Tactical Periodization Football Organized by The Operationalization of A Game Model

SETTORE TECNICO
CORSO
UEFA PRO
TACTICAL PERIODIZATION
FOOTBALL ORGANIZED BY
THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF A
GAME MODEL
Relatore: Renzo Ulivieri

Candidato: Luciano Vulcano
Stagione 2021-2022
To my family,
for always supporting me.
Special Thanks
Executing a job, in whatever form, is not limited to the efforts of a single person
but requires the contribution, be it direct or indirect, of several people.
My gratitude therefore goes to all those who have contributed to the underlying
thesis from a moral or practical standpoint, with advice and suggestions or merely
with words of encouragement.
In particular, I would like to thank:
Mister Renzo Ulivieri, supervisor of this thesis, for his availability, his precious
opinions and for showing me how, after years of study and research, my curiosity
and the desire to gain more knowledge continues to ignite my passion.
Equally, my appreciation goes to the professors of the Coverciano School for

supporting my cultural growth and for having broadened my knowledge and to
my course colleagues for their willingness to an open and critical debate as well
as for their extraordinary passion when we talked about football. It will be
interesting to be able to face them in the future on the rectangular patch of grass.
Stefano Pioli, my coach, a fundamental person in my career whose shaped my

professional personal and professional pathway. It's an honor to be able to work
alongside him and to have shared the joy and beauty of winning a Scudetto
together.
All the coaches I know (whether in person or not) who with their ideas have
contributed to increase my knowledge and my hunger for more knowledge.
My bubino, to be there, always.
Sara, because she understands me, gives me courage and for the love she gives
me.
Leo, who stimulates me to look at everything with new eyes and reinvent myself
in a new process of discovery.
Synthesis
In football training methodology, the player is considered an indivisible unit. It’s

therefore necessary that the training includes a functional interconnection of the
four dimensions that make up football performance from a technical, physical
and psychological standpoint. These, however, have been constantly reduced
and 'impoverished' by a mechanical vision of Cartesian origin, whose
methodological aim is to maximize them, in separate form with the belief that
there is a compounding effect on the (overall) competitive performance. Upon
examining the training methodologies and the related planning present in
today’s elite football, it becomes apparent how limited the working methods are
with means and resources so ever dependent on physical dimension.
In this paper, a study was conducted on the bibliographic material relating to a

new methodology studied in the last forty years at the University of Oporto
(Portugal), whose concepts want to go beyond the limits of planning and
programming for the preparation of football teams.
The complex nature of situational team sports highlights the importance of the
tactical dimension as a key to reading, analyzing and responding to this
complexity. The theory considers tactics to be the nucleus of competitive
preparation and as such the central element from which the remaining
performance areas depend on. This is where tactical periodization is born. It’s a
new methodology focused on a vision closer to the game. Tactical periodization
is faithful to the needs of team football. It is achieved through the attentive choice
and operationalization of a specific game model. It also translates the theoretical
model (based on game principles) into procedural operations that manifest
themselves in the form of observable and reproducible behaviors. Thus, training
becomes a space in which it is possible to 'simulate' the conceptual model of the
game that one wants to achieve in the match without the need to consider
analytically the inseparability of the components of a complex sporting practice
such as football.
INDEX
Introduction 2
CHAPTER 1 Football as a complex phenomenon: dimensions that interact and do

not add up 3
1.1 What is football? 3
1.2 Football training 4
1.3 Current concepts of football training 6
1.4 The four dimensions of the game 8
CHAPTER 2 The Tactical Periodization 11
2.2 The overarching tactical dimension 12
2.3 Tactics: definition of a special one 14
2.4 The idea of play: an adaptive concept 15
2.5 The team as a non-mechanical mechanism 17
2.6 The element that strengthens the organization: creativity 19
CHAPTER 3 The Game Model 21
3.1 Definition of Model 21
3.2 The cycle of the Game Model 22
3.2.1 The Game Model as a prior intention 23
3.2.2 The game model as intended when put in action 24
CHAPTER 4 Training seen through the eyes of tactical periodization 28
4.1 The game-training link 28
4.2 The concept of simulation 29
4.3 The methodological principles 30
4.3.1 The principle of propensities 34
4.3.2 Linear thinking and complex thinking (in relation to the principle of
complex progression) 36
4.3.3 The principle of complex progression 38
4.3.4 The principle of horizontal alternation in terms of specificity 41

