In this week’s Modern Soccer Coach Podcast, I sat down again with Bernat Mosquera to discuss something that many coaches are wrestling with right now: what is actually happening to positional play in the modern game? For years, the conversation at elite level has centered around structure, game models, and clearly defined positional roles. There is obvious value in that clarity. Structure gives players reference points, and reference points build confidence. But football does

Designing an elite 11v11 training session requires a different level of clarity. At this stage, you are not simply running exercises. You are building a team identity. The structure of the session must reflect the game model, the competitive calendar, and the behaviors you expect to see on match day. Elite sessions are not youth sessions with older players. They are intentional, connected, and driven by collective purpose. In this Modern Soccer Coach breakdown, we walk throug

Set pieces are evolving rapidly, and at the top level they are now treated as a game within the game rather than a series of fixed routines. In an upcoming Modern Soccer Coach podcast, we sit down with Tom Dent, First Team Assistant Coach at Vålerenga and a set-piece specialist, to explore how elite coaches are rethinking both attacking and defensive set plays. In this preview breakdown, we focus on a recent example involving Chelsea and Arsenal, where defensive corner organi

In the latest Modern Soccer Coach podcast, Gary is joined by Haris Memisevic, Technical Director and Head of Coaching at Virginia Revolution, for a timely conversation on session design at the youth level. One of the central ideas we explore is how often modern training environments confuse activity with learning. Sessions can look sharp, fast, and well organized, yet still fall short in developing understanding. When tempo becomes the main indicator of quality, clarity of o

1v1 mastery does not start with a move — it starts with the game. In this Modern Soccer Coach breakdown, we challenge the most common mistake in 1v1 training: isolating players in small squares, asking them to repeat the same face-to-face action with little relevance to the match. Football always follows the same sequence — perception, decision, execution — and when we remove the game reference, we strip actions of meaning and limit transfer to 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11 environment

Most clubs agree psychology matters.The challenge is turning that belief into daily practice . In this episode of the Modern Soccer Coach Podcast, Gary Curneen is joined in person by sports psychologist Dan Abrahams , alongside coach and coach developer Kevin Leahy , to explore how psychology can be implemented properly  inside football environments. Rather than treating psychology as a one-off workshop or a classroom-based add-on, the conversation focuses on performance psyc