Small sided vs more open space practice - Whats your preference?

Sokrplayer75

SILVER ELITE
Been thinking about the pros and cons of small sided games compared to a more open space sized field. This is for practice ONLY. I guess its, do you play full size goals (more open space) or pug goals (very tight fields)? This could be for any age group, and when I say more open field I'm not talking full field at all.

I see benefits to both but I tend to like a little more space as it more resembles an actual game. I would agree that both types should be utilized in practice. I've seen a number of coaches who prefer one or the other and stick with that mentality at practice.

Wanted to get everyone's thoughts, please chime in
 
Depends greatly on age and level of play. At younger levels, SSG all day. As they progress into 11v11 games, they should stick with SSG but add the larger play. Small space into Larger space.

If players don't have technical abilities.. this should be the focus first. Tech over Tactical.. other wise you will be playing small sided games on the big field because it will be clustered due to bad tech.
 
My son has been doing small sided practices for years and they're great, but now that we're moving to full-field 11v11, we're seeing some of the drawbacks. When we play older teams that have been at 11v11 for a year or two, my son's team isn't used to having all that time on the ball; doesn't know what to do with all the space they get; isn't able to close down as easily and is having more trouble playing out of the back. Coach assures us that this will work itself out as we transition, but I wouldn't mind seeing some larger field practices.
 
For the very young kids, smaller spaces (with more touches) definitely make sense. Once they reach 9v9 age, IMO there is a lot of benefit to working in a bigger space during practice.

Players must have both spatial and positional awareness. Yes, they need to be technically comfortable with the ball but if they don’t understand time and space (and how their positional sense and movements relate to each other) then they struggle on a bigger field.

From day one, we have always utilized BOTH small and bigger spaces in every single practice for our teams. Teams rotate during each practice; spending some time in a smaller space (under more pressure, getting more touches) and then moving into a half-field space with a goal (more time, more space) and working on various game-specific concepts. This has worked extremely well for all of our players and teams.

No single way is the ‘right’ one. It’s about finding the right balance for your players/teams and everyone has their own ideas on this.
 
When you have the space, teams can train both.

Having the space is often the problem. Ideally each team once they reach 11v11 should train on at least 1/2 of a full field and have a goal for every training sessions. Unfortunately only the top or academy teams tend to get those regularly and other teams are squeezed into a quarter space or whatever with the pop up or small goals. Training only couple times a week with that set up is less than ideal IMO.
 
My son has been doing small sided practices for years and they're great, but now that we're moving to full-field 11v11, we're seeing some of the drawbacks. When we play older teams that have been at 11v11 for a year or two, my son's team isn't used to having all that time on the ball; doesn't know what to do with all the space they get; isn't able to close down as easily and is having more trouble playing out of the back. Coach assures us that this will work itself out as we transition, but I wouldn't mind seeing some larger field practices.

Your coach is spot on. Of course the older teams that have been playing 11v11 for 1-2 years before will have several advantages. There will be a transitional phase to the big field. They will learn by learning attack and defense principles of play for each position.. then they can apply it to an actual game or even better a tactical scrimmage that allows for stoppage and correction. As long as your coach has a plan to teach them the game such as the principals of play, tactical concepts, etc. then it will all work out.

Larger the drill, i.e. space and # of players = less time on the ball. Just have to find a good balance is all, no plan is fool proof. If most kids are already doing private trainings, work at home.. this will help the coach to run larger tactical drills during team sessions. Of course this is never the case and not really reasonable for most :)
 
Smaller space means more touches per practice. It is all about the touches. Like it has been mentioned, not many are getting additional touches at home so the more at practice the better.
 
Field space is the limiting factor. In a perfect world with 3 practices per week, using 1/2 of a full field this is my preference for 2 of the practices.
1. Technical work during each practice.
2. 1v1 focus - attacking and defending.
3. Small sided games with a tactical focus. Running u2 or 3 games at a time so nobody is standing around. Working on combination play and recognition of space.
4. 1/2 field game with focus on a area (build up, attacking from width, combining in the attacking 1/3, crossing)
5. Full field scrimmage against the other team that you are splitting the field with.

The 3rd practice would be more Game plan / phases of play. Lots of shadow play and walk-through adjustments. And set Play rehearsal.
 
Field space is the limiting factor. In a perfect world with 3 practices per week, using 1/2 of a full field this is my preference for 2 of the practices.
1. Technical work during each practice.
2. 1v1 focus - attacking and defending.
3. Small sided games with a tactical focus. Running u2 or 3 games at a time so nobody is standing around. Working on combination play and recognition of space.
4. 1/2 field game with focus on a area (build up, attacking from width, combining in the attacking 1/3, crossing)
5. Full field scrimmage against the other team that you are splitting the field with.

The 3rd practice would be more Game plan / phases of play. Lots of shadow play and walk-through adjustments. And set Play rehearsal.

Tall order for 90 mins I would think but possible.. but again not a whole lot of time for correction.. so if topics are new.. it would not be a good idea to try to cram this much in. Such as 1v1 Attack, they may be practicing new skills, moves, scenarios, direction, etc.
This could be the entire session on its own. I like the idea but to learn new concepts, whether tech or tact.. they need the proper time to spend on it. Remember that they should have about 10 months of training to cover these topics on a rotating curriculum.
My thoughts:

1. Warm up without pressure(Technical based on topic)
2. Controlled drill with pressure (high focus on Technical and decision making based on topic)
3. SSG with focus on topic (closer to game, decision making focus)
4. Open game on larger field (incentive to perform on topic, i.e. extra 1/2 point for switching the pitch, etc.

Then ideally the game on the weekend, there is coaching around the topic that they learned over the week.. This is really the best way in my opinion for them to actually learn the game.
 
Tall order for 90 mins I would think but possible.. but again not a whole lot of time for correction.. so if topics are new.. it would not be a good idea to try to cram this much in. Such as 1v1 Attack, they may be practicing new skills, moves, scenarios, direction, etc.
This could be the entire session on its own. I like the idea but to learn new concepts, whether tech or tact.. they need the proper time to spend on it. Remember that they should have about 10 months of training to cover these topics on a rotating curriculum.
My thoughts:

1. Warm up without pressure(Technical based on topic)
2. Controlled drill with pressure (high focus on Technical and decision making based on topic)
3. SSG with focus on topic (closer to game, decision making focus)
4. Open game on larger field (incentive to perform on topic, i.e. extra 1/2 point for switching the pitch, etc.

Then ideally the game on the weekend, there is coaching around the topic that they learned over the week.. This is really the best way in my opinion for them to actually learn the game.

I think we are saying nearly the same thing. (Warm up without pressure = technical work. 1v1 is progress that technical work to involve pressure).
But like I said - In a perfect world. This means you have 1/2 of a field. This means that all of your players show up on time and are ready to go. This means that the team on before you gets off on-time. It also means that all of your players have put in some technical work on their own since your last practice or game.
 
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