On third day of training Thomas Tuchel gave to me ... three turtle doves, two big pads and one tiny ball. It’s Christmas all over!
That’s a lie of course. There were no turtle doves.
Chelsea’s Friday training did feature some work with a tiny size 1 football, which is often used for trickwork and skills-training. It’s not something we see too often at this level, but Tuchel is known for his innovative methods and out-of-the-box thinking, which has the side benefit of keeping things fun for the players. They may be professionals, but the daily repetitive grind can wear anyone down.
Friend of the blog Sébastien Chapuis has a nice Twitter-thread breakdown of the thinking beyond such exercises, which you should check out if you’re at all interested in coaching methodologies and processes.
Why no speed (runs in behind) or un-necessary strength (ball shielding) today?
— Sébastien (@SebC__) January 29, 2021
It's an injury risk for players who are having their first training session since the last game
It's likely that the game was on a square pitch, neutral players, and no direction (no offside) pic.twitter.com/dfq5hxJ0Dt
Today’s training also featured some full-size ball work, while the goalkeepers got pummeled with some pads to prepared them for Burnley’s burley bruisers. Petr Cech probably enjoyed being on the giving end of these, for a change.