With pre-season football fast approaching, small-sided games are valuable tools for increasing intensity, preparing players physically for the season, and reinforcing tactical concepts.
The three small-sided games included in this tactical theory can be incorporated into training sessions, aiming to improve wide players' understanding of one another.
Using tactical analysis of Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Watford, and Barcelona, these football training exercises are specifically designed for full-backs and wingers, however these drills can also benefit players in all positions.
These pitch training rondos incorporate elements designed to enhance wide players' technique and team tactics in the offensive aspects of attacking in wide areas.
Small-Sided Game One: 1v1 To 4v4
The first training exercise, which begins with a 1v1 and develops into a small-sided, game-like, 4v4 attack to goal, facilitates coaches' work on individual technical elements as well as unit-specific tactics.
The game not only allows wingers to receive under pressure but also teaches the movements required from wide players to move off the striker when the forward is receiving with their back to goal.
Each team consist of a minimum of four outfield players and a goalkeeper.
Depending on the desired rest-to-work ratio, coaches may choose to include as many as 12 outfield players on each team.
The strikers are positioned off the field beside the opposition's goal.
This positioning allows them to make movements towards the ball later in the drill and practice playing with their backs to the goal.
Wide players are positioned on either side of the set-up (in the example above, on each team's left), adjacent to the middle of the pitch.
These players represent an attacking winger or an advanced full-back.
The first phase begins with a one-on-one situation, where the goalkeeper plays a firm, on-the-ground, angled pass just inside the pitch from where their winger is positioned.
This first phase, specifically the inside-angled pass off the goalkeeper, is designed to mirror the reception of Arsenal's wide forwards from their full-back.
By playing the ball in front of the opposition’s full-back, they are left square on to the receiving attacker when they press the ball.
This makes it easier for the winger, who is forced by the pass to adopt an optimal side on body shape, to take one touch past the full-back.
Not only does this action make it very hard for the opposition full-back to press, but it also means the winger has opened up the entire pitch for themselves and, in slightly different circumstances, created the opportunity for an overlap.
The 2v2 portion begins with the opposing goalkeeper.
The attacking player in the first phase remains in the game, becoming a defensive player, and the original defender is now an attacker.
Having just received the first shot, the goalkeeper should be fed a ball immediately so they can play out the opposite side quickly, using a similar pass as in the first phase.
The winger should receive this first pass in the same manner as the first ball played in.
The difference is that the winger has a teammate to combine with or use as a decoy.
The attacking player on that winger‘s team should decide whether to make a diagonal run in (shown) to drag the opposition defender away or to open up and provide width and a passing option.
This phase is designed to replicate a similar scenario to the above, where a wide player, in this case, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, cuts inside and is provided space by their teammates' decoy runs.
The third phase focuses on strikers receiving the ball under pressure with their backs to the goal.
As soon as the second bowl is dead, the striker from the original attacking team makes a movement to receive from the goalkeeper.
It is crucial that this run is angled to allow for the striker to receive side-on.
If the striker were to receive a flat, it would be very easy for the marking defender to dispose of them.
By being side-on, the striker can keep the ball far from the defender, should they decide to hold it up, and allows the striker to turn either way comfortably.
In addition to the striker's body shape and control, the now supporting wingers’ runs or movements become important.
An alternative action for the striker in this phase is to receive the pass from his goalkeeper and dribble wide with it, rather than holding or dropping the ball back.
As can be seen in the above image of the build-up to Watford's goal against Manchester City in the 2022/2023 Premier League season, the striker remaining on the ball forces the centre-back to track him and can be dragged out of the central area.
As the above image shows, this can create a huge gap for a winger or central midfielder to run through.
The fourth phase again begins with another ball into the striker.
Again, the wide players have to consider how they can make supporting movements off the striker.
This is made more complex by the fact that they will almost inevitably find themselves out of position (more central) after the previous phase.
This phase continues until a goal is scored, with goalkeepers constantly feeding back the ball if it should go out of play.
Once the goal is scored, phase one recommences with either the same players or a refreshed group of eight.
Small-Sided Game Two: Double-Width Attacking
This small-sided game, which can be adapted to accommodate anywhere from six to a full set of 10 outfield players, is designed for teams playing with double width, i.e., a full-back and a winger in the wide area on each side of the pitch.
The aim is to isolate the wide players in 1v1 situations or create 2v1 overloads.
Four neutral players are positioned in wide zones outside the width of the box, with two in each zone.
To encourage goals originating from the wide areas, for goals to be counted, the ball must have entered one of the wide areas before reaching the penalty box.
If the ball were to be played backwards from the wide area in an effort to recycle it and keep possession, it would have to re-enter the wide area for a goal to be scored.
Midfielders should be coached on appropriate movements to facilitate the switching of play into the wide zones.
This setup is designed to recreate scenarios like the above, which preceded Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich's disallowed goal against UEFA Champions League winners PSG at last summer‘s FIFA Club World Cup.
As the image shows, Bayern are attacking down their right side with the winger, Michael Olise, facing up the Ligue 1 champions’ left-back.
Olise is being supported underneath by Konrad Laimer, who is in the right-back position.
By remaining underneath the winger and wide, Olise is in a difficult position for the opposition to pick him up, allowing him to receive alone.
For the purposes of this exercise, should the ball be set back to the player in this position, the full-back should be encouraged to deliver a cross into the box.
A condition, or rule, can be added to increase the likelihood of this occurring—should the ball be set back by one neutral to another, the receiving player only has one touch.
This rule also encourages crosses into the box.
The winger learns to set the ball with the appropriate pace, knowing their teammate has to deliver the ball first time.
Small-Sided Game Three: Two-Team Positional Attack
This small-sided game, with the corners of the pitch cut out to create a hexagon, is designed for inverted full-backs in the buildup phase, advanced wingers, who coaches want to hold relative width, and the attacking third.
The pitch can be full size, utilising all 11 players, or condensed to a far smaller area and a reduction in the number of players.
Regardless of the chosen size, the purpose of the exercise and the coaching points remain the same.
The layout of the pitch requires players to assume the desired positioning and move within specific areas.
This takes the onus off the coach to constantly remind players of their designated positions on the pitch.
If the coach desires, the adapted pitch lines can be for the working team only, with the opposition free to use the entire pitch width.
Coaches can also add rules and conditions to the game to suit their requirements.
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