“It’s all about rondos [piggy in the middle]. Rondo, rondo, rondo. Every. Single. Day. It’s the best exercise there is. You learn responsibility and not to lose the ball. If you lose the ball, you go in the middle. Pum-pum-pum-pum, always one touch. If you go in the middle, it’s humiliating, the rest applaud and laugh at you.” – Xavi Hernandez (The Guardian article from 2011
I will admit that when I first heard quotes like this I had my doubts. See, the rondo that Xavi is describing here is the traditional rondo (could be 6v2 to 10v2, in this case 9v2) which we see from FC Barcelona, and now FC Bayern, on a regular basis. It looks like this:
While an impressive sight, I wondered how such a simple exercise could really be the magic bullet that would help implement a possession style of play. American coaches have been doing some form us this for years, haven’t they? Even before researching Barca’s methods I was very familiar with the American favorite, 5v2.
And we see where that has got us.
Then I discovered that there are in fact many variations of rondos, and that they all serve a specific purpose. These rondos were set up to functionally train technical and tactical components when in possession, defensive components when out of possession, and the transitions to and from.
4 Color Double Rondo
The importance of managing transitions
This brings us to the key concept I want to talk about today: Managing transitions.
Core concepts trained at FC Barcelona’s Escola.
Coaching possession soccer has as much to do with teaching players to manage transitions, as it does teaching them to “keep the ball.”
FC Barcelona’s Escola program trains these four core concepts every week:
1)Attack
2) Transition from attack to defense
3)Defense
4) Transition from defense to attack.
So EVERY WEEK players are put into all four of those situations and taught how to handle each scenario specifically.
This is not just talk, either. While in Barcelona last Spring I was able to attend the Escola training sessions (the Escola is Barca’s version of a rec program. But don’t be fooled, those rec players would murder most of our “competitive” teams!). Sure enough, players participated in a variety of rondo activities AND several activities that all had transitional elements. In fact, I did not observe a single activity that didn’t have a transitional element.
So what message was this sending to the players? You must know what to do with the ball once you have it. Additionally, the game does not stop when you lose the ball, you must know what to do once you’ve lost it. It forces players to 100% engaged at all times.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH
Some believe that coaching a possession style of play is a niche endeavor, and that it puts focus primarily on passing and receiving while neglecting other parts of the game. Absolutely not!
When done well this is a holistic approach that must consider ALL phases of the game. A well run program teaches players when and how to defend, what to do with the ball once they have it, and what to do when they lose it. We could break it down into smaller parts, but we’ll leave that for a later date.
It is complete accountability in all moments of the game. That is why players developed in this system are seen to have high soccer intelligence; they know what to do in nearly any given situation!
Players in possession system must:
- Know when to speed the game up and when to slow it down
- When to press and when to delay
- Be able to recognize if an opponent is balanced or unbalanced
- Identify numbers up opportunities (1v1, 2v1, 3v2) and exploit them
- Recognize when something is not on and circulate the ball
- Recognize when to attack space
TRANSITION GAMES
I find that transitional games going to goal is a great supplement to our rondos, especially at the younger ages (U8-U10). Below I have provided some examples of a few of my favorites. Take note of the transitional elements being trained, as well as the other key concepts being reinforced, or that could be reinforced.
I’m not going to give explicit instructions for these games, just as I did not for the double rondo above. Big picture ideas should be obvious, and finding the possible nuance….well, that is the art.
2v1 to 2v1 to 2v2 Transition Game
1v1 to 2v1 to 2v2 Transition Game
3v2 to 2v2 Transition Game
(All animations and images created using Efficiency Match)
Other posts on COACHING POSSESSION
COACHING POSSESSION SERIES: Training the Defensive Phase
Christopher Cramer 