TO REPEAT

I see there are coaches who are opposed to "non directional" games/exercises, ie, those in which there is no goals or place to score. They say they are unrealistic and that these circumstances do not occur in a football game.

There are also many who say that all these games with restrictions (touches per player, minimum number of passes, etc.), are not suitable, because this does not happen in football games.

Well, if we go with this approach are not valid, for example, those exercises where a player runs down the wing to cross and two teammates arrive for finishing, all it without any opposition. This does not happen in a football game. Nor would be valid an exercise of defenders against attackers finishing at the moment when the defender gets the ball because the defense must do something with the ball, doesn't he?. Nor would be a game of 4v4 in an area of ​​40x30m. because the pitch has very different measures. Nor would be valid ... put whatever you want.

But it would not be valid the series of sprints, or work in the gym, nor a lot of things you do in football practices .

Applying this criteria, the only proper training would be an 11v11 game and only allow subs that can be made by category, age, etc.  Nothing else, because the rest is "unreal".

The training serves to prepare and learn things. A football match is like a performance in the theater or a musical performance. It takes many hours of preparation, correct mistakes, preparing different "pieces" to have it finally all assembled.

Let's return to the "non-directional" games. What are they? That's it. It is a piece, a part of the way of playing that a team can have. And one of the things that has been understood less in the "positional playing" is this touching and touching the ball. The ball is played until you can pass and you pass to break lines. You move the ball to move the opponent, until you find a "hole" where to pass the ball. Hence the great importance of these activities. Players learn to spread the ball under pressure. They learn to move while retaining its structure on the field. They learn to support the partner who has the ball, either getting closer or further. They learn to protect themselves when the opposing squeezes. They learn to be patient while finding the right time of the pass. They learn many things.

And those who do not have the ball learn to go together as a bloc to press. They learn to swing from side to side to avoid these passes that break lines. They learn the needed communication to work together in the same direction when making movements. They learn to be patient when the opponents are touching and touching the ball and it's not possible to recover the ball. They learn to cover the teammate when he is beat. They learn many things.

I'll go further. What it is, is that a certain fact is being done many times. The more times the player has made a move, the easier it is to do so at game time. It is clear that as much as you work "2 touches" at exercises, the game will be different. There will be times when you will play at first touch and, sometimes, the player will run with the ball to pass or shoot or whatever. Now, if we don't do the ball to go fast in practices, hard that it goes fast at matches (if we want that to happen at games, of course).

And obviously, what we say about the "non-directional" games, can be applied to any type of directional activity. Imagine a game 4v4+2GK in a grid of 40x30m. For example, do we want to work interceptions? Then, give 1 point for every one that you have. Do we want our team to be compact in defense? Value the goal double if all the defensive team is not in own half when that goal is scored. Do we want this compactness in attack? All the team must be in the attacking half at the scoring moment (except the goalkeeper, of course). And as such, many examples of activities that can be made ​​to work, as we have said before, different parts of the way we play.

Think about the "pattern plays": A passes to B, this one to C, etc. What do you want when you do that ? To establish a pattern of conduct at the time of play. Nothing more, nothing less. It is a "piece" of how to play and it will be repeated many times until it's done the best possible, because, at the match, players have clear how to do it. And the same with all the exercises we have talked before.

Football is about this. Repeating the movements, actions, etc. because, in the middle of the game we can not stop and say: "It's not right. Let's do it again". That is training for. And, for this, we must profit it as much as possible.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP

P.S. Btw, in next few days I'll post a post about the "positional play" and its application from "non-directional" games and also "directional" ones.

AS YOU PLAY...

I've said it once, but now I will be more extensive. For a long time, it has been said, and it is said that "as you train, as you play", referring to that, what was worked and how it worked in practices was reflected in the games. Today, for me, the situation is reversed and we have moved to "as you play, as you train".

What does this mean? Well, very simple: If we want our team play in a certain way, we will have to train in a certain way. I mean, why we have to do "Rondos" and "Possession games" when the team plays counter-attack style or a live direct play style? Or, why do we have to practice plays where the full-back passes to the midfielder and this one to the winger to cross, if this will not be done during the game?

A few days ago I read in a blog about the use (and abuse) of the Small Sided Games (SSG). These SSG are the "fashion" now, and you're not a good coach if you do not use them. But, what should we use, if we do? Well, those useful for your way of playing. An exercise with so much pressure when you do not press when you lose the ball makes no sense. An exercise for building up from the back with the ball when then we don’t play this way neither, does not make any sense. An exercise where our striker is heading the cross of the winger, when we do not have this wingers to do the crossing, it makes no sense. And, well, whatever you want.

Any type of exercise or activity that is related to the way we play is good. Any type of exercise or activity that is NOT related to the way we play is bad. Regardless if we talk about SSG, Automatism, Prepared plays, etc. It has nothing to do with that.

The question we must ask ourselves when we prepare our sessions is not what we do?, If not, why do we do it? Why this activity and not that one? Why I use this exercise? Why this one is not useful? Because everything has to be linked to our style of playing. Therefore for this, only, that's enough.

And, the exercises should include, to the extent possible, the 4 moments of the game (Attack, Defense, and the two Transitions). For me, it makes little sense exercises where the attackers have to score a goal and when defenders clear the ball the exercise finishes and we start the attacking move again. But, what about the game? What do we want to be done? Because if what we want is that the defenders just clear the ball, it’s good as we did. But now, if we want to play a counter or we want the defenders to play from the back, we have to make it be present when training, right? And besides, if we want the ball to go to the center or to the flanks, we have to put this "condition" in the exercise. If we have not practiced it before, unlikely we will see it in the matches.

And, all this comes from the same place: to have a clear and defined “style of playing”. To know what we want to do in every moment of the game, with the ball or without it. In our half pitch, or in the opponent’s half. In our box, or in the rival’s. If this is not clear to us, we can hardly prepare our training sessions so that they are in line with our way of playing. The "style of playing" is the starting point of everything. Without "style of playing", there is nothing.

As you play, as you train. If you don’t know how you play, hardly you will know how to train.

Jordi Pascual

You can follow me on Twitter: @JordiPascualP