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..
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 an article and a YouTube video:
Francesco Farioli Q&A: Ajax boss discusses Jordan Henderson’s England recall, his side’s revival and more: A great interview with former Ajax - and now Porto - Head Coach Francesco Farioli. I particularly enjoyed reading about his thoughts on Jordan Henderson and his role in the team as a player, leader & human.
"He's a benchmark for everybody and really facilitates the work of every type of technical staff, especially the ones who are relying on work ethic and mentality."
"After when you enter and when you step in, it's always really important to smell what is going on around because from outside you have a picture, but in the first five to six days, you need to be really capable of adapting, to be flexible, to understand and maybe also to change something from the plans that you have.
The Finished Series — A look at Marcelo Bielsa’s Finishing Training Exercises: Daniel Fraiz-Martinez has researched and written about Marcelo Bielsa for years and his work never disappoints. This article shows a couple of Bielsa’s finishing exercises from a dossier of 12.Furthermore, it includes links to other articles, videos and bodies of work. Excellent!
You’re invited to join over 150 coaches from around the world.
Why?
Connecting with coaches from different cultures and backgrounds could expand your approach to coaching, enhance your skills, and ultimately make you the best coach you can be for your players.
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.
This week I am sharing four types of 4v4 games. These were part of a recent UEFA B Youth Course I have been undertaking. The games are inspired by a case study by Manchester United around the value of 4v4 games. It was a pilot program attempting to optimize the “window of opportunity” that exists for skill for the Foundation Phase (8-12 y/o).
1. 4v4 Game - Shooting Focus
ORGANISATION:
8 players divided in 2 teams of 4.
Pitch size: adjust to age. Roughly 30m long x 21m wide.
Footballs around the pitch for restarts.
EXPLANATION: A 4v4 small game with large goals.
A 4v4 small game with a focus on shooting and finishing.
Both teams are looking to score as much as possible and win the game.
2. 4v4 Game - Passing & Creating Passing Angles Focus
ORGANISATION:
8 players divided in 2 teams of 4.
Pitch size: adjust to age. Roughly 30m long x 21m wide.
2 small goals facing outward on either end.
Footballs around the pitch for restarts.
EXPLANATION: A 4v4 small game with small goals.
A 4v4 small game with a focus on finding passing angles and passing detail.
Both teams are looking to score as much as possible and win the game.
The goals are facing outwards, encouraging players to think about their movement, choice of passing technique and creating angles for a pass.
3. 4v4 Game - Movement in Behind & Through Balls Focus
ORGANISATION:
8 players divided in 2 teams of 4.
Pitch size: adjust to age. Roughly 30m long x 21m wide.
Two end zones marked out.
Footballs around the pitch for restarts.
EXPLANATION: A 4v4 small game with medium goals.
A 4v4 small game with a focus on running in behind and through balls.
Teams can only score by having players arrive after the ball into the end zone they are attacking (through balls).
Once in the end zone they have 2 touches to score.
Group can decide if they want to allow defenders to track into the zone or not.
Both teams are looking to score as much as possible and win the game.
4. 4v4 Game - Dribbling Focus
ORGANISATION:
8 players divided in 2 teams of 4.
Pitch size: adjust to age. Roughly 30m long x 21m wide.
Two end zones marked out.
Two small goals at each end.
Footballs around the pitch for restarts.
EXPLANATION: A 4v4 small game with small goals.
A 4v4 small game with a focus on dribbling.
Teams can only score from inside the end zone.
A player can only enter into the end zone via dribbling into the zone.
Both teams are looking to score as much as possible and win the game.
Got questions or want me to break down a session in more detail? Drop a comment or DM me on Twitter - I’d love to discuss!
If you found this session valuable or know someone who would, don’t keep it to yourself - share it and help other coaches level up their game!