Training: Give me your questions.

[ChillyPhilly]

So today (Wednesday 27 November) I'll brave the heat and head to Santos to catch the boys training. Fire me any questions you may have, and I'll do my best to answer them.

I'm curious to judge the intensity and load of it, to see what impact this has on fitness levels.

[Old Gregg]

What time is training? If I have some time I might head down...
If not, the main Q's I have are:
(a) what does the mood seem like? Positive / jovial, or are they all insulting each other's mothers?
(b) possession games (Rondo's etc), positional stuff, shooting, fitness, a mixture of the above?
(c) report on the guys that aren't getting game time pls - how they looking? (Watson, Golec, Elsey, etc)

[ChillyPhilly]

Currently 10.30. Everything is set up including one of the main large goals and a corner of the pitch with two pairs of small goals. It seems that all the guys are inside having a chat. Santos has been booked untul 1 if I'm correct.

[sevengoals]

How was training?

[ChillyPhilly]

What time is training? If I have some time I might head down...
If not, the main Q's I have are:
(a) what does the mood seem like? Positive / jovial, or are they all insulting each other's mothers?

I couldn't make out many facial expressions, but body language was positive, especially from the younger ones. Most seemed to have a spring in their step and everyone was busy.

(b) possession games (Rondo's etc), positional stuff, shooting, fitness, a mixture of the above?

Spot on. Aspects of it seemed slightly bizarre at first, but after a post-training chat to Micky and Josep it all made perfect sense.

(c) report on the guys that aren't getting game time pls - how they looking? (Watson, Golec, Elsey, etc)

I actually couldn't tell if Watson was out there. Obviously Cassio is injured and McKain was seemingly the only player's face other than Watters that I didn't spot, so I'll assume that he's still injured as well. Elsey looked good along with all the other recent young recruits. As for Antony, he looked fine to me. He looks as good an option (if not better) than what we have. Definitely deserves and needs a run, he'll not only be fine, but do well. Also, I may have missed him being so far away but I didn't spot Isaias out there.

The session didn't start off properly until about 10.30. It began with a quick few laps of the pitch followed by some shuttle runs. From there everyone picked up a bib of a certain colour, and split into three groups. There were three drills watched over by coaching staff, with Josep circling around watching each individual one intently. (We found out he has some neat juggling skills too.) They were as follows:

* Taking up just a third or so of the Santos pitch was a team-based drill featuring two regular sized goals. This was geared for ball movement and shooting in and around the box. Euge and Hall were 'keepers for this, with Izzo having a 15 minute session on the exercise bike. The drill created a 4v3 scenario, with two teams of three but one neutral player.

* Another drill was a more compact, faster drill which I assume was designed for the purposes of intensity, passing and possession. Again, it was two teams of three or similar but this time both teams had to put the ball into smaller portable nets.

* The other drill was a standard athletic exercise: sprints, agility runs and some jumping-and-then-landing practice. Basic stuff.

This was rotated around, and then following this was an all-in match. Here focus was given to the defensive and offensive lines (especially the former from what I could tell from 60m away). The younger guys and Mabil shone in this, but that's just how I viewed it. The session ended after this.

A snippet can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200190736091452

--

While watching some of these drills, their purpose didn't make sense. I was with two friends, one of whom is undertaking his B Licence, and we had a chat with Josep and Micky V post-session. Turns out, today's session was about 'power'. Here it made sense. It was essentially disguised as a conditioning session, but with 'hidden/disguised learning', Valkanis said. If they wanted to do an endurance session, they would have used more space on the pitch. There was emphasis on very little coaching for this session, with it essentially being self-guided. Thankfully, there was a focus on the defensive line and the offensive line.

[Old Gregg]

Thanks Phil - very comprehensive! All sounds pretty positive to me...

[Stuckey]

Went to a training at Coopers as advertised on the adelaidereds website. All the gates were locked. Just as I was going to hit the road a lady in an AUFC hoodie showed up so I asked her about coming in. She was unsure but said it should be fine. I entered the ground and sat in the western stand. After a few strange looks from Mickey, Petrillo and Josep I guessed maybe I'm not supposed to be there.
The security guard 5 mins later confirmed that by asking me to leave. (he gave a great head lock!)