4.4 The game trained through game fractals 44
CHAPTER 5 Tactical Periodization in practice 46
5.1 The training cell: the Morphocycle 46
5.2 The structure of the Morphocycle 51
5.2.1 1st day: the match 51
5.2.2 2nd day: passive recovery 52
5.2.3 3rd day: active recovery 52
5.2.4 4th day: acquisition 54
5.2.7 Day 7: active recovery 61
5.3 The physical dimension in Tactical Periodization 63
5.4 Proprioceptivity : The body in relation to the game 65
Bibliography and Sitography 70

Introduction
There are several factors that affect the performance of footballers and even more
so of football teams.
This places us in front of numerous methodological questions on training, which

compel us to constantly identify challenging situations and a constant reflection
on their resolution.
The planning and periodization processes are limited due to methodological

factors for those who work in elite football on a daily basis which are mainly linked
to a misunderstanding of the needs within football. Today’s training plans
continue to be focused mainly on the physical domain compared to the tactical
one. To the detriment of the development of a conscious game identity they
prioritize the development of a set of physical skills.
My thesis today aims to outline the methodological concepts commonly

practiced and known in today’s football, and subsequently to illustrate a new type
of periodization that will highlight the stark differences as it centers around the
tactical domain. As such, it puts utmost importance on the tactical dimension,
by virtue of establishing a game model and a process guided by dynamic
planning, in which the physical component of training, as well as the other focus
areas, will be tied in, however, under the influence of the tactical dimension.
Therefore, the objective of this thesis owes the substantial differences between
the methodologies used in football and the tactical periodization (also known as
TP), where and why TP was born, the influences that TP has on the components
on performance in football, the creation and organization of a game model, the
methodological principles that regulate the training, the structure and the
contents of the Morphocycle, the physical focus area according to TP, the way in
which this methodology faces the new proprioception, all seen through this new
approach from Portugal.
2
CHAPTER 1 Football as a complex phenomenon:
dimensions that interact and do not add up
"The match is the environment of uncertainty, a fog that spreads across two thirds
of the game’s events: only intelligence that blends with experience can solve the
riddle". (G. Giacometti, S. Venturi, R. Sassi, 2013)
1.1 What is football?
Football is a team sport in which two open and adaptive systems face each other,
each made up of eleven elements that interact and cooperate with each other in
a competitive setting (the pitch). They adopt common behaviors in order to
achieve a goal of collective interest which by virtue of their characteristics
influences how a team both operates and performs.
With this simple definition it is evident that this sport is something more complex
than a simple kick to a ball. Furthermore, considering that the game is regulated
by a series of rules and by two opposing sides who, in addition to trying to
achieve their objectives, will also try to organize themselves to prevent the
opponent from achieving a working system in every which way, you can
understand how the course of a match is non-linear and unpredictable.
"If a football team is a system, the game must therefore be like a system of
systems, a ' complex system' as it expresses the cooperative relations between
teammates and the opposing relations with the adversary. In short, it is the battle
between two systems (teams) for a final goal (victory).” (Gomes, 2010)
Football is by its nature a complex and unpredictable phenomenon, which is why

there is a need for the coach to propose identifiable references to game
situations, or in other words, to transmit to the team a clear style of play allowing
3
it to develop a sense of stability and organization. The goal is to confidently
address the unpredictable challenges as a direct result of the complexity of the
game.
A need arises which demands that there be effective methodological planning

when it comes to training in football.
1.2 Football training
Before explaining concepts on which methodological training plans are based on

