Transitions are often the little thing, which can change a football match. I have experienced this myself, either at stadiums all across Europe watching as a fan or scout, or as a coach standing on the side-line. Attacking wise I like this amazing goal from Manchester United in their match in 2009 vs Arsenal. It’s a great example for an effective and fast transition and a fast break. (see the goal in the youtube video below.)
At the moment I coach one of the best U14-girls team in Denmark, and also work with scouting at both youth and senior level. In my training sessions, ”transitions” are an important part of the tactical work I do. As a coach I believe that the first couple of seconds after the ball has changed side might be extremely essential. I pay attention to the details such as which kind of runs I would like to see for the player with the ball, in the situations just after the transition. Depending on which part of the pitch it is, I would like to see different options from my players. I will look into some of these runs and options in some of my next blog posts.
The following training session is all with exercises I regularly use in my training. I always try to integrate the topic of the training from the warm-up, to make the players prepare mentally to the games and exercises later in the session. I always work on the players mindset to make them think and react fast, not just with their feet but also in the mind. In my warm-up session and the sprint exercise, there are focus on the transitions, and I want to see the players be able to react fast, quickly be able to change direction and to get a message and quickly react to this.
Kenneth Nielsen
blogs@mellemmand.com





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