Hull City training – Monday 9th September 2013

Monday 9th September 2013

Another visit to the training ground, overcast day with a little sprinkling on rain here and there. We arrived at 10.45am to be greeted by a few old Hull city fans in their late 60s, they informed us training was to start at 11.30am. We could not work out why they attend training because 30 minutes into the session they left. I spoke to one who told me he went to the non league fixture on the Saturday at North Ferriby. I told him I was disappointed with the type of football on show. He laughed and said it is a cross between rugby and football, he then said he enjoys the game played like this.

The training was broken up into two sections, the warm up and the main content. It felt like a start session for the weeks training, no coaching interventions just encouragement.

The Warm up Part 1

The conditioning coach went through various stretches with the team.

Warm up Part 2

Players stepped through the cones and did various movements towards the opposite player.

Warm up Part 3

In this exercise it appeared just to be used to give players many touches of the ball. With so many players in a small grid it really could not have been used for anything technical.

Game Training Part 1

Working across the field players tried to keep possession moving from one side to the other. The coach told them prior to the exercise it was about supporting the ball, the coach did not intervene rather just encouraged.

Game Training Part 2

Teams now moved to play long ways across the pitch, again keeping possession moving from one side to the other. It did not have any set position or structure. Players did play close to their positions, strikers up front, midfielders in the middle and defenders at the back.

Training Game

All the mannequins were moved and Goalkeepers are introduced. I still could not define any specific shape to either team. They played 2 x 10 minutes followed by a 6 minute game. Again just encouragement from the sideline and a mention prior to the game starting it was about supporting the ball.

Shooting Practice

This is the 3rd time I have watched shooting practice, once prior to kick off away to Man city and twice on the training ground.

Summary
It was a good session to start the week, the players were able to shake off the cob webs after a weekend off. I am very interested to see if Tactical/Technical training is introduced and how the coach interventions are used.
Later in the week I will show how we would readjust this session using the same players and adding coaching points. While a coach may not be as good as the players he can still put demands on what he wants Tactically and what he expects from them technically.