Serie A 2009/2010 Preview

Lega Calcio Serie A, the highest soccer competition in Italy will begin this week. Twenty clubs will compete to win the scudetto serie A. Which team will be the best in Italy at the end of the sesaon?? Here is my preview about the contenders.
INTERNAZIONALE MILAN
Inter will be the most serious contender this season. They have won the scudetto for times in a row. Their President, Massimo Moratti, already declare that he wants the fifth consecutive Serie A title. To make his ambition into reality, Massimo Moratti strengthen Inter with new classy players. Lucio is ready to help Julio Cesar defending Inter's goal. Samuel Eto'o and Diego Milito will replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score goals. Unfortunately, Inter begin this season with a bad start. Loosing to Lazio, they failed to take Italian Super Cup to Giuseppe Meazza. It will be good evaluation matter to The Special One Jose Mourinho. But still, Inter will be the number one contender.
JUVENTUS
The sleeping giant is starting to wake up. After the calciopoli scandal, they return to Serie A but never became champion again. And this season can be the right time to rise again. They have Chiro Ferarra as their head coach. Ferarra was the reliable defender for Juventus in the Marcelo Lippi era. And he also have become Lippi's assistant manager. So, it will be possible that he will be the successor of Juventus glory after Marcelo Lippi. Juventus have landed Diego Ribas da Cunha from Werder Bremen. He is a great playmaker. A playmaker is one of the most important condition to be fulfilled by Serie A clubs to win the Serie A title. And Juventus usually become a great team when they have a great playmaker. Michel Platini, Zinadin Zidane, and Pavel Nedved are the latest playmakers who brought glory to Juventus.
AS ROMA
AS Roma will be chasing Inter and Juve from behind. But it will be not easy for them to win the title. Francesco Totti is not young anymore and sometime has problem with injuries. Aquilani has move to Liverpool. But they have loan Burdisso from Inter to make their defense stronger. Daniele de Rossi will be relied to lead the Rome troops.
AC MILAN
Milan is in the mess this season. They lost at least three central figures of their glorious era. They are Carlo Ancelotti (former head coach), Ricardo Kaka' (former playmaker), and Paolo Maldini (former captain). They also have financial problem to be solved. Leonardo who replace Carlo Ancelotti is not experienced yet. Ronaldinho who will replace Kaka' as playmaker was not in a good performance in last few seasons. And they also need to find Maldini's successor. But there always be a hope. They still have Alexandre Pato and Klas Jan Huntelaar. Those two will be the key of Milan's attack. Pato is a very talented player. Ancelotti really wants to have him in his Chelsea squad. Huntelaar will be very motivated to be the next Marco van Basten. Milan usually very lucky if they have Holland player in their squad.

Heading Drill: Throw, Head, Catch

By David Clarke

When you’ve been coaching headers with Tony Carr’s session you need to put it into a game situation. Here’s one that gives your players more opportunity to attack with their headers but at the same time keeps the session simple so they concentrate on their position and technique.

Remember that heading a thrown ball is easier than heading a kicked one, but it is harder to get power behind a thrown ball, so they will have to use good technique to make it work for them.

Set up a 30 yard x 20 yard pitch with two goals. This is ideal for two teams of four.

Both teams put a player in goal when defending but have all players out on the pitch when attacking.

Both teams attempt to score using attacking headers but can only move the ball by using the following sequence:

• The first player throws the ball to a second teammate who heads it to a third teammate who catches the ball.

• Once thrown the other team can win the ball back by ‘out-heading’ their opponents, or intercepting the ball with their hands in the ‘catching’ phase.

Heading for Goal

By Tony Carr

Ultimately, soccer is all about scoring goals and by improving your team’s attacking heading ability you will boost their chances of finding the back of the net more often.

When you first start to get your players crossing the ball into attacking areas of the pitch you add an extra attacking option. The header.

It takes a lot of practice to get used to heading a ball especially for young attackers when they need to react quickly to a ball at head height.

During this session ideally you want to see your players:

• Move into ball’s line of flight.

• Take off on one foot, land on both.

• Use their arms for elevation.

• At the highest point of their jump, head the top half of the ball to direct it downwards.

• Aim for the corners of the goal.

It's a lot for them to think about but take it slowly and it will eventually fall into place. So you need some simple practice sessions to get them used to doing it.

Set up some square grids with each side equivalent to the width of a goal.

You need four players in each group.

Use at least two balls per group. Two players, acting as servers, stand at opposite sides.

A third player, a passive goalkeeper, stands on one of the other sides facing into the grid.

The servers take it in turns to throw a ball slightly ahead of the remaining player inside the grid, who heads towards goal.

Switch positions so everyone has a go at heading, serving and goalkeeping.

You can then advance the session by playing this game:

1. Split the four players into two teams, with each player standing on a side of the square next to their team mate.

2. A player from team ‘A’ throws the ball slightly ahead of their teammate who runs forward and tries to head it past the opponent acting as a goalkeeper.

3. Repeat so all players have a turn each. The teams must alternate turns.

4. As the players become accustomed to the ball coming from one side, make teammates swap positions and vary the angle and height of service.

