Progressão
Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and skilful human behaviour. Our work approaches football from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective, where players and all football actors are understood as living beings always in correspondence with their environment.
Progressão
#190 Beyond small-sided games: train the situation
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Welcome to the Progressão podcast.
In our previous episode, we questioned the common debate around drills versus games and explored whether this is the right way to understand training in football. This week, we take the discussion further and focus on small-sided games and situation-based exercises.
Small-sided games are widely used in modern coaching and are often seen as an ideal way to train the game. But are they always representative of what actually happens in matches? In this episode, we explore some of the limitations of small-sided games, from differences in distances and timing to how pressure is experienced in real situations. From there, we introduce another approach that may complement small-sided games: situation-based exercises.
Football is not just a continuous flow, it is made up of recurring situations. Build up under pressure, press releases, lateral penetration, defending crosses. These moments appear again and again, and becoming skilful means learning to act effectively within them.
Through concrete examples, we discuss how training can be designed to reflect these situations more closely, connecting players to meaningful information in the game environment.
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Rukkasta kutkälässä. JALLES ja lejka ja juurikkäinen. Khala kaikessa Rukkesi sanoa. Haluamme mitudita fotkale. Meillä on yjänä kaikkea, kompleksita relajaan hyvä ja näyttelen kiluja fotkoilu. Kevin, jo podkast.
SPEAKER_02Jura viella episodimme ideaana trails versaus. Todella kudana tässä diskussiona ja voina stea fokusamme bolsa kävää ja också situation basistä ekälle. Small sidemet kousessä on often se idealinen solu in moderina koachina. The ondessä ja asociitu kuin ekologinen dynamiistä, representativinen design, representativen training ja näistä teores ja konceptsä. Mutta joten förutena, on hyvä näistä, että smallised kiem on flause in them. On teh perfecta, siis, ja paremman undestämistä mitä me train.
SPEAKER_00Se forämessä koaks muusita kiemissä, esimerkiksi 4 kunst 4 tai 2 joker, kun koach emfasis, kuinka defenduksista on pressinket. Mutta sekämistä distansi ole niin smaller metässä. In real matchän pressäus alte happens lonke distans. So defender dalttaa plajana voi oppinen, mitä on sprinting 10 tai 15 meters away, joten joten furtään, ja keina speed ja momentum. Tämä creata a very different kind of challenge täin a small sided games talked about.
SPEAKER_02Exälimin, in small sided games the distances are shorter ja support players are always close, so the player on the ball, even though it's difficulta situation, kind of tight situation, can escape pressure simply by playing quick pass to a nearby teammate. Mutta this don't happin a real game so often. So even though small side games are often described as more intense or complex or challenging, in some situations they may actually be less demanding in the specific way the real game is demanding.
SPEAKER_00I think this is a common misunderstanding or even a myth that the tighter spaces or smaller spaces mean it's more challenging for the players. So I think the opposite, for example, in this example so you can play like one-two more easily, so it's actually easier for the team in possession, and many times harder for the team out of possession to play that game, because the pressing is much harder because the opponent can just play the quick combination you mentioned and escape the pressure. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And then when we think about the player on the ball, for example centerback or fullback. In small side game, the support comes quickly, then you can play out quickly. In real game, maybe you get the ball and there is a lot of space around you. And like you said already, Ibe, that the pressing player starts from further away, gains speed, comes towards the defender with full speed. And if there is no support close to the defender, that can be really challenging for the player, especially if they are not used to it. And in that situation that for sure feels like a very difficult situation for the player on the ball.
SPEAKER_00Another possible issue in small set games that they can become too general or abstract. So the players are playing, jes. But what is the context? What is the situation? So is it like building up, or playing through midfield, or what is it? It can be just like football, some kind of football, but there is no real situation that can be identified in the exercises.
SPEAKER_02And even if the if the situation is identified, if it's kind of similar, it's some building up or such things, is the information in the environment similar or representative of the real game?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that is the real question. Another thing is that in smaller spaces, for example, there is a lot less space to move. So the situations can be also too similar. Koski coaches want to control the structure of the, for example, in the possession team. And so the players are always in the same positions. And it makes it much different than a match where the players have much more room to move and the situations vary a lot.
SPEAKER_02And if the game is too proud, players may not be guided towards solving specific meaningful situations that occur in matchissä. So the question is not whether small sided games are good or bad, probably they are very good, but it is how they actually traina the players. Like what kind of small sided games we are doing and how they help the players learn the skills that they need in the games and what also might they miss in same games.
SPEAKER_00This leads us to situation-based training. So if we think about football, the game is not just a general flow it's a way made of recurring situations so one could be building against high press or defending crossing situations or defending in a mid block or attacking in transition. So those kind of situations can appear again and again. Although they are never in exactly the same way, we can still still identify those similar patterns that can happen during the match.
SPEAKER_02We can start the coaching process or the planning process in terms of situations. What kind of situations we need to train for example this week. What kinds of situations does the game present? What kinds of situations happen in a football game also? We have talked about football as a complex phenomenon, so there are a lot of different flows like in buildup. There can be very organized buildup, not so organized, more chaotic buildup and in low close to the goal or higher up the pitch, starting from set piece. So a lot of different flows in one kind of situation. How do we help players become skillful in those different situations?
