Automatism

New buzz word in soccer Automatism.  Nice blog from the Author Christopher Cramer Explains.

AUTOMATISM vs TACTICS

It is said that FC Barcelona does not directly teach tactics to young players at La Masia, and instead they focus on automatism.  Check out this article for further background on the concept and the context.

Here is a dictionary definition of automatism:

“The performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.”

The take away for many youth soccer “experts” is that FC Barcelona does not teach tactics to young players.  Full stop.  They use this to justify their belief that technique alone should be the primary focus at the young ages.  However, to say that FC Barcelona does not teach tactics does not do the academy, it’s teams, or it’s players justice.

The idea is to design training sessions and exercises that train tactical concepts and patterns so that players are receiving tactical instruction without realizing it.

This is where rondos and positional possession games come into play.  They are used to train players what do when they have the ball, what to do when they don’t have the ball, and how to transition between those two moments.

For those that do not know, a positional possession game places players in specific spaces within the playing area to best replicate the responsibilities and situations they will face in a game.  One of my favorite positional possession games is this 3v3+3 game:

I decided to use this mentality to develop my own drills to help better initiate the movement and teach the responsibilities to my U11 and 12 teams.  Let me know what you think. 

WORKING WITH YOUNG OUTSIDE MIDFIELD PLAYERS

SET UP :   11 players in grid 40 by 40 (field and numbers can be adjusted ).  3 v 3 + 5.  4 of the 5 players are positioned on the outside and all 5 players are all time offense.  We are using defenders as all time offensive players to simulate movement/switching  of the ball and working the ball into outside midfield players feet. 

Possessional objective is to move the ball from target to target.  This initiates wide players involvement that can receive a free pass into the channel. Opponent can only enter the channel when ball is played in to it. Defensive players should be encouraged to move the ball across the back line and then choose to play to feet or look beyond the defender if the defender is too square or too close to receiving  player (in channel).  

The drill initiates great lateral movement and allows the play to build without the midfield player being put under immediate pressure.  Restrictions and stipulation of passes/touches can be created within exercise.