After a successful 6 weeks of small sided matches, we're back to the pre Christmas training schedule.

From now, until the end of the season we will be focusing heavily on what to do when out of possession, and in those key transition moments within games.

Last term's focus was centered around what to do when we have the ball, but as we know, in a 90 minute game, players will be lucky to have more than 2 minutes on the football. So it's essential for players to know what to do when they don't have it.

Some of the messages we'll therefore be telling them are about how to defend properly, how to mark, how to keep a defensive shape, and how to press and win the ball back quickly if possible.

See below for a more detailed list of some of the key ideas:

Pressing
Delaying an attack
Denying space
Controlling/dictating the other team’s attack
Emergency defending / goal or danger area protection
Covering
Shape and balance
Intercepting
Marking

We will also add in the idea of transition and those moments of reacting to either winning or losing the ball.