Level 2 Barcelona Positional Play Coaching Course
Presented by Albert Puig
On January 13th and 14th of 2018, Fremont YSC Coaches Travis Cabral and Gavin Carvalho attended the Level 2 Barcelona Positional Play Coaching Course hosted at Las Positas College.
“The ball is ours and I act according to this, I want to dominate, and I always want to go out to win. I force myself to win the ball, keep it and not lose it. If it is lost, I have to recover it as quick as possible. I attack by defending” – Albert Puig
This statement is fundamental to the coaching philosophy that has helped Albert Puig and FC Barcelona to develop world class talents like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets who are all graduates of FC Barcelona’s famed La Masia Youth Academy.
Teaching Methods
Puig establishes the blueprint for his system of positional play by introducing players to positional games i.e. structured possession play.
He emphasized that “Possession is the instrument, not the objective.” The objective is always to have the ball and create an opportunity to score in that possession. Each practice contains fundamental aspects that are relevant to the real game scenario, in this, Puig encourages players to dribble and take on defenders to create opportunities to score but if there is an opportunity to play a pass forward and beat defenders with the pass, this is strongly encouraged.
This bears a striking similarity to the philosophy that Fremont YSC has adopted in which players from the youngest age groups develop their technical abilities with an emphasis on being comfortable in 1v1 situations on both sides of the ball. This development pathway enables players at the older age groups to flourish in playing a very exciting, creative and attacking style with the same philosophy to have possession of the ball with the objective of creating a scoring opportunity but also to press the ball quickly when it is lost to regain it and attack quickly.
Key qualities in each positional game:
- Direction
- Spaces to attack
- Spaces to protect and defend
The fundamental idea is to give superiority to the “Free man”, the player in space. Players were strongly encouraged to break lines, to play the pass to the supporting player in the space behind the defender in order to achieve the end goal, every pass must have a purpose and every pass is unique and unrepeatable.
To make this achievable, players are to be positioned at different heights in relation to the other supporting players, thus facilitating the creation of passing lanes.
Puig detailed the importance of establishing individual objectives and relating them to the collective objectives that the group is looking to accomplish.collective objectives that the group is looking to accomplish.
Practice
Each practice session is divided into 3 essential categories
- Warm-up
- SSP (Preferential Situation Simulation)
- Match
The SSP is the transmission of the positional game to the system.
Situation: Creating real game situational scenarios
Simulator: Running through the situational scenarios to impact player ability
Preferential: Performing tasks so that the capacities that we want to optimize are maximized
One of the importance themes of Puig’s practice philosophy is to emphasize quality of practice over quantity. When the intensity of the practice is low, there will be little improvement to be found. If it is too high, we increase the risk of injury and lose quality. Therefore it is essential to find a balance of intensity and quality.
Periodization is key to enabling high quality of practice over a long period of time, at Fremont YSC, our training curriculum from U9 to U19 is organized into 3 sections: Pre-season, in-season and post-season. In the pre-season, we are preparing the players for the season of play ahead addressing the needs of the player by focusing on soccer specific fitness. In-season, each of the 3 weekly practices are sorted into technical sessions that teaches a specific technique relatable to the tactical and coaching in game (8v8 and 11v11) sessions to end the week. In the post-season, our younger age groups have free play which builds creativity and the ability to come up with unique ideas while developing motor planning skills and foster decision-making skills.
The SSP of medium or high loads are the ideal ones to achieve the optimization of the work. The load is not only measured from the conditional capacity, the mental structure has more importance.
Practice sessions must have the following variables:
- Progression: When quality improves – allow for 3-4 repetitions – increase the intensity of the SSP
- Continuity: There must be daily objectives that relate to medium term and eventually the long term objectives.
- Reversibility: Creating positive habits through repetition
- Variability: Sessions can be replicated over a period of time, coaches must find a way to vary the construct of the sessions to avoid monotony and boredom
- Globality: Fitness, moving parts of the body work in unison. Must be specific work as SSP does not apply.
- Individuality: Each player has different functions according to their position on the field. We must take into the account the specificity of the player to add individual instruction.
General Q and A
When asked about the landscape of US Soccer and their potential leading up to the next world cup, Puig replied by saying that the potential is there but we do not know where the talent is. The talent identification process needs to be improved.
In response to a question regarding the landscape of US youth soccer talent as compared to that coming in at Barcelona, he explained that it primarily a culture difference. The Talent is all around us in the United States with tremendous athletes all over the country but we lack the methodology, formation and tactics of the European clubs.
He also mentioned that it is essential for our professional league(s) to offer promotion and demotion in order to create a higher standard of play.