and physical periodization are applied, it is necessary to clarify what is meant by
'training', 'planning' and 'periodization'.
TRAINING
In sport, by training we mean the process carried out by the athlete and directed
by the coach, which aims to improve sports performance. The goal of training is
to propose to the athlete, in an organized way, the necessary means that allow
him to improve in practice so as to improve the performance in competition. A
training session is comprised of a 'mix' of focus areas, of physiological,
biomechanical, psychological, pedagogical, biochemical and anatomical impact
validating the term 'training science’ in its own right.
It is important to underline that a training must be proposed in an 'organized

way' in support of a planning and periodization process rooted in training
science, of which Matveev is considered the founder.
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PLANNING
Planning the training process allows us to develop a method that defines the
goals to be achieved, with a series of goal posts in terms of a step-by-step
implementation supported by continuous analysis.
This process begins with the analysis of the athlete's characteristics and his or her
initial performance level and ends with the period in which the athlete must
produce maximum performance, i.e. the competition period.
The quality at which these performances will be expressed is proportional to the

degree they master/ successfully combine the physical, technical, tactical and
psychological components.
Designing a training plan is only the initial aspect of planning. The continuous
analysis and verification of both the procedures used and the (partial) results
obtained during each stage of planning represent the second fundamental
aspect.
The most important features of training planning are:
- adaptability;
- planning based on specific competitions ;
- periodization of the 'physical/ athletic load'.
PERIODIZATION
To periodize means to determine, vary and distribute the physical work loads
during training over the span of a sports season in monthly, weekly and daily
cycles in an effort to efficiently manage the sessions, the work load/ recovery
times as well as the resources needed to achieve predetermined monthly goals.
5
1.3 Current concepts of football training
Traditional training methods include:
- the separation of the physical, psychological, technical and tactical components

of training due to a mechanical and reductionist view;
- training logic very far from the real needs from the conditions and situations
that occur while competing in a game;
- sessions are divided into parts whereby the training components are tought
separately and maximized from an analytical lens aimed at obtaining an overall
transfer in terms of performance during a match;
- analytical exercises that are not specific to the game, but rather to maximize the
individual competitive components;
- the game is broken down into single technical qualities or tactical movements
that the coach has implemented in training in order to improve execution;
- the decontextualized training of individual game actions aimed at in-game

execution with little to no consideration to the complexity of the game;
- centered around the physical component with a season-long view of the

training cycle according to athletic goal-setting;
- conditional work carried out without a ball;
Training through the integrated method includes:
- attempts to combine the physical, psychological, technical and tactical

components of training but always according to a reductionist logic;
- training logics which come near to the game, however, they remain far from the
real/ complex conditions a team encounters;
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- division of the training session into parts which, while promoting the integration
of all dimensions of the game, have the purpose of developing a single skill;
- specific analytical exercises with respect to football that use the ball to maximize
the individual components;
- a game is broken down into individual situations that the coach transfers into
training with the aim of perfecting the execution;
- training standardized game sequences, not taking into account the

unpredictability of the game, which as a result thereof, are difficult to be
transferred back into the game;
- centered around the physical component with a season-long view of the athletic
training cycle of a player;
-training carried out with the ball in which the main focus remains the physical
domain similar to the classical methodology, however hidden by the use of the
ball.
From a conditional point of view, football training has evolved over time which
has allowed it to take on certain characteristics that can be found in the work
currently proposed by most of the Italian professional teams. It provides:
- an opportunity during pre-season to present a high volume of conditional

training comparable to a container being filled with large volumes of aerobic and
anaerobic work loads;
- the development of resistance in form of pre -conditioning for the subsequent

improvement of the technique and other conditional skills;
- carrying out specific physical-technical or physical-tactical training after having

