🧵 2025: Questioning Our Football Dogmas 🧵

In 2025 some “truths” I grew up with in coaching stopped being truths.

Here are 5 dogmas that changed for me this year (and how I see them now) 👇 1️⃣ “Football is space & time”

I still value space & time, but 2025 brought me back to Menotti:
Football is, above all, deception.

It’s not only about where we are, but about self-perception & the perceptions we create in others.

We don’t just occupy zones, we manage illusions.

🧵 From Identity to Plan 🧵

Most clubs say they want a curriculum based on their identity.

The problem is not finding drills.
The problem is knowing what to prioritise, for whom, and when.

Here’s how I think about building a curriculum from club identity 👇

@SundayShare10 First step is not “writing a PDF for the whole year”.

First step is understanding the stage:
Is this a new idea the club wants to implement?

Or something they’ve been trying for years, with mixed results?

I need to know where we are before deciding where we go.

There’s been a lot of debate about Xabi Alonso using 1-minute videos.

After 4+ years working as an individual performance analyst with LaLiga and Segunda players, I have a few reflections, on this and on how I do individual analysis. 👇 There’s no magic length, but the shorter and clearer, the better.

I’ve been guilty in the past of the classic approach: 20 minutes of clips, analysing everything, giving 8–10 ideas at once.

Result? The player leaves with a headache and changes nothing.

⚠️ Is your Game Model actually efficient? 🤔

As coaches, we must recognize when we’re just performing football… and when the team is truly evolving.

Here are 5 mistakes (and solutions) to avoid being a mini-Guardiola with your U9s 🧵

@SundayShare10 1️⃣ The Team → The Player
Too many coaches start with “formations & lines”

❌ Mistake: treating players like pieces on a board.
✅ Solution: collective play only works if the players are capable of doing it. Start with your players (& who they are) before building anything else.

🧵 Game Principles vs Patterns

Coaches love patterns.
But every time you script a movement, you kill player development.

A thread to compare patterns vs Game Principles 👇
@SundayShare10 1️⃣ An Action is Never the Same

Running into space changes with the defender’s body orientation and the timing of teammates.

A control is always influenced by the pressure.

👉 That’s why we need repetition without repetition.

🧵5 Rules to Use Constraints Without Killing the Game 💀

Most youth coaches kill the game with their constraints.
Players end up following rules instead of learning football.

Here are 5 rules to make sure your constraints build better decisions.

@SundayShare10 1. Football is Not Just Executions.

Stop designing drills like weightlifting.
A pass or dribble means nothing without the right decision.

Too many coaches chase “clean touches” and end up training robots.

👉 The target is repetition without repetition.

🧵 5-Easy-Tips to Link your Weekly Sessions 🔗

Too many coaches hop session-to-session with no thread.

Today I share 5 easy-tips to keep the same game-phase topic across all three trainings.

@sundayshare10 🔻 1️⃣ Start with the full context = Ball + Players + Opponent

• Who has the ball? (we’re in possession / defending)
• Where is the ball? (build-up zone, in front of the back-line, final third)
• How is the opponent acting? (pressing / protecting space)

🧵 5 Curriculum Mistakes I still see every season 🙆🏻

Coaches still packing 12 different “concepts/principles” into a 12-week block (and wondering why nothing sticks).

👇🏻 Here are the 5 curriculum mistakes I keep spotting every season.

@SundayShare10 1️⃣ “One-topic-per-week” Syndrome

12 ideas in 12 weeks = 0 repetition.

🔑 Players need time to grasp, and reps to master.

What you don’t train, they’ll forget.

🧵5⃣ Easy Tips for the Receiver 🏃

We talk a lot about decision-making with the ball.
But football is mostly played without it.

These 5 ideas helped me improve the receiver’s behavior in real contexts.

@SundayShare10 1. Read the pressure on the ball

If the possessor is under pressure → move close, be an easy way out.
If the possessor is free → attack depth, stretch the line.

Many receivers move without considering this.
Right decision depends on their context, not just yours.

🧵 “Football is a game from goal to goal.”

Sounds logical.
But the game doesn’t move in straight lines. It moves in multiple directions.

Let’s break down why the DIAGONAL is so powerful & how it influences the Final Third.

(+ FREE 22-min webinar at the end) 👇

@SundayShare10 In the last tweet, you’ll find a FREE 22-Minute Webinar:

↗️ Diagonal Over Vertical ⬆️

This thread lays the foundation:
→ What shapes a player’s perception
→ The difference between static and dynamic references
→ And how diagonality disrupts defensive structure

🧵“Football is a game from goal to goal.” 🤔

Sounds logical.

