PRE-SEASON TRAINING THE PREMIERSHIP WAY

Villa first team put in the reps

anybody in football; I have always preferred to be judged by the work that I do for football players rather than by my ability to befriend people and say things purely to make myself popular. Try to keep it professional and be honest with players. If you need to tell them that they could do better, see them privately afterwards and tell them straight. That way you’ll get more respect from the player and everyone else at the football club.

Feedback to the coaching staff Moaning to the football manager every time a player does something wrong or says something out of turn is not the way to deal with the problem. You must deal with as many problems as you can. If the player is continually showing disrespect and fitness and football sessions are poor, then you must report your findings to the manager, but be up front and always give players the opportunity to put it right. After all players want to play for the team so dealing with not getting a game can be very difficult. It is your job and responsibility to help these players by organising top up fitness sessions and working with the football coaches to make sure they play football matches, whether those are reserve games or friendlies.

Prepare and plan Football is unlike many other sports where you have time to periodise and plan for the whole year. The pre-season phase is the only time you really know for sure exactly what is going on. TV now decides when and at what time you play the game with sometimes only a few weeks notice. Successful cup runs add games into the schedule, often completely unexpectedly if a replay is involved, and a team involved in a European competition has the added burden of travel. Periodisation is, I believe, almost impossible in football. As the season progresses you only have time to do recovery

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sessions. No player can work on fitness when he has two games per week and obviously, the more successful the team, the greater the demands on the player. Pre-season is the one time when you do know when the games will be. Your planning should revolve around the achievement of set objectives. See Box 1.

Planning n You should know how many football games that the team have planned to play for this phase. ALL the sessions should then be built around these games. n Know your training venues, travelling time, and weather conditions. n Get help for setting up all the sessions you have to do that day. You can’t be everywhere at once so make sure the

BOX 1: THE MAIN COMPONENTS OF THE PRE-SEASON PHASE

Objective n To develop the aerobic energy system n To develop the anaerobic energy system n To develop strength (neuromuscular system) and endurance

n To develop power (plyometrics etc) n To develop a schedule for individual players for playing positions: – Goalkeeper

– Full-back/wing-back – Central defender – Midfielder – Forward

TO AVOID INJURIES!!! 9