Ball possession 4 against 4 +3 - Barcelona FC

Goal

Equipment

Balls
4 markers
7 vests (4 yellow and 3 sky blue)

Preparation

Playing area: 35x25 meters
Players: 11
Duration: 10 minutes

Summary	Secondary Objectives
Guardiola's exercise for possession	Creating space, Mark, Press, Pressing, Passing, Receiving, Intercepting, Losing your marker, Pass, Defender, Midfielder, Forward, Ball possession

Organization

This exercise has been used from Barcellona to control the rhythm at which the ball is passed between teammates. The rhythm of the ball in the field is extremely important. During the 2007-08 season this game was one of the first exercises used for the post-vacation workout, under the watchful eye of Josep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova and Aureli Altimira.

Description

One of the two teams with 4 players (yellow ones) goes inside the playing area with the objective of intercepting the ball and winning possession
The other team with 4 players (Blue ones) start the game possessing the ball, with 2 players on each side
The neutral players (sky blue) move to the middle of the field, as shown in the picture, with one player in the center of the playing area and 2 players along the short sides
External players (Blue) plus the other 3 neutral players must try to keep the ball without loosing it
External players can move freely along their sides
Inner neutral players can move freely around the whole playing area offering passing options constantly
The defenders must try to close the game as fast as possible

When Pep Guardiola was coaching Barcelona they asked their players to do 2 series of 10 minutes each, swaping positions to make sure everybody would have the chance to play in both sides of the pitch

Rules

In each 10 minutes session, the last 3 are dedicated to pass the ball as fast as possible, the team that has possession tries to perform 120 passes in 3 minutes

Coaching Points