Tag: 11v11 Soccer

Nuno Espirito Santo – Wolves – Tactical Analysis (2019-20 Edition)

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, Formations, Managers, Premier League, Team Analysis, World Football

Wolves finished last season in 7th place, an admirable finish for a team who had just come up from the EFL Championship. This season they've fared even better and as things stand have a real shot at securing European football for another year. Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo has been absolutely essential to their success since taking over and deserves an immense amount of credit for everything that he has brought to this team since 2017. Despite being in the Premier League for over a season and a half now, Santo has won over 50% of his games as Wolverhampton Wanderers' manager. This is a Tactical Analysis of the wonders of Wolverhampton Wanderers and their manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

Switching Play – Session Plan and Key Coaching Points

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, World Football

The popularity of switching play as a tactical concept has long been a dominating strategy in the world of football. Its popularity is exemplified by the many different forms and names it has taken on over the years such as changing the point of attack or playing across the direct game channels. Even at the younger ages, switching play can be an essential tactic to deploy with any team. Concepts like maintaining width, crossing, and shifting the ball from left to right are universal to the sport, regardless of age.

Attack-Minded Fullbacks – Full Session Plan and Key Coaching Points

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, World Football

All of the best professional teams in the world have attack-minded fullbacks deeply rooted into their system and style of play. The likes of Liverpool have achieved much success with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson bombing down their respective sides from their positions as fullbacks. Between the two of them, they've assisted 42 goals in the last two Premier League seasons, breaking records left and right as Liverpool have completely dominated the league. But it's not just Liverpool. The growing importance of fullbacks further up the field has been one of the most popular revolutions of the modern game and it is no longer just the very best of the best that deploy these types of players. Defenders at the youth level often see themselves as only defenders. They tend to believe that there is an imaginary line that they simply cannot cross. But this is not the case! Fullbacks can make a massive difference to the attacking prowess of a team and if our youth teams are to achieve greater attacking success, the fullbacks need to be more heavily involved. This session plan provides coaches with an opportunity to start to develop that attacking-mindset in fullbacks.

Combination Play – Full Session Plan and Key Coaching Points

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching

All of the best professional clubs in the world have some clearly defined method of combination play in the final-third of the pitch. Although our youth teams might never be able to achieve the attacking flair of Borussia Dortmund or Liverpool, working hard on the training ground on Combination Play can still be tremendously helpful in the quest for greater attacking prowess.

Maurizio Sarri – Juventus – Tactical Analysis

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, Formations, Managers, Serie A, Sport Psychology, Team Analysis, World Football

Maurizio Sarri's career at Chelsea never quite got off to the way the Italian manager might have planned. But that didn't stop the former Napoli man from landing a job at the top club in Serie A - Juventus. Maurizio Sarri's Juventus have been at the top of the table throughout 2019-20 just as you'd expect them to be, and as far as their status as one of Europe's elite clubs, they have continued on exactly where Massimo Allegri left off. However, The Old Lady have been a completely different side under Maurizio Sarri this season, deploying tactics that make Juve a unique outfit anywhere in the footballing world today. This is a Tactical Analysis of Maurizio Sarri's newly revamped Juventus.

Jose Mourinho – Tottenham Hotspur – Tactical Analysis (2019-20 Edition)

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, Managers, Premier League, Team Analysis

For the first time in over a decade, Tottenham Hotspur appeared to be absolutely doomed this season. For the first 12 games of the season, Spurs looked nowhere near their usual high-flying, Champions League finalist selves and Mauricio Pochettino had the team slipping further and further down the table. Pochettino was quite possibly the best manager Tottenham have ever had, but with the team sitting in 14th place, it was inevitable that the Argentinean's role at the club was going to be cut short, just shy of 300 games for the club. Looking for instant stability, the boardroom went with the experienced Jose Mourinho to steer the ship back out of safety and the move has proven to be a massive success for Spurs. Since his arrival, Tottenham have won four games from five and now look to be well within touching distance of the top four again. Here is a Tactical Analysis of Jose Mourinho's revamped and revitalized Tottenham Hotspur after his first five games in charge.

3 Ways To Play 3-5-2

by Rhys Desmond, posted in Coaching, Formations, Serie A, World Football

After years and years of back-four systems being the dominating dogma in world football, back-three systems are now starting to take over. The growing popularity of formations like 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 has been matched by the variety of tactical nuisances that managers around the world have used to innovate these system of plays. 3-5-2, for example, has many distinct variations and teams operating within this formation can feel comfortable knowing that they can easily adapt their midfield structure to match what they want to achieve out of any game.  Here are 3 Ways To Play 3-5-2.