(8 minute read)
I am currently completing my UEFA A Licence and, as part of the course, had the honour of listening to someone from the welsh fa deliver a presentation on tactical periodisation, exploring the constraints, opportunities and benefits that come with being more deliberate in how we structure our training schedules.
It got me thinking about the load we place on players throughout a week, and then I chatted with a manager who occassionaly trains on a game day - and it really made me question, would I do that?
Occasionally, when a team has a late kick-off, they might complete some form of unopposed technical work earlier in the day, such as passing boxes, to "dust off the rust", as one manager described it to me.
But could we be doing more? do all teams do this? do we know it’s beneficial?
In other sports, training on game day is quite a common tradition. Ice hockey teams regularly complete a 30–40-minute morning skate before games, incorporating different elements such as shooting, passing and even rehearsing tactical ideas.
Basketball is another high-profile example, with teams traditionally working through individual actions and, at times, opposition-specific walkthroughs. Interestingly, the Golden State Warriors have reportedly started moving away from some of these traditional approaches in favour of a more structured pre-game routine.
The NFL was another sport I came across that has a tradition of game-day preparation, although the nature and intensity of these activities can vary considerably.
All of this left me wanting to understand the direct benefits of training on game day.
Does it contradict what tactical periodisation is trying to achieve? Does it make information easier for players to recall and understand? Does the physical activation contribute to performance? And could delivering certain information on game day allow us to make MD-1 more productive?
The Physical and psychological Benefits
One study (Modrić et al., 2023) explored physical activation on matchday across 32 competitive fixtures with riga fc, reporting improvements in total distance covered, moderate- to high-intensity running and the frequency of duels won.
The activation sessions included mobility, stretching, lower-body resistance exercises and reactive agility drills - all activities that could potentially have a football incorporated into them to bring technical outcomes as well.
others have studied similar objectives:Ben Brahim et al. (2023) went down a similar route concluding that a 6-8 hour priming led to an increase in 5 metre sprint time, as well as better countermovement jumps. Consideration here being it isn’t linked directly to team sports or contact sports.
The studies raises an interesting question: if physical activation can contribute to higher levels of performance, is this something we should prioritise or incorperate?
One aspect I also wanted to consider was the psych of a player going through this process. is it of help? or an additional cognitive load they now need to think about? the manager i was discussing this with suggested how his players felt higher levels of anxiety before an evening game, and he then felt the gameday session eradicated this. this point is somewhat supported by Rupprecht, Tran and Gropel (2024).
What Can We Learn From Baseball?
This led me to baseball, where I came across two very different approaches to preparing for one particular action: batting.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have traditionally completed batting practice approximately three hours before the first pitch, with the intention of increasing confidence, sharpening execution and preparing players for the demands of the game.
However, Joe Maddon, during his time coaching the Chicago Cubs, famously challenged this approach. During their successful 2016 season, he reduced or removed traditional pre-game batting practice on certain occasions, believing his players had already completed enough preparation and that further repetition could potentially have detrimental effects.
Two very different philosophies, both attempting to achieve the same outcome.
So, is this type of game-day training better suited to position-specific work or individual actions within a game?
Relating this back to football, could this be set pieces? Shooting? Position-specific technical actions?
One thing this research has made me reflect on is whether substitutes could particularly benefit from something on game day.
Within my substitution work, we have delivered substitute-specific sessions on MD-1, but could this be tailored even further by introducing an additional touchpoint on the day of the game?
There are, of course, considerations.
Although probability might suggest that a substitute will play 45 minutes or fewer, the unpredictability of football means we can never guarantee when they might be required. An injury, red card or tactical adjustment could see a player introduced much earlier than anticipated.
So, would a game-day session provide substitutes with an additional opportunity to prepare for their specific role, or would it simply introduce unnecessary physical and mental load before they are potentially required?
It's certainly something I would be interested in exploring further.
Football: Who Is Already Doing It?
As i start designing my own style and methodology to these types of questions, i looked into who already was underatking game day training sessions. England's 2018 World Cup campaign is one of the more interesting examples I came across.
Gareth Southgate's England reportedly completed late-morning sessions during the tournament, including ahead of their semi-final against Croatia, where players worked through attacking and defending set-piece scenarios.
Of course, this was an international tournament environment, where training time, recovery and load management become particularly valuable. But could this approach offer something to club football?
Set pieces might be an ideal activity to combine with the physical activation work referenced earlier in the article to build a mathcday session around.
I would also be fascinated to understand whether players demonstrate better recall of set-piece responsibilities when rehearsing them on the day of a match, compared with completing the same work on MD-1.
Does the shorter gap between rehearsal and execution help players retain information?
France U17s provided another interesting example during their preparations to face Wales U17s. FIFA were given access to film their game-day session, which included an opposed tactical preparation exercise and is available on the fifa website.
Interestingly, their preparation focused on Wales playing with a diamond midfield, yet Wales subsequently lined up in a 4-2-3-1.
That raises another consideration. How much of a game-day session should be dedicated to opposition-specific preparation, does this again lend itself to being better suited to individual actions.
Redistributing the Training Week
Perhaps the theory behind a game-day session isn't necessarily to increase the amount of work we fit into a training week, but instead to redistribute that work across another touchpoint.
After all, most clubs I consult with will have some form of pre-match meeting. Could a short game-day training session replace certain elements of that meeting, allowing the same information to be delivered practically rather than through a presentation?
Could this free up time on MD-1 for other aspects of preparation? I recently had a really interesting conversation with a manager around this topic. He suggested that, in the not-too-distant future, players could be completing some form of virtual reality decision-making session before games.
The idea would be to expose players to probable scenarios they might encounter against that day's opposition, allowing them to rehearse decisions and begin priming their minds for the game.
Potentially, this could provide some of the psychological and tactical benefits of preparation, but with virtually no additional physical demand.
It's a fascinating thought, particularly when considering how technology might allow us to prepare players without necessarily increasing the load placed on them.
Another Way of Thinking About the Warm-Up?
As I've been writing this article and exploring the potential benefits, I keep finding myself returning to an earlier Gamechanging article on the art of the warm-up.
Could a game-day training session actually simplify our traditional pre-match routine?
If players have already completed some physical activation, technical rehearsal or tactical preparation earlier in the day, could the warm-up become shorter, more individualised or focused on different objectives?
I would love to hear from those in the game already and are faced with this dilemma - my inbox / email is open to discuss and learn more about whether this is something that is beneficial in football.
By Sammy Lander