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August 31, 2026 | View Online | Sign Up

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In today's newsletter, we'll get into:

GAMES AND SCORES

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GOALKEEPING

The kick isn't the end of the exercise

A goalkeeper can strike a stationary ball well and still struggle to distribute in a match. Goalkeeping coach Antonio Ferraro identifies what an unopposed drill leaves out in his account of training the long kick.

What changes under pressure? The approach, supporting foot and balance help determine the delivery. But those movements must survive a shorter run-up, a teammate changing position or an opponent closing a passing lane. Ferraro therefore watches the whole action, including how the goalkeeper recovers position after releasing the ball. A successful delivery can still leave the goalkeeper poorly placed for a turnover or unavailable for a return pass.

How could you train it? One way to apply that distinction is to keep the exercise running after the kick. Change the receiver's position or the available passing lane before delivery, then assess whether the goalkeeper can support the next action. That is a proposed application of Ferraro's account, not a drill he specifies.

Does isolated practice still help? Ferraro still sees a place for isolated technical correction. His argument is that it cannot be the final test. This is a coach's method, not measured evidence that one exercise produces better match distribution.

QUOTES

Commit to the press

Newcastle head coach Matthias Jaissle told his players to press decisively or retreat. Tottenham coach Roberto De Zerbi's passing game punishes hesitation between those choices. The Athletic.

Matthias Jaissle: "If you are playing against Tottenham, especially with De Zerbi as the coach, you need to be clear. If you go in the high press, you need to be fully committed; you shouldn’t hesitate.

You need to be aggressive on the man and if you win these duels you can challenge them on their goal. If you lose them or if you’re a little bit in doubt, then you need to (drop deep and) defend your own box. This was the message."

A press that splits the team

Marseille coach Bruno Genesio spoke after a 2-0 loss at Monaco. His players pressed without moving together, leaving gaps for opponents rather than trapping them. So Foot. Translated from French.

Bruno Genesio: "There are also some interesting things to take away; we had the possibility of getting back into the game at 1-0 or 2-0, because of inefficiency and also because Monaco defended very well. In the first half we weren't together, especially in the pressing, which meant that we were often cut in two, and we left a lot of space. We were fairly far from one another, not very coordinated. That's what we tried to correct, and I think we made a good start to the second half."

Keep the ball away from midfield

Kifisia coach Sebastián Leto chose to press Greek champions AEK high rather than sit deep. He wanted their defenders carrying the ball wide, away from the midfielders who supply the attack. Gazzetta. Translated from Greek.

Sebastián Leto: "We wanted to cut off AEK's two central midfielders. They are the heart of AEK's team. When they open up the play and the ball reaches their forwards, the move will probably end in a goal. We also wanted to push AEK's center-backs out wide and have them play a little more. We pressed high and had a numerical advantage, with their center-backs carrying the ball more."

Late to press, unable to get out

Celta player Iago Aspas spoke after a second straight home defeat, 2-0 to Athletic. Teammate Williot had missed an early chance; Celta then struggled both to press and to escape Athletic's pressure. Marca. Translated from Spanish.

Iago Aspas: "We had the first chance to go 1-0 up, with a very clear one from Williot. Almost on the next one, they scored into the top corner against us, and then we came out very late late to press. They were pressing us high a lot and we couldn't find a way out. That's how the second goal came, they won the ball from us when we were arriving late. They made a great play and it was 0-2."

Organize before trying to escape

Celta coach Claudio Giráldez made four halftime substitutions against Athletic. Trailing 2-0, his side had rushed forward instead of repairing the gaps in its own half. Marca. Translated from Spanish.

Claudio Giráldez: "A 0-2 at home, with the feeling we had from 0-1 onward, which I think is a disaster. We have to change many things to be able to compete as I think we did in the first half-hour of the second half. In my view, when you do not defend in an organized and intense way against a team of Athletic's level, the normal thing is for them to score five, and at times it was close. We were very bad defensively and in a low block; once we go behind on the scoreboard, we want to rush to get out of there instead of organizing ourselves, and through the middle the team was a defensive disaster in our own half."

