A football match is a very chaotic environment and coaches constantly try to create training content that mimics match demands. Previous decades have led to the development of an integral approach that seeks to develop all aspects of football within the available time budget. The ideas are very clear: 1. We train like we play, and vice versa; 2. With the time (and energy) we have, we want to achieve the most we can. To put these ideas into practice, fitness coaches have stepped into a world that was previously reserved exclusively for football coaches, and two sides started working closely together to create content that satisfies the appetites of both. The development of GPS and Time-motion systems in professional football led to better monitoring and understanding of match demands, thus better programming of the training process.
To reduce the gap between match demands and training process, coaches include different drills with small-sided games (SSG) being the number one tool to develop technical and tactical skills. Since these drills are an important component of a successful training process, monitoring and manipulating various factors can lead to the development of different physical qualities needed to successfully compete in professional football. Pitch size and shape, number of players, inclusion/exclusion of goalkeepers, and game rules can be modified to mimic certain game situations while targeting different physical demands. Successful work on Head coach tactical ideas, accompanied by simultaneous work on desired physical qualities in the desired amount, represents the crown on top of the technical staff work. Manipulating various factors for players to adequately perform in a match, is a real state of art, and it is often based on try and error approach. With that being said, the experience of professionals from elite-level football can be very helpful.
Some time ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by Andrea Riboli, PhD, at The Sportrail Football Science Conference, and his lecture organized by The University of Suffolk. At that time Andrea was Head of Sport Science and First Team Fitness coach of Italian side Atalanta B.C. His great experience from Serie A, presented through a series of remarkable publications, brought some great info on the physical aspect of small-sided games. After a pleasant conversation with Andrea, I decided to share some of the ideas with our readers through my own lenses.
When we talk about SSG, it is important to understand a basic term ‘Area per Player’ (ApP) which is simply: Length x Width / Number of players. Also, it is necessary to distinguish drills with and without goalkeepers, which we simply refer to as SSG-goalkeepers (SSG-g) and SSG-possession (SSG-p), respectively. Looking at our “regular” 7-day microcycle, we prefer to define Blocks, and our mid-week development/maintenance block includes different variations of SSGs that should be observed through a physical conditioning aspect. While SSGs are very common in our “intensive football” day, it is necessary to pay special attention to other physical parameters that are difficult to provoke in a small playing area. With that in mind, we understand that SSGs usually produce a huge mechanical load which implies a large amount of high-intensity accelerations (ACC) and decelerations (DEC). ACC and DEC match demands are easily achieved and overloaded using SSGs. However, to mimic match demands of parameters that require higher velocities, SSGs require significant modifications.
With all that in mind, here are some practical things to consider regarding SSG:
1. SSGs represent the most commonly used format of HIIT in team sports, football specifically. Laursen & Buchheit (HIIT Science) stated that more than 60% of all HIIT work is dedicated to SSGs in team sports, with Short Intervals (SI) being the next most used format. SSGs are therefore well-accepted HIIT format to hit many birds with a single rock. Being able to effectively tackle all SSG parameters, and understand how that affects the final outcome is an important skill for football S&C coaches. You might not have the opportunity to choose all the rules, but many Head coaches will ask about pitch size & duration.
2. SSGs are usually prescribed on our ‘intensive’ football day, which is usually the first day in our mid-week ‘develop/maintain’ phase, a correlate to MD-3/MD+4 in our ‘normal’ 7-day MC. Keep in mind that this is not the rule of thumb, since many SSG formats can be deployed throughout the MC, by simply tackling parameters like duration (total volume) and number of players, to name a few. Many football coaches use SSG on MD-1 for a short duration and with specific rules, to maintain team ‘competitive sharpness’. During my time in FC Sochaux-Montbeliard (France) I worked with Spanish staff, and 6v6 for 10′ where 3 teams are changing every time the goal is scored was ‘a must do’ category. Plan it in advance by tackling the rules and duration, and stick to live monitoring training load.
3. Understand SSG from a physiological and mechanical perspective. Having a small number of players included (4v4) will make all of the players actively take part during the whole duration of the set. In this format, SSG will present a significant load on players. Players might spend a significant time in high HR zones, and they will accumulate a very significant volume of accelerations, decelerations & COD. Make sure that you track relevant internal & external load parameters and compare them to benchmarks, to keep your weekly load ‘under control’. Comparing internal and external loads might give you valuable insight into the fitness-fatigue relationship. I suggest checking out the final chapter of ‘Science & Application of HIIT’ by Laursen and Buchheit, for a deeper understanding of HIIT formats in football.
4. Be aware of ‘lazy’ and talented players. Don’t go down the rabbit hole and make SSGs all about physical conditioning. The best players might create a lower external load just by ‘understanding’ the game better. They might use their tactical knowledge to be very efficient, with less energy invested. Instead of trying to immediately change things, and possibly affect the tactical and technical component of drill, live tracking and short top-ups might be a better solution. Players shouldn’t think of top-ups as a ‘punishment’, and that is where your social skills come into action.
5. The nature of SSG fits well with our ongoing strength development program. During acceleration, deceleration, stop to change direction, and re-accelerate, players will have to produce high breaking and propulsive forces. To minimize the risk of non-contact injuries, we want to make sure that players are well-prepared for SSG. In my previous club (Debrecen VSC, Hungary) we tend to do high-intensity and low-volume work before the session, tackling concentric and eccentric abilities of relevant musculature. Intensive strength work, combined with fatigue control, might prepare the team for the intensive nature of the subsequent session. Thus, this day might represent good timing for your compound lifts. For a better understanding of locomotor demands, I suggest you visit the blog ‘Science of multi-directional speed’ which I enjoy reading.
6. The previously mentioned ‘Area per player’ (ApP) represents one of the most important parameters in programming SSG. Simply, the amount of space in which players need to act can drastically affect different physiological targets. Smaller spaces are related to more COD, a higher number of tackles, and less total distance and distance covered at higher speeds. On the other side, a larger area will allow players to develop higher speeds. Depending on training targets, one might choose different formats to produce desired training outcomes. Once again I refer to Andrea’s work for those who wish to dig deeper into this topic.
7. Pitch shape might be another interesting topic since it might have a significant effect on the final outcome. Although ApP might stay the same, a longer pitch might provoke more depth runs, promoting more high-intensity accelerations and sprints (attackers attacking empty space vs. defenders covering the space behind). Wider pitches will generally promote more lateral passes and potentially decrease the intensity of the drill in goal-orientated games.
Good luck with your training programming, see you soon!