obtained a good physical shape thanks to comprehensive (holistic) athletic
training approach;
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- viewing the competitive period as a period of conservation and not one that
merely increasing the athletic form of the team;
- the gradual reduction in volume and the increase in terms of intensity in training
in the macro-cycle and in the micro-cycle ;
- the use of on-field tests to evaluate and monitor the evolution of the form of
players individually.
1.4 The four dimensions of the game
“Limiting the study of movement to merely to motor skills is a mistake; what would
lead us to consider motor skills as an instrument, only aimed at execution. Today we know
that this isn’t the solution.”
(Ajuriaguerra , 1974, quoted by G. Giacometti, S. Venturi, R. Sassi, 2013)
“A method is not valid if it does not include complexity. We need a method that helps us to
think about the complexity of reality, instead of dissolving and mutilating it”.
(E. Morin )
“The nature and diversity of the factors that contribute to sports performance
make football a multifactorial structure of great complexity” ( Dufor , 1991 quoted
by Faria, 1999). It requires a framework that allows for various factors in terms of
their specificity.
8
As per my research, most training manuals refer to the technical component of
tactics and the contingent development of physical qualities. “A constant
decomposition of the athlete's effort into a fixed number of plots, trying to
understand the complexity of the whole through the multiplication of the pseudo
constituent parts”. (Smith, 1988 quoted by Faria, 1999)
In this context, the appearance of physical, technical, tactical and psychological

training takes shape. It affects the knowledge of individual aspects, with the idea
that the better you know each part, the better you know the whole.
Despite this, the game is considered as something more than the obvious set of
factors on which it is based. "The order or organization of the whole or a system
transcends what can be ‘offered' by the 'whole' of its parts, when these are
considered isolated from each other". ( Frade 1985, quoted by Faria, 1999) "The
whole is in the part that is in the whole" ( Morin , quoted by Moigne , 1994).
As reported by Moigne (1994, quoted by Faria, 1999), “the more one pretends to
classify by breaking down intertwined concepts, the more the intelligence of the
knowledge built by the deliberate interaction of these concepts is impoverished.
A less singular and more general concept of interactivity is needed
(interactions of the whole with the parties and of the parties with the other
parties) ".
“A relationship of interdependence must necessarily exist between training and

competition. The competition reflects the processes and results of the
preparation as well as the preparation uses methods and means appropriate to
the objectives”. (Faria, 1999)
There is therefore the need for the athlete, the footballer to be considered as an
indivisible functional unit. Consequently, the entire training process must avoid
the separation typical of analytical work, focusing instead on the simultaneous
training of the four dimensions that constitute football performance specifically-
one that favors the development of the overall performance and that holistically
reproduces the real conditions occurring in the game.
9
"Providing a training process for the sum of technical, tactical and physical
qualities, will result at best in an internalization of motoric behaviors which
remain inadequate to the reality of the game because they compete with one
another. They will depend on different signals and stimuli from those that
characterize the training situations." (Queiroz, 1982)
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CHAPTER 2 The Tactical Periodization
2.1 The birth of a new logic
Tactical periodization was born from the brilliant mind, Professor Victor Manuel
da Costa Frade, born in Vila Franca de Beira on 29 September 1944, also known
as Vitor Frade.
This methodology proposes a different point of view compared to the previous

training logics which until then had dictated the theoretical and methodological
guidelines in almost all sports. Born about forty years ago and developed in
Portugal at the Faculty of Sport Sciences of the University of Porto, tactical
periodization has become known thanks to the sporting results obtained by
coaches who have fully or partially applied the principles, such as José Mourinho
, André Villas-Boas, Carlos Queiroz, Paulo Sousa, and Vitor Pereira.
The name is comprised of words well known by anyone who works in the sports
field, which however they take on a completely new interpretation as per Oliveira
(2007): "Periodization' stands for the time needed in order to achieve the style of
play desired. 'Tactics' stands for the in-game decision-making, and as such, is a
tactical characteristic. The decisions, be it individual or collective ones, are
differentiated based on behavior patterns (interactions) and for this reason they
should not be considered abstract but rather be constructed into the inter-
relational or intentional behavior matrix, and, consequently, must be
contextualized and specific to the team."
For Maciel (2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013): "the name tactical periodization is
justified because it is a periodization, or rather the time it takes to acquire the
knowledge and evolve in a specific collective intentionality of a style of play, or
of a certain 'tactic' throughout the season."
For Frade (2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013), who first introduced tactical
periodization: "the choice of the name 'tactical periodization' is a provocative one
since there is a periodization, or the use of a certain time to complete a certain
11
framework, however, if this periodization is 'tactical', time is used to reach a
tactical goal. In fact, the meaning of tactics does not coincide with what is
normally attributed to it, but it turns out to be a purely organizational and
intentional aspect of the game, which involves the assimilation of principles
within the dynamics of a team’s game. If this game requires quality, it will take
longer to build. So with regard to the name I initially gave it, which is precisely
this, tactical periodization, I knew that it would provoke critics as they would claim
that periodization is not tactical. And this is my intention, that it appears in a
different way, since according to the line of thought all the periodizations that
are being applied are a function focus on the physical dimension and of the
conditional capacities. This, however, is a function of an overarching tactical
dimension.”
2.2 The overarching tactical dimension
“The overarching tactical dimension stands for the great coordinator of the entire
training process”. (Mourinho)
"Tactics is not a physical dimension, it is not technical, it is not psychological, but it needs
all three to manifest itself". (Frade, 1996)
Tactical periodization respects the principle of the inseparable integrity of the