Move so someone else can use the space

Flamengo coach Leonardo Jardim spoke after beating Botafogo. His wide players can leave the touchline: their movement opens space for teammates and gives defenders decisions to make. ge. Translated from Portuguese.

Leonardo Jardim: "I don't like static players, I don't like players right on the line. And, of course, some players have to clear out to create the other spaces. In football, there are different kinds of support movements; it can be the facão, as they say in Brazil, in a vertical or lateral movement, a change of position. These are ideas I personally like because they make it difficult for whoever is defending and give us dynamism when we have the ball, which is important."

Decide before the ball arrives

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou is rebuilding the attack after two key departures. A 3-0 cup semifinal win over Sekhukhune showed progress in one task: deciding early enough to need fewer touches under pressure. AfricaSoccer.

Abdeslam Ouaddou: "We need to train them to take and make decisions before receiving the ball, for me that's the challenge, to reduce touches in the crowded areas and I think they did it very well today."

Control through passing

TV pundit Ruud Gullit questioned PSV's control despite a 6-1 win at Utrecht. With Champions League games ahead, he wanted the ball doing more of the work. Ruben van Bommel is a PSV winger. VoetbalPrimeur. Translated from Dutch.

Ruud Gullit: "Keeping that control without wasting energy. If you can do that, you can do it in Europe too. For me, it is not about Ruben van Bommel getting past his man three times. It is about the ball being passed around. PSG can do that incredibly well, and Bayern and Barcelona can do it very well."

Read the space after winning the ball

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou wants his team to build patiently or counterattack as the game demands. After a 3-0 cup semifinal win over Sekhukhune, he described training players to spot space when possession changes. AfricaSoccer.

Abdeslam Ouaddou: "And I think what they did today is to be able to recognize the space when they recover the ball and to attack that space. It is something we've been working on, with exercises in training. I think in modern football, with clever players, they don't have to play only one way. They must recognize what the opponent gives us as a problem and to answer the question."

Find the player who needs the ball

ESPN pundit Kenneth Perez watched Feyenoord chase a winner at 2-2 against ADO. Anis Hadj Moussa had scored their equalizer, yet teammates kept attacking down the opposite side instead of finding him. Voetbalzone. Translated from Dutch.

Kenneth Perez: "As the only outfield player, he had not touched the ball in the last seven minutes. That is of course down to Feyenoord's teammates, because who would want the ball at Feyenoord? Hadj Moussa. But they kept going down the left. I thought: have they gone crazy or what?"

TRIVIA

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REPLACEMENT PENDING

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YOUTH COACHING

Start with the children, not the famous coach

Former Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta, who leads AIC's Junior project for children's football, began with observation rather than a preferred senior-team system. In an interview excerpt about his work with AIC's Junior project, he describes watching the game while his own children were young, noticing things he wanted to improve and studying how to coach that age group.

Why focus on children? He had considered helping older players make the difficult jump from Primavera youth-team football to the first team. An invitation to join the Junior project changed his direction. Perrotta warns against imitating famous senior-team coaches with children.

What are these children learning to solve? A useful test for a session is whether its activities suit the children taking part. Resemblance to a senior team's football is not an answer. That test is our proposed application, not a prescription from Perrotta.

Does he offer a teaching method? The public excerpt explains his starting point, not his full curriculum. It gives no age-specific exercise design or evidence of learning outcomes, so it cannot support claims about which training method works best.

NEWS

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RECOMMENDED READING

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Prepared with AI from the August 31 collection, not a complete news survey. Quotations follow the recorded source checks; the idea topics summarize public source text and distinguish proposed applications from the authors' claims. This revised draft still needs independent source review and Kyle's approval.

Editor-only note