**disclaimer** It is difficult to make a solid assessment of a coach or a program based on observing one isolated session. Context, as always, is key. I know that many coaches are interested to see what other teams, especially high level ones, are doing, and that is my main reason for sharing.
photo: Pep Morata
4/9/2014 – FC Barcelona Juvenil A (U19) training session
Context: Jordi Vinyals, head coach of Juvenil A, was preparing his team for the semi-final game of the Youth Champions League vs Schalke 04. The game was to be played away in Switzerland and this was the final training session at La Masia before the team was set to travel. Juvenil A had already won their local league championship with a recent win over nearby club FC Damm. The squad consisted of guys like Munir El Haddadi, Adama Traore, Elohor Godswill, and Wilfred Kaptoum.
Session:
Local media was on hand to take a picture of the team (coaches included) as part of their send off to Switzerland. We saw the picture (above) in the local newspapers the next day.
Several coaches milled around setting up cones as players trickled into the field area.
Coaches’ pre-training talk: Too far away to hear what was being said but Vinyals was very animated.
Warm up: Team was sent over to the fitness coach for a dynamic warm up. Players moved back and forth across a 20 meter area while doing a variety of dynamic stretches and specified movement patterns.
Technical warm up:
Next, the players split off into three rondos. The boxes were approximately 8×8. There were two groups of 5v2 and one group of 6v2. The goalkeepers participated in the warm up with the rest of the team and also were part of the rondos. Coaches supervised the rondos and occasionally jumped in to make coaching points. CONDITIONS: Wasn’t clear the exact # of passes the players on the outside were trying to get without losing the ball, but it was somewhere in the range of 20-30. If they reached their goal they would stop the ball and clap and laugh, poking fun at the guys in the middle. The defender had to either gain possession of the ball or knock it completely out of play to get out of the middle, it was not enough just to get a touch. Intensity in this exercise was HIGH, as the defenders are flying around trying to win the ball. Nobody wanted to be in the middle so they playfully argued over who it last went off. Coaches occasionally called out the bad pass and made the passer go in. Sometimes the players admitted the bad pass as well, apologizing to their teammates. The exercise started out two touch but then moves to one touch towards the end.
Fitness:
The fitness coach had set up a circuit in one corner of the field. Players rotated through in pairs, cycling through some functional strength training (with specific work on hamstring strength), plyometrics, as well as a series of sprints and a variety of changes of directions.
Long Passing: As the coaches picked up the cones from the previous exercise and worked on transitioning to the next activity the players partnered up and knocked some long passes back and forth. Coaches were not monitoring or giving feedback, and it only lasted a few minutes. Goalkeepers went to one of the goals and did a GK-specific warm up with their hands.
Positional Possession game:
Two teams of 10v10 placed in a grid divided into thirds, both set up in a 4-3-3 shape. So basically it was a 4v3 game in the end thirds and 3v3 in the middle third. There was a condition that allowed just one player from a neighboring grid to crossover and give the team in possession an additional player. Typically it was a Winger, OB, or a CM that crossed zones but occasionally the CF dropped into “midfield” or a CB stepped into “midfield.” Players tried to keep the ball in one grid for 3-4 passes and then find a pass into the next third. Essentially, they were playing through the lines. CONDITION: No more than two touches. Extra touches result in give away. Work periods of 7 minutes. Group does 3 work periods with two quick water breaks in between.
Tactical work:
Vinyals and his staff had scouted Schalke 04 and expected them to play long out of the back, but not straight off the goalkick. The team was split into two groups of 11. The “Schalke” scout team would play from the GK to the CB, but then the CB would play a long ball toward the forwards. They worked through a variety of possible patterns where the “Schalke” defenders would get the ball but always hit it long. Vinyals was INTENSE during this tactical work. He wanted the forwards to press and try to win the ball high up the field, but the rest of the team prepared for the long ball forward. He stopped several times to bark at players that were not doing what he asked. It was clear he wanted ONE player to challenge the ball in the air and the rest to drop off and/or mark runners. When the group got scored on because the pressure on the ball was poor and no one followed the back post run, he FLIPPED out. He also showed obvious frustration when one of the CBs went up to challenge a ball in the CDM’s space. If the “Barca” team won they ball they worked the ball quickly on the ground toward goal and tried to score.
After this they worked briefly on playing out of the back from goal kicks. CBs dropped alongside 18, FBs got high and wide and the CDM worked to support the ball and look to switch the field immediately. They played out under high pressure, but never knocked it long.
Small-sided game to goal: Group was divided into 3 teams of 6, with one player designated as a neutral. One team sitting out. Team that scores stays on field, losing team rotates off. If no goal scored within a few minutes coaches rotate a team out. Ball always started with goalkeeper and was played short to a teammate. Intensity in the exercise is extremely high and the players’ competitive spirit was on show. One team gets scored on several times in a row and has to keep sitting out. A few of their players get into a shouting match as they exit the field, but coaches do not intervene. They end up scoring in their next game, to their obvious relief. CONDITION: Two-touch max (additional touches resulted in give away).
Total practice time is about 90 minutes on the dot. (**note** an assistant coach is timing every exercise and the sessions moves along like clock-work because of it.)
Post-training Q&A:
We attended the training session as a guest of Jordi Vinyals and he spoke with us after the session to answer any questions we had. Much of the detail in this session above comes from this Q&A, but since I cannot recall specific direct quotes I have not listed any of the information as such.
Here are the HIGHLIGHTS from the Juvenial A v Schalke 04 semi-final match.
Christopher Cramer 