game, incorporating in each exercise the four dimensions that make up football
performance.
12
Drawing by Oliveira, modified by Vulcano (2015)
Even though acquiring the knowledge and developing the football skills must
necessarily be treated holistically, the four dimensions that make up the
performance cannot be evaluated in equal measure. A hierarchy is necessary in
accordance with the exercise that is being considered. If the game model (which
will be addressed in the following chapters) is the reference of the whole process,
the tactical dimension will always serve as the guiding light of the exercises while
the other factors will emerge proportionate to the specific attention they merit.
Professor Vitor Frade (1996, quoted by Tamarit , 2007) states that "tactics are not
a physical dimension, nor a technical or psychological one. Tactics needs all three
dimensions to manifest itself". Amieiro, Oliveira, Resende and Barreto (2009)
share the same opinion: "Any technical or physical action always has an
underlying tactical intent.”
The tactical factor appears as something that is above the other dimensions, not
distinguishing itself from them, but incorporating them. Tactics is therefore to be
considered an overarching dimension that guides the entire training process and
assumes central importance, as it defines and also applies all those aspects that
the coach wants the athlete to put into practice (as per the game model) during
the competition, specifically in the various phases of the game (ie the offensive
13
and defensive phase, as well as the positive/attacking transition and the negative/
defending transition).
This highlights the importance of having a clearly defined tactical culture in each
of the four phases and, based on these moments of football in an effort to deliver
maximum consistency (application/ delivery of the game model).
2.3 Tactics: definition of a special one
Let us now explain through the words of the Portuguese coach José Mourinho
(quoted by Amiero , Oliveira, Resende , Barreto, 2006) what the vision is when it
comes to a overarching tactical dimension and the application thereof in a
periodized manner.
"Tactics represent the set of behaviors that you want to get from the team, what
the team must put into practice regularly. This set of principles shapes the game
14
model". "It stands for a specific behavioral culture that requires training and it is
an asset that is built over time."
"The most important thing in a team is to have a specific game model, a set of
game principles, to know them thoroughly, to interpret them well, regardless of
which eleven I choose to play".
“Playing as a team means having an organization, certain rules that ensure that
in the four phases of the game all players think about the same goal
simultaneously. Such an end goal can be achieved with time, work and tranquility.
One thing is for a player to acquire the knowledge and try to do what I want and
another thing is to get them to do it as a team. For this we need time.”
It is evident how this methodology greatly differs from traditional methodologies.

