Warm Ups -part 2 - half time

In part one, I wrote about some observations I had made watching some teams warm up pre match. I also spoke about some references regarding what is a football action and what is a basic action. You can read that article here ...

I have been watching what happens at half time for substitutes during a number of games recently in both League 2 and the National League, and the big thing that every half time has in common is that there is no real direction for warming up subs.

In 3 games I was at, at half time the subs were left to their own devices, with no staff members present. This left the players to do what they wanted, which basically was performing kicking actions to each other, over a range of distances.

In 2 other games, players jogged across the pitch with a staff member and back, before performing a few running actions between cones, which were placed close to each other. On both occasions this lasted no longer than 3 minutes.

I have seen other half time activities over the years that may involve the non contextual Rondo exercise (4v2/5v2 etc), and on occasion brief, but organised kicking exercises.

So can we, as coaches, do better at half time to help our players be ready if called upon in the second half? Coaches prepare players before a game, so why not help again at half time? Are we really preparing our subs for subsequent football actions in the second half?

Imagine for example, your substitutes consist of the following playing positions - a goalkeeper, a striker, a winger, a number 10, two full backs and a centre half. Instead of these players performing a few minutes of basic actions, why don't we think about really warming them up for what they may potentially do if they get on the pitch. Taking into account the constraints of football (pitch, rules, opponents, team mates, one ball, goals) we could design an exercise that prepares the players to perform the football actions that will be required if they get to play. They could spend 3-4 minutes set up as follows -

So 4 blues (a full back, a number 10, a winger and a striker) against 3 reds (a goalkeeper and two centre halves). Can the 4 blues attack and score against the 3 reds?

Obviously this is a hypothetical situation I have created here, but ask yourself this. Is this more attuned to the game, or are kicking/rondo exercises better?

An exercise like this should be designed for subs based on your formation, playing style etc and also opposition defending behaviours.

As coaches, our job is to help players. So can we help our subs to prepare better at half time?