Tony Carr is the Academy Director of West Ham United in the English Premier League and the editor of the Smart Sessions soccer coaching plans - they come in advanced and core versions. You can get these sessions dropping into your inbox every week by clicking here.

Goalkeeping Turn Catching Progression Drill

Drill Setup: A small goal is made out of coned 6 yards wide. Two servers are on both sides of the goal 8 yards from the center. Goalkeeper starts in between the two cones Goalkeeper and Server: Keeper receives shot/pass from one server, then immediately turns 180° to receive shot/pass from the other server. After each progress the goalkeeper should rest and stretch Progression: Balls played one touch to feet Ball played low to midrange for basket catch Volley to hands head height One server volleys to hands, other server ball on ground collapse dive either direction One server volleys to hands, other server mid range dive either direction One round free to serve any height and direction source: http://askthegoalkeeper.com

Shooting with Both Feet

By Tony Carr

The ability to shoot across the goal using both feet gives your attackers the edge when they are in good positions, especially if they are confident using their weaker foot.

Examine your players’ shooting technique.

Are they simply toe-punting it with their weaker foot?

Encourage them to use proper technique, even if it feels uncomfortable to them at first.

Also make sure that they are aiming for the opposite corner of the goal, and shooting across it rather straight down the middle. Once they get a few on target, their confidence will soon grow.

Shot 1 – get your players to dribble down the channel to the left of the pitch and shoot with the left foot, aiming for the area on the opposite side of the goal not protected by cones.

Shot 2 – the players now dribble down the channel in the centre of the pitch and shoot with the right foot, again aiming across the goal to the area not protected by cones.

Shot 3 – dribble towards the goal and choose a corner to aim at. Show a disguise.

Tony Carr is the Academy Director of West Ham United in the English Premier League and the editor of the Smart Sessions soccer coaching plans - they come in advanced and core versions. You can get these sessions dropping into your inbox every week by clicking here.

Six Soccer Sins

By David Clarke

1.Stopping the ball standing still

Players that trap balls standing still are easy to target by the opposition.

2.Goalkeeper staying on the line

Goalkeepers must advance towards the ball as attackers close in.

3. Standing waiting for the pass

Players must move to the ball, not wait for it.

4. Arguing with the referee

Those days are gone. Show that as a club you respect officials.

5. Lifting your feet at throw ins

It’s a technique all players should be able to get right.

6. Arguing with the crowd like David Beckham

Just ignore it. We don’t want children seeing any silly antics on the pitch – come on Becks you're paid well enough not to do that.
Click here to read my blog and add a sin yourself, and you can see a clip of David Beckham arguing with the fans at LA Galaxy.

EPL 2009/2010: Who Will Be The Champ?

English Premier League season 2009/2010 will get started this week. All participated clubs have made their preparations, included the giant clubs. Building their squad by bring in new manager or new players. Friendly matches has been arranged to find the best formation, line up and strategy. And who will be the winner at the end of the season?

Looks like the winner will not be far away from the big four: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United. Chelsea will be the strongest contender. Although the squad is not changing much yet, Carlo Ancelotti, their new manager, bring new exciting atmosphere to the blues squad. He is a manager with great strategies and great experience in winning league and European title. They already made a great start by winning the Charity Shield. They also made great performances in their pre season matches.

Manchester United will be the Next strong contender. Although loosing Cristiano Ronaldo who was their main Actor of their glory for the last two seasons, Manchester United will still be a strong team. Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand are still reliable for the starting line up. Luis Nani’s performance is getting better and better. Alex Ferguson also has brought new faces to the Theatre of Dreams. Antonio Valencia was transferred from Wigan to fill the position which was left by Cristiano Ronaldo. Michael Owen was signed on a free transfer to replace Carlitos Tevez who moved to Manchester City. Maybe those players are not as good as Cristiano Ronaldo, but Sir Alex Ferguson will be the main actor this season. He is a great manager with various unpredictable strategies in his head to optimize his players to grab victory.

We should not forget Liverpool. They haven’t won the EPL title for more than two decades. The amount of their EPL trophy has been leveled by Manchester United. This could be an additional motivation. But it will not be easy for The Reds to win the title. They depend on Steven Gerard and Fernando Torres is too much. The Reds difficult to maintain their winning streak if those two players are not playing. Plus, they lost Xabi Alonso who moved to Real Madrid. While Alberto Aquilani, as the replacement of Xabi Alonso, needs to adapt with EPL playing style. Rafael Benitez really needs to think hard to solve those problems.

The last but not least is Arsenal. The Gunners still loved to sold their star players. They sold Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City. To replace Toure, Wenger bought Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax. And for the front line, he trusted it to Robin van Persie, Eduardo da Silva, Niclas Bendtner, and Carlos Vela. Arsene Wenger will rely on those young guns to fill Arsenal’s starting line up this season. This is not good. Without senior players on the field, it will be difficult for them perform consistently. But the main problem is on the midfields. Fabregas maybe will move to Barcelona after Arsenal’s management flattered by Barcelona’s offer worth 50 million pounds. Samir Nasri is not mature yet, and Tomas Rosicky is injured and will not be able to play for couple weeks. Wenger will rely on Arshavin to lead the midfieldMaybe it will be suitable for Arsenal to set their target to be at the big four at the end of the season.