In fact, it considers the dynamics of behaviors and relationships that the team
must instill through experiential training in order to be able to perform them in
the game according to the situations and moments of the game. This is in sharp
contrast to the status-zuo in which tactics are confined to closed and pre-set
mechanisms trained in a decontextualized form. In other words, the contextual
interference in a game will prevent them from expressing themselves consistently.
2.4 The idea of play: an adaptive concept
The game that a team expresses is not a spontaneous, nor a natural phenomenon.
The confident expression of a team is not the result of luck, nor is it an abstract
conscious effort of self-organization. These traits are found on the courts where
street football is played among children and young people to express the essence
of the playful aspect of the game. The game of a professional team is the result
of a structured approach, in which the coach transfers his idea of the game. The
game model is obtained thanks to the coach’s research in pursuit of a precise way
of interpreting the game, in which the coach identifies specific intentions based
15
on his football culture. The game of a team goes beyond an organized process.
When it comes to a coach’s game model nothing happens randomly. At the
moment of its construction, the coach knows what he wants to achieve and how
he wants his idea of the game to be realized.
This justifies why different ways of playing football and playing styles exist. Each
coach gives birth to and systematizes his own idea of the game. The coach will
have to define the behaviors that the team will apply in each of the four phases
and will have to structure the game in principles and sub principles.
"When the coach with his game idea will find himself having to face a new setting:
a new country with its culture, a new club with its history and goals, new players
with their own ideas and experience, this game idea will be strongly influenced
by these factors. The intelligent coach will model it according to the
circumstances, maintaining the fabric of his game idea and remaining coherent
(with the sole intention of being efficient and effective) within the new setting
you are exposed to. When these two factors, namely the coach's game idea and
the environment, enter into interaction, the game model is formed. That is the
game that the coach wants his team to play (beyond the ideal), taking into
account the reality the team encounters. This will be the game model at
inception- the idea of a collective game identity- not merely owned by the coach-
among all those who are part of the team, ie collective game ownership". (
Tamarit, 2013)
We must therefore be aware of the diversity and adversity that we can run into.
Since football represents an evolving dimension in constant change, the game
will require the willingness to changes and adaptations to the original idea of the
game we wanted to realize initially in order to make sure that it evolves and
adapts to different situations, both in the short and long term.
Consequently, making adjustments should not be considered an error or a loss

of identity. Indeed, it is useful to modify some marginal aspects ( sub -principles
and sub-sub- principles ) to better equip the game model and to support its
course based on the needs of the team. This ensures that the game model is never
considered finished. A game model is never stagnant.
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2.5 The team as a non-mechanical mechanism
"The development of the tactical attitude is the premise to develop the ability to decide and
decide quickly, this being dependent on the attitude of conceiving solutions".
(Gréhaigne , 1992 quoted by Faria, 1999)
As Tamarit (2007) states “through systematic repetition in a process based on

specificity, we create the habits that will allow the principles and sub -principles
to emerge that make up the intended game model, which allow for an
anticipation of the desired action”.
"We try to get the player used to solving problems according to his own logic of
behavior in the ‘here and now’. Therefore, it cannot be mechanical". (Gomes,
2006 cited by Tamarit , 2007)
The purpose of tactical periodization, as a result, is not to have a team that re-
proposes plays mechanically or sequences of pre-determined schemes. The goal
is to provide the team with clear and hierarchical rules, models of behavior with
unified and unifying principles, which allow the players to develop a common
thought process. It evolves into a form of team thinking. A functioning logic is
created that will lead to saving time and energy in the analysis and decision
making and consequently to an anticipation of the action to which they can relate
to.
“This is due to the affinity that players have with collective principles, which,
promote a logic that makes certain behaviors emerge and that the team leans
towards. This occurs in the decision-making and intentionality in-game and not
as a pre-established scheme. There is no equation to resolve a complex situation.
It will therefore be easier to resolve situations depending on the ability and the
amount of the players that assimilate the habit ". ( Tamarit , 2013)
17
The football match is an unstable setting in constant change and being able to
read it helps to consciously manipulate unexpected situations that manifest
themselves. That does not mean that they are unpredictable. Having determined
that a football team is a complex adaptive system- a system capable of adapting
and changing based on the experience (characterized by the ability to evolve)-
we can deduce that experiential and qualitative training will help players in
learning 'football' as well as the unpredictability of the situations that present
themselves.
Football is not subject to rules, it has no pre-established and exact formulas that
solve it. It is governed by an in-game theorem: tactical periodization.
For this reason Oliveira (2006) states that "the principles of play can never be
understood as ends in themselves , a stereotyped sequence of actions that ends
in the manifestation of an unconscious solution (a closed mechanism), but as the
beginning of a behavior that the coach expects from the team in collective terms
as well as from the players in individual terms."
It is therefore evident how the principles of the game take the form of a compass,
of lines of thought that orient the players' behavior on the pitch, going beyond
the mechanical concept and transforming it into a 'non-mechanical mechanism'.
According to this new vision, the players are directed towards people through the
decisions inherent to the situations identified without constraining their
development, so that the perceived and imprinted actions are free and
unpredictable in the outcome. They are guided by the collective understanding
of the team, towards common and shared objectives.
"Tactical Periodization therefore creates non-mechanized mechanisms that do