Bit annoying there was nothing to say it was a closed session on the site. The page basically invites fans to come along.
Oh well maybe Santos will be more inviting next time!

[MartinAUFC]

The siege mentality well and truly installed - probably thought you were one of Val's cronies.

[bpowell454]

Thats a shame, if the reason fans cant go to certain trainings is because of Val and his poison pen letters then that is a real shame and another reason to dislike him. He is ruining what could be a great (possibly long) turnaround for the club by only being negative.

[ChillyPhilly]

I didn't go today, but a friend did. He had a sneaky chat to Josep, who had this curious thing to say about our #12: 'He hasn't proven himself in the Youth team yet. Making mistakes.' He will later review his decision, so pending a serious structural change to our defensive style, expect more embarrassment yet.

Yet, to use this philosophy, what about certain players who haven't proven themselves in the senior side, yet start each week? I am completely baffled and mystified.

[EdDog]

Like Gombau, I actually don't think it's our individual defenders who've been poor.

The high line is a big issue, but moreso because of the places we're turning over the ball in midfield.

Golec may be a quick, able defender but he's not going to fix the root cause.

[ChillyPhilly]

Like Gombau, I actually don't think it's our individual defenders who've been poor.

The high line is a big issue, but moreso because of the places we're turning over the ball in midfield.

Golec may be a quick, able defender but he's not going to fix the root cause.

Oh, I agree. But even with our defence in our current state he'd be an improvement of about 100%. McKain should hopefully return, and this should see Osama hopefully returned to his natural spot as a CDM.

[Irish]

Something I posted on Football News during the Melbourne Heart game went something along the line of;

The only issue with the defensive line is the fact they struggle to play out from the back. Defensively, when the opposition settle in possession, we are sound. How many goals had we concided this season which were a result of the opposition's long period of possession and single "breakthrough" piece of creativity? One. The first goal against Melbourne Heart. All other goals have been concided from set pieces or in BP-BPO Transition (in the 30-60 seconds after we turn over the ball).

What might look like a problem with the defensive line largely isn't. The source of the problem is the player who turned over the ball in a tackle not pressing and closing off the forward pass IMMEDIATELY - or the midfield being unable to position themselves so they re-intercept an intercepted pass and close off another potential pass at the same time.

As for the highline - playing a deeper line ISN'T an option unless everyone one is happy keeping possession in our half and not vertuning forward. The primary principal of possession based football is that numbers around the ball are key to keeping it - by that principal you maintain possession in areas of the pitch where you have the most numbers. Playing a deeper line means removing 4 players from midfield (the left back, right back, and two centre halfs) and thus giving your opponent a numerical advantage, try maintain possession in midfield with three players against (potentially) 6. It's not not going to happen. Playing a highline turns that 3v6 into a 7v6. When maintaining possession in midfeild correctly it forces your frustrated opponents to commit their defence into midfield and creates more space for wingers and centre forward.

[spaceCowboy]

What might look like a problem with the defensive line largely isn't. The source of the problem is the player who turned over the ball in a tackle not pressing and closing off the forward pass IMMEDIATELY - or the midfield being unable to position themselves so they re-intercept an intercepted pass and close off another potential pass at the same time.

Bravo, well said!

The reason we let MH back into the game was out inability to hold possession in the midfield for the second half.

If we hold possession better it wont matter how high the defensive line is the opposition wont have the ball to attack us.

[Interloper]

What might look like a problem with the defensive line largely isn't. The source of the problem is the player who turned over the ball in a tackle not pressing and closing off the forward pass IMMEDIATELY - or the midfield being unable to position themselves so they re-intercept an intercepted pass and close off another potential pass at the same time.

It's all well and good to say that the problem is with the lack of defensive pressure from the midfield, and I agree that it is a huge problem, but you can't seperate selection from tactics. Playing a style that requires midfield pressure while intentionally, (I assume from the fact that Isaias is starting again that that it's intentional,) selecting 3 central midfielders who offer none of that is never going to work. No matter how much work is put into it.