But that simple idea hides something deeper: The game doesn’t move in straight lines. It moves in multiple directions.

Let’s talk about the references that make the DIAGONAL so powerful 👇 In the last tweet, you’ll find a FREE 22-Minute Webinar:

↗️ Diagonal Over Vertical ⬆️

This thread lays the foundation:
→ What shapes a player’s perception
→ The difference between static and dynamic references
→ And how diagonality disrupts defensive structure

🧵5 Tips That Helped Me Improve Perception

Many coaches say: “Look!” or “Scan!”

But… most players don’t know what they’re looking for.

Here’s what made the biggest difference for me 👇

@SundayShare10 1. Who is marking me?

Most players recognize the ball.
Fewer recognize the player marking them.

This is the first reference.

If I’m close to my mark, I’ll have less space. If I move intelligently, I can create more time.

🧵5 Coaching Shifts That Changed the Way I Train Players

These aren’t drills.
These are decisions I made after realizing I was getting in the way.

If you're working with youth, one of these might shift your approach too.👇

@SundayShare10 1⃣ Most Mistakes Happen Before the Action

We always look at the pass or the shot.

But the real problem?
→ He didn’t see early.
→ He didn’t scan.
→ He didn’t read the cue.
Anticipation beats execution. Every time.

🧵 Unopposed Drills: When and How to Use Them

Unopposed drills can be useful, but professional training sessions aren’t always the best reference for youth development.

Context is key—understanding your team’s needs will help determine when and how to apply them.

https://twitter.com/3four3/status/1906926410037621069

Youth Teams

For young players, unopposed drills should be used sparingly, mainly to practice technical execution.

They should never be the core of your training.

Shooting drills, for example, are both fun and effective at this stage.

5 Foundations for Any Playing Style 🧵

In this @SundayShare10, let’s dive into five key concepts that are essential for players to succeed in both positional and dynamic styles of play 👇🏻 1) Beat the 1V1

In any game model, the ability to beat a direct opponent 1v1 is a game-changer.

It creates numerical advantages, disrupts defensive structures, and opens up new possibilities.

Positional Play vs. Relationism—Are they so different? 🧵

In recent years, these two ideas have been treated as opposites, competing for the “truth” of football.

In this thread, I’ll explore some shared principles that belong to the game itself 👇🏻 1/ The Diagonal

Diagonal positioning or passing helps the receiver control forward and forces defenders to adjust their body and attention.

It’s a universal foundation that benefits players in any style, disrupting defensive stability and opening new angles.

Technical Rondos | not Tactical?

Rondos are known for improving decision-making, but when designed with the proper constraints, they can also help refine technical skills.

Discover 3 examples of Technical Rondos in this thread 👇 A Technical Rondo combines decision-making with simplicity, allowing players to make simple yet effective choices.

By reducing decision-making stress, we can focus on improving technical actions. These rondos should include few players and plenty of ball interactions.

5 Ideas to Convert the Build-Up Into a Scoring Chance 🧵

A while ago, I noticed a disconnect between the build-up phase & the ultimate goal: scoring.

We can perfect our build-up, but if it doesn’t lead to scoring opportunities, have we achieved our objective? Let’s reflect 💡 1) The build-up is crucial, but it’s only part of the process. Its objective is to find the player best positioned near the backline to connect with the space behind.

Building up for the sake of possession doesn’t guarantee success. We build up to create chances to score.

🎯 In the final third, playmakers often face a crucial choice: pass or dribble.

In this @SundayShare10, I'll share some tips to improve decision-making, plus a drill that can enhance passing and dribbling in the final third with just one rule change.

👇🧵 First, let’s break down what to focus on when deciding to pass or dribble in the final third.

The positioning of defenders is critical.

Their location offers clues: Should we exploit the space behind them or take advantage of the space in front?

🧵 Finishing Drills

Here are 4 common mistakes coaches make when designing finishing drills.

Today, I want to share tips on improving the effectiveness of these drills and ensuring they better reflect game situations 👇 The first mistake relates to the gap between what we practice and what happens in real matches.

Too often, we focus on small spaces and crosses into the box, which doesn't truly mirror the variety of situations players face on the pitch.

🧵Rational Space Occupation is a hot topic, often debated between Positional Play and Relationism.

These two approaches lead to different perspectives on how space should be used.

Let's dive into my point of view of the Rational Space Occupation.📝 When reflecting on space occupation, we must consider 4 fundamental elements:

·Ball possessor
·Defender marking the possessor
·Player's direct defender
·Teammates

These factors constantly interact, influencing the available space and potential movements.