Forza Italian Football is pleased to bring its readers a regular new feature – Il Mister. Our experts will endeavour to show you all the methods and tactical secrets employed by Serie A’s best football coaches.
It is perhaps quite naive of some fans to think that professional players and coaches spend a couple of hours every day running round a field and smashing footballs randomly at a goalkeeper before entering the stadium at the weekend, in an attempt to fulfil all our sporting dreams and win the match.
The reality in fact, is wildly different. Forza Italian Football aim to dispel this misconception and bring you a series of articles after speaking to a top Serie A coach, to find out exactly what goes into preparing for the weekend’s match.
Concentrating on each day of the week, in an attempt to uncover what it takes to be a coach in one of the world’s most competitive leagues.
Having already looked at Monday, we now move on to Tuesday when the players attend the first training session of their working week.
Tuesday
Class room
The coaching staff would have spent the previous day studying the next opponent with the various reports and videos that would have been provided to them from the scouts. This information is now passed on to the players.
The squad will be brought into a class room situation where they will be presented with various information about their weekend opponent. This will usually be in the form of tactical analysis on a whiteboard.
Initially it will show various team tactics but it will also outline the strengths of individuals. This session will also introduce to the players the kind of strategies they will be asked to implement to defeat the adversary.
On the field
Warm Up – 12-15 minutes
The squad will warm up with some various running routines over an area of 50 metres. There will then be a mix of dynamic and static stretches.
Exercise 1
11 v 0 – 15 minutes
The coach will take a potential starting eleven and go through some set patterns he will expect his team to carry out on match day. There will be no opponent during this exercise, the team will ‘rehearse’ the moves on the pitch with the coach adjusting the positions of the players and the runs he wants them to make.
Exercise 2
Ball possession with end zone – 12 minutes
Teams must try and get ball into end zone with a team mate being able to run in behind defence and control ball within the zone. Possession must be varied to allow an opportunity to be created and not given away easily.
Objective of drill – out of possession
• reduce time and space of opponent
• challenge for the ball and cover
• defending as a unit
Objective of drill – in possession
• create and exploit space
• getting ball forward and in deep areas
• attacking as unit
Conditions of drill
• maximum of three touches
• one point scored after seven consecutive passes
• three points scored each time ball is stopped is controlled and stopped in end zone
Playing area – 70m x 55m
Variations
• one team must only maintain possession whilst other team can score by possession and control in end zone
• one team plays in formation of the impending opponent
• one team plays two touches
• points doubled if end zone is reached in 5 passes or less
Exercise 3
Ball possession with wide scoring zones – 12 minutes
Very similar to previous drill but the emphasis is now on getting the ball into wide areas and with speed. Emphasis on pulling team to defend one area of pitch and then trying to switch play to opposite side whenever possible.
Conditions of drill
• One point scored every seven consecutive passes
• Three points each time a player receives a pass in wide zones (zona angolo) AND manages to offload ball to a team mate
• Only player in possession may remain in wide zones
• Maximum two touches in wide zone, three touches everywhere else
• Any of the zones can be used and therefore must all be defended when out of possession
Playing area – 65m x55m
Variations
• Ball must be played at ground level
• Double points if you are able to find two wide zones within 7 consecutive passes
• Defenders allowed to enter wide zones
Exercise 4
11 v 11 match with varying conditions set by the coach – 15 minutes
Conditions can include limiting touches, method of scoring, playing with a man down, maintaining possession etc etc.
Exercise 5
Physical drill consisting of 5 x 300m runs
Cool down session
Slow jog and strecthing
