On The Training Ground

[Dameerto]

You can show your attack how you want them to play against zonal or man marking for instance - and show players how to make/exploit space for/from team mates - it all helps them to anticipate what the opposition will do and more importantly what their team mates are likely to be doing at the same time.

[johnny crossan]

That's like saying in grid iron you cant practice moves as the opposition is different every week. Sure you can't control the defence but you can develop a pattern for attack so that in certain situations you can expect players to be in certain positions.

you gotta change your fave player now Dazby!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

It's an interesting topic and would love to be privvy to the goings on at Carrington. Im sure they'll chat and do video work on every aspect of the game but i've always done things better using the 'Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.' mantra. Maybe i'm generalising but i think footballers have a short attention span, i know i did when i played and if there was to much standing around or talking i switched off. There was a great quote about Wenger that during Arsenal training he would set up different practices every 8 minutes that would keep the players on there toes and thinking but they were all geared to achieving the same goal of his session. Obviously the nature of football is spontanious but i think there is something to be said for doing a bit of shadow work with the whole team and to develop 'patterns' that could happen during a game.

Interesting quote re Wenger and it rings true.I don't doubt most players will have a short attention span so keeping it short and sharp sounds the right way to go.That's exactly what Mancini does in his sessions but he does repeat things regularly so that same message gets rammed home.

[TimberJoeysChainsaw]

That's like saying in grid iron you cant practice moves as the opposition is different every week. Sure you can't control the defence but you can develop a pattern for attack so that in certain situations you can expect players to be in certain positions.

Of course, but on that AJ goal last night as an example it is all down to the individuals on a matchday imo.

Exact opposite. Once Adebayor takes a step away from the goal bringing the central defender away with him it creates the space for AJ to run into. i would have thought they would try to do that a lot and get those wider players right infront of the goal on there stronger foot. You can choreograph those situations on the training pitch..whether it hsppens on a match day is another matter. tevez's goal last week was all down to the individual.

[dazby]

That's like saying in grid iron you cant practice moves as the opposition is different every week. Sure you can't control the defence but you can develop a pattern for attack so that in certain situations you can expect players to be in certain positions.

you gotta change your fave player now Dazby!

Fixed

[johnny crossan]

That's like saying in grid iron you cant practice moves as the opposition is different every week. Sure you can't control the defence but you can develop a pattern for attack so that in certain situations you can expect players to be in certain positions.

you gotta change your fave player now Dazby!

Fixed

I know you're really just waiting for Shay's Christmas move

[Ted Hughes]

That's like saying in grid iron you cant practice moves as the opposition is different every week. Sure you can't control the defence but you can develop a pattern for attack so that in certain situations you can expect players to be in certain positions.

Of course, but on that AJ goal last night as an example it is all down to the individuals on a matchday imo.

Exact opposite. Once Adebayor takes a step away from the goal bringing the central defender away with him it creates the space for AJ to run into. i would have thought they would try to do that a lot and get those wider players right infront of the goal on there stronger foot. You can choreograph those situations on the training pitch..whether it hsppens on a match day is another matter. tevez's goal last week was all down to the individual.

AC Milan were using a similar move with Robinho v Ajax. Ajax defence wasn't great & had no way of stopping it. Imo that shows how it could be particularly effective for us, especially against teams who have fewer defenders back than Juve but even so, we're coming inside too often; almost all the time & that could actually take away the surprise element of such a move.