The votes are in and the coaches have spoken! We wanted to review the year and take a look at what content resonated the most with the coaching community that we produced in 2021. The content has been broken down into three specific areas: coaching articles on the website, MSC Podcast episodes, and YouTube videos. Without the coaches engaging in the content and sharing it with other coaches, we would not be able to produce the volume that we have done, so a huge thank you to every coach who has supported our work throughout the year.
Top Three Coaching Articles:
3 - Session Design with Diego Simeone
A new feature that we did this year was to look at a specific coach and do some research around their session design. Diego Simeone was one of the first coaches that we identified because of the way that his team has consistently performed over a number of years, and also due to his influences on the training pitch. Simeone played for Marcelo Bielsa during the Argentina World Cup campaign of 2002 and seems to be influenced by the legendary coach with the structure of his sessions, the detail of his work, and the intensity that he can manufacture with his team. You can read the article here.
2 - Session Design with Luis Enrique
Another coach who has fascinated us for quite some time is Luis Enrique. Despite playing for some of the top teams in the world in Real Madrid, Barcelona and Spain, as a key role in the attack, he was a very industrious player, almost relying on his work ethic over his ability on the ball, and it seems that this has impacted his coaching style. In the article, we look at the coaching philosophy of Luis Enrique going back to his Barca B days and you can hear how clear he is with his idea of how the game should be played, but also a real collective approach to both sides of the ball. We look at how that has potentially impacted session design with videos and examples from his teams. You can read the article here.
1 - Training Session: Verticality in Possession
With the rise in data and analysis in today's game, we are constantly hearing that it's not enough to maintain possession of the ball, but instead to use that possession to create chances and opportunities on goal. Coaches like Klopp, Sarri, Bielsa, Pochettino, and Flick have seemed to marry the speed of counter attacking transitions with the structure of attacking organizations as their teams constantly look to break forward at every opportunity. Gary Curneen takes a look at how a session could be delivered around this specific topic, along with ways to potentially manipulate traditional games and add a little more challenge to the training pitch. You can read the article here.
Top Three MSC Podcasts
Following a really hectic 2020, the Modern Soccer Coach Podcast took a small break at the beginning of 2021. We returned with a new series and the response has been fantastic. Our total number of listens is getting close to two million and we have recently started a new series. Below are the top three highest listener podcast episodes of 2021....
3 - Carlon Carpenter: Building Tactical Frameworks for the New Season (11,400 listens)
In June, we were joined by Tactical and Video Analyst from Statsbomb, Carlon Carpenter, to discuss ways that college and club coaches can plan to maximize and communicate their analysis for the upcoming season. Carlon shared his experiences as an analyst from US Youth National Team and University of Virginia, as well as his insights from Statsbomb to help coaches make analysis work on a limited budget, organize your staffing effectively, link analysis to your training exercises, communicate effectively as an analyst, and build post-game review process for the team and staff. You can listen to the Podcast here.
2 - Dr. Laura Bowen: Managing Pre-Season Physically (12,200 listens)
Dr. Laura Bowen joined us in July to discuss pre-season training from a sports science perspective. She is the Lead Sports Scientist at Southampton FC Womens and Girls. She has also recently worked as first team sport scientist at Southampton, as well as the academy at Southampton and Aston Villa. In the interview, she gives fantastic insight here around the topic of pre-season training with tips for coaches, managing risk with intensity during sessions, communicating with technical staff effectively, as well as insights from her journey and career. You can listen to the interview here.
1 - Michael Skubala - Lessons From Elite Level Futsal (25,900 listens)
In September, we were joined by England Futsal Team Head Coach & technical performance manager, Michael Skubala, to discuss lessons and detail from the futsal game including facilitating decision making in the game, managing an average of 80 substitutions per game, technical and tactical demands of world class futsal players, coaching accountability in moments of transition and an insight into 'My Game, Our Game, Your Game' tactical methodology. It was our first ever Futsal interview and the response was amazing! You can listen to the interview here.
Top 3 MSC YouTube Content
This year we have made a special effort to put more consistent coaching content on our YouTube page. With session plans, exercise ideas, and tactical breakdowns, it has become a place where followers of MSC can get daily bonus content in a number of different aspects of the game. Please subscribe here to join our YouTube coaching community.
Below are our top three posts from YouTube this year in terms of views.
3 - Designing a Counter-Pressing Session
2 - Positional Finishing Exercises
1 - Steven Gerrard's 2v2+1 High Intensity Training Game Explained
Thank you again for all your support. The majority of content posted by MSC is FREE for coaches to enjoy around the world, but we need your support to continue. If you do enjoy it and would like to continue seeing articles, podcasts and webinars, you can support Modern Soccer Coach in three ways.
Firstly you can order the 25 Positional Exercises for Forwards eBook, Modern Soccer Coach: Pressing and Modern Soccer Coach: Coaching Your 4-3-3 books with are now available on Kindle and have tons of exercises and tactical theory.
Secondly, by sharing and re-posting the work, it allows more coaches to see it and find out more about the work we are doing. Every time a coach posts an article, it helps us get an appreciation of what content is useful and also increases our exposure. Thank you for your support throughout 2021!!
Thirdly, if you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube page by clicking here.
