Football as a sport is continually developing. From medieval roots, the beautiful game is now a much more high-stakes affair, with vast sums of prize money along with television and advertising revenue up for grabs. Additionally, contracts represent huge investments from clubs in a player’s performance, potential value, and health. To that end, the world of football has become a highly professionalised environment, as expectant owners try to ensure adequate returns on their investments.
Protecting and maximising their prize assets is achieved primarily through training. In the case of Zenit St Petersburg this takes place at the Gazprom Training Centre in the tranquil setting of Udelny Park. Prior to the season opener in Tyumen against Enisey Krasnoyarsk, RFN attended the open training session, gaining an understanding of how Sergei Semak’s coaching staff will be improving their players’ performance.
The open training was led by a fitness coach and consisted of exercises designed to prepare the players for the session ahead – a warm-up. Receiving bibs as they arrived, the group began with a series of stretches, each one chosen by a different player. This was followed by more dynamic movements, with the players giving a high-five to everyone they passed, then passing a football to one another as they moved. The final exercise was a large game of handball, where each team had to score within 20 seconds, with every player in the opposing half.
Such an array of exercises and games is a far cry from ‘traditional’ warm-ups. Regimented lines, orchestrated movements expertly choreographed, substituted for player autonomy, and a more chaotic playfulness. Rather than being unorganised and not taken seriously, though, the Zenit players seemed to engage very well with each exercise. As such, the effect of enjoyment, collaboration, and social interaction in these exercises should not be understated.
Furthermore, team games can provide a far richer stimulus than their ‘old-school’ alternatives. By the very nature of using a game in a warm-up, the variety of movements are likely to be far more specific to the sport than jogging and linear stretches. The jumps, twists, turns, and sprints the Zenit players performed in their game of handball were similar in type to the ones they would perform during training or a match, with similar durations, intensities, and frequencies.
For the players requiring adjusted training loads, changing their role in the game allowed their movements to be constrained. Aleksandr Kokorin and Emanuel Mammana, both still recovering from their respective ACL injuries, were permitted to take part, but were restricted to playing only along one touchline. Though they were still involved through a requirement for their team to play with them at least once before scoring, acting linearly without the fear of any contact prevented them from the sorts of twisting motions or unexpected contacts which could aggravate their condition.
Most significantly, however, using games in a warm-up introduces a tactical component to the session. Certain aspects of communication between players, understanding of movements and intentions, and positional points are present in a game like handball. This subtle inclusion, ubiquitous in such games, makes them highly effective in reinforcing tactical principles, and serve to increase the efficiency of training time.
Indeed, Andrei Lunyov’s comments in the preceding press-conference identified Sergei Semak’s heavy use of games in training as a positive improvement from his predecessor’s work. This, for Zenit fans, is pleasant news, but should hardly come as a surprise. Semak at Ufa noticeably developed the games of numerous players, indicating a strong training methodology. With Zenit perhaps keen on cementing themselves as a ‘stepping stone’ club for talents in the mould of the Portuguese giants, or indeed Mircea Lucescu’s former club Shakhtar Donetsk, reaping the huge financial benefits that come with such a status, player development is obviously of the upmost importance. That Semak seems to have a game-based training methodology suggests that might be able to nurture the potential inside many in the Zenit squad, making them ripe for big money moves to the European top tier.
Appendix: Alternatives
The tactical component is so rich in football-specific exercises such as rondos, that they themselves can act as supplementary training exercises. Minute details such as pre-orientation, body position, supporting movements, visual cues, and reactions to pressing can all be developed in rondos. Furthermore, by adding constraints, other technical/tactical outcomes can be overloaded.
Barcelona’s iconic 8v2 rondo:
Of course, there are plenty of ways to make the warm-up even more specific to football, amplifying each of the positive effects noted from Zenit’s training. The most well-known of these is rondos, a number of players keeping the ball away from a couple of defending players in the middle. These exercises overload technical aspects as well as (non-verbal) communication to a degree far greater than any non-football game could, whilst being adaptable enough to provide whichever physical outcome deemed necessary.
Diego Simeone implicitly training coverage of the centre in pressing by simply adding a triangular goal in the middle:
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