U9 Training Reflection (2.3.22)

Principle: (A) Possession (B) Counter-Pressing

Sub-Principle: Press to Win the Ball, Build from the Back

Sub-Sub Principles: (A) Switch Play through Pivot (B) Instant Mental Attitude Change from Possession to Recovery, Run Through the Ball as a Unit

Beginning - Team Talk

We had a fun team talk to intro the idea of pressing. Using spilling juice as the example. We have to clean the mess and if its someone else's mess then we have to help = if we lose the ball we have to win it back, and if our teammate loses the ball we help him win it back.

First Part - Technical Game

Today we had some players that were a bit late so we had to audible the activation portion that was originally planned. Instead we started with a small rondo 4v1 rondo. As the players arrived we shifted into the originally planned 4v1 transition rondo. The idea was to build on our possession principles we have worked on so far and now (1) further build out our game model with the introduction of the transition and (2) challenge the possession ability of our players.

We had some excellent sequences of possession and some great instances where we were able to win the ball back before the defender was able to transfer the pass back over to their side.

We improved our reaction time but we are still a bit slow to react on the transition. We have to build more quick reactionary games like this to keep building our transition habits. I also would like to get a counter-pressing video to show to the players at some point.

Second Part - Tactical Game

Next we moved into a 6v2 possession game which included two GKs. The pinks had to work to switch the ball from side to side using the GK while the blues had to try to steal the ball and finish on either goal. If the pinks lost the ball they had to counter-press and win the ball back.

Positives:

- excellent way to introduce the concept of passing back to the GK, the players consistently had to use them and play out of pressure

- introduced the concept of passing and opening up (some players started to do this automatically)

To improve:

- mobility of the GK

- dynamism to attack multiple goals

- starting again even if we are deep in the half

Final Part - SSG

In the final part we played a 4v4 conditioned ssg with GKs. Passing to the GK and then he connecting a pass = 3pts ; a normal goal was 1 point. The game worked well to reward passes to the GK and there was a few instance were we played the GK pass to conserve the ball. It really was an excellent game played by the boys.

Next week

- principle to train: Finishing w/ numerical superiority

- perhaps later in the week a video on counter-pressing

- a dynamic game where multiple goals need to be considered?