passes successfully or 12 passes, defenders stay in again.

4. If ball is lost in less than 5 passes, forfeit for attackers.

TIME:

• 4 rounds of 5 minutes, with a 1 minute rest.

• Total duration: 24 minutes

2. 1v1+3 Execution Game