The 5-Minute Football Coach #44

Ajax pass-and-move, Small-sided matches, Linking training to matches

Here are this week’s highlights:

⚽️ Practice of the week

A nice pass-and-run with layoffs drill from Ajax. Good for a technical warmup, all 1st- touch!

AFC Ajax @AFCAjax

Just listen to the ball. 🎶 #ajapsva

📖 Topic of the week

Back in 2003, Manchester United conducted a trial of playing 4v4 (rather than 8v8) matches - specifically at Under-9 academy level. Interesting experiment and the findings are worth going through.

The key points: more touches of the ball, more challenges, more fun for the players! But also less demanding physically (so just make the pitch bigger?).

More reasons to use small-sided games for training, rather than just drills or full-size matches.

Plan It Coach @PlanItCoach

500% more goals scored in 4v4 games 😱⚽️ It’d be interesting to know the 3v3 stats @PeterPrickett �jB

💡 Idea of the week

A great tip I will keep in mind, not just to plan sessions but also when we talk to our players.

My Coaching Journey @MyCoachingJour1

Years ago, I often struggled to link a session to a match day By changing my planning to write the actual positions rather than ❌’s and ⭕️’s, I now find it a lot easier to plan and deliver activities that represent the game. Anyone else had any simple but effective💡moments?D

I hope you enjoyed this. Have a great week!

Fabrice

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The 5-Minute Football Coach: every Tuesday, 3 coaching tips in 5 minutes, for free.