SPEAKER_00In our earlier episode we discussed how training is often built from parts, first technique, then decision making, then the game. But from a more ekological perspective, learning is always connected to the environment. So instead of isolating parts, we can design training around meaningful situations as Jani mentioned. So for example, instead of general possession game, we might design a situation where a team is building up against a specific type of press. Now the players are learning to deal with a specific problem of the game.
SPEAKER_02At the same time, this doesn't mean that we move away from games. So, situation-based training can still be game-like. You can do it in a game-like way: that there are goals and you can get points and such things. It can still be dynamic and variable. But there is intention, there is a clear intention, for example, in build-up. Now we need to achieve a goal, and that goal might come from the coach also, like a specific goal. The basic principles in football are keep the ball, progress. Those goals are always present, but then coaches can kind of make different constraints in the training to constrain the buildup. Or let's take one example: lateral penetration. So if we want to train lateral penetration, we need to think what actually happens in that situation in a real game. Where is the goal? Where are opponents normally in that situation? And what information is available to the player?
SPEAKER_00A common mistake is to create a small-sided game on the wing on the sides where the objective is simply to get past the end line. But in the real game, the lateral penetration is not about reaching the corner, it's about progressing towards the goal. So, what it may include is like combinations inside overlaps, underlaps, breaking into the penalty area. So the design of exercise should reflect that.
SPEAKER_02And we can still use a game here in this situation, but now we need to think what's the player's intention? Is it only to go forward towards the end line, or is it to go diagonally inside to the box and closer to the goal so that they can pass and shoot from there? So we can still use a game here, like we said, but we can also design a situation-based exercise. For example, we can have 2v2 or 3v3 on the wing with a goal positioned realistically, so in the right place, with a clear direction towards the penalty area. So it's kind of funnel, diagonal funnel from out from lateral corridor to inside to the penalty area. And now the players have to solve this problem. How do they get into the penalty area, for example?
SPEAKER_00Let's take another example of press release. So this could include defender playing a 1-2 to escape pressure, player dripping away from the press, a midfielder finding a passing angle under pressure. So, how do we train this? So we don't just say play and give feedback on press release or press resistance. So we design a situation. For example, it can be even 1v1 situation on the side where the fullback receives the ball from the center back, and then there's pressure coming from the winger. And now the player must perceive where the pressure is coming. Then in the exercise there can be two goals: one is passing a mini goal, and one can be driving or dribbling through a gate of two cones. So now the player who receives the ball, the fullback must perceive where the pressure is. He must in a way choose what is the best way to score a goal. And in the match it would be progressing or releasing the press and then act in relation in the situation. So for example if the defender comes in an such an angle that the dripping goal is open, then he must perceive this and for example drive the ball through the goal. Or if the defender comes from the inside and leaves for example the other passing golden, then of course he or she should see that okei, this golf is now open, I should pass. And that pass could be for example pass to a winger, or in some cases if it's in the center to midfielder.
SPEAKER_02Tässä good example of a situation or eksercise that is quite constrained. Saman might say that this is too constrained, that there is not much opportunity for the player who gets the ball. Mutta actually there is a lot of variability, or there can be a lot of variability inside this exercise. So we can vary the press distance where the pressing player starts their approach. Pressing angle, the behaviour of the presser, go full speed or change your speed, change the rhythm of pressing and such things and all and the goals also. So all these constraints are changing. And inside this ekissä, we can help the player a lot to find this press release skill. So there can be contextual variability in this situation.
SPEAKER_00Kos if we just put tripling goals, it won't be realistic, koska en match nee passä, ja väversa, if there's only mini gols where you can pass. Täis also not realistic. Kospäim match. The hyvä option is to dribble the ball past the defender.
SPEAKER_02To summarize this episode, we can think of the fenomenon like this. Small sided games give us a general environment, maybe too often. We can specify this environment in small sided games. Mutta also what we can do use this situation based on exercises, that give us more fokus lens, soin that environment. Ok, coaching skill is needed there also. Mutta we understand the gain, we can make the situation more specific.
SPEAKER_00Another important aspect is variazione. So even when we train a specific situation, it should not become rigid or repetitive. So the situation should still include variability so different timings, different positions, different starting points for the situation so different solutions so the players learn to adapt and not just to repeat some fixed solution.
SPEAKER_02In that sense, we are not teaching a fixed solution. We are helping the players become more attuned to the situation, to the information around them, and to understand what's going on and how can I cope in this situation? How can I act effectively within it?
SPEAKER_00So, again, the key question is not: is it drills or games or is it small-sided games or not. I think the one key question is: what kind of situations are we creating, and how do these situations connect to the real game?
SPEAKER_02So, small-sided games, of course, they are a super interesting and valuable tool in coaching. But there can still be something else. Maybe we can have this situation-based exercise together with small-sided games. Of course, here the coaching is very important. How do we design the environment? How do we shape this situation and how we help players kind of get into the situations in a meaningful way?
SPEAKER_00Perhaps we could say it's not about choosing between drills, small-side games or conditioned games or possession games. It's about understanding the game more deeply as a coach and then designing training that reflects the game and the understanding of the game. Exactly, Yipe.
SPEAKER_02Listener, thank you for listening. We'll continue next week.