not allow the robotization of the team through an excess of organization, which
usually creates a conditioned, forced style of play". (Tamarit, 2013)
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2.6 The element that strengthens the organization:
creativity
"We cannot have creativity without intentionality".(Portoles , 2007 cited by Tamarit , 2009)
“Work, application, team play, mutual help: this is what we need. Fantasy is a surplus,
it comes when you know. If you don't know, there is no fantasy.” (Sacchi, 2008)
A football team is a whole system in continuous reorganization, a phenomenon

in constant search of its homeostasis, its balance within the entropy of the game
of football.
What is accomplished with tactical periodization is the conscious manipulation of

team play, through the organization of a game model and the application in
training of its principles and sub -principles which manifest themselves in the
game with constant and regular team behavior. This characterizes the game as
something scientific. However, since football is a sport rich in independent
variables, within these regularities there is an uncontrollable and unexpected part,
namely the part of detail (sub -principles ) and creativity. This does not appear in
conflict with the regularities of the intended game, but rather it exemplifies an
interdependent relationship since the principles of the game model are not rigid
and closed rules with knowledge of cause and effect, but adaptive references to
a constantly changing context.
"If the team responds mechanically and only finds the solutions you give them,
this very clearly reflects on the way they are training." (Carvalhal , 2010 cited by
Tamarit , 2013)
The organization of the game alone, therefore, does not appear to be functional,
which is why players must feel free to be able to create and express within the
principles they relate to.
19
Consequently, a game model will have to be built that promotes and emphasizes
creativity rather than limiting it, which makes it an empowering factor by
envisaging it as a real sub -sub- principle of play in a sort of disorder created
within the order.
"There is creativity in decision making, an originality in the search for solutions

by the player, however, always with the intention (game principles) to adapt
himself to the circumstances." (Tamarit, 2013)
This 'creative organization' must be sought in contextual and experiential

exercises that promote a continuous search for solutions and are implemented
within a training logic that applies the chosen game model, thus standing for a
specific quality, namely creativity, not to be misrepresented as an abstract quality.
Creative intentionality is hardly obtained if the training is merely analytical and

decontextualized within the game. "In this way, the game situations with their
inherent variability, alternation and uncertainty, determine the direction of the
behaviors adopted by the players, for which they are required to have a
permanent tactical attitude.”
(Garganta, 1995)
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CHAPTER 3 The Game Model
3.1 Definition of Model
““This method must provide the operational principles to think independently.

After all, method means pathway”.
(Morin , 1999)
It is irrational to think about tactical periodization without taking into

consideration the game model adopted. So, before periodizing it is necessary to
define this same model.
Generally speaking, a model is “a convenient system of reference points that

reduces entities / phenomena otherwise not representable in an empirical
description”. (Treccani, 2015)
As a game model, on the other hand, "we must understand the hierarchical set of
behavior principles, from which the sub -principles and sub-sub- principles of the
team derive". (Tossani , 2009)
The game models methodically and systematically describe a system of

relationships that are established between the different elements of the team in
a given game, clearly indicating the tasks and the technical-tactical behaviors that
a coach wants from his players, in accordance with the their level of aptitude and
skill.
They determine the actions that the coach expects the team to manifest in the
four phases that make up the cycle of the game:
A phase of possession (P):
- Organized Attack (AO);
- Attacking Transition (T+);

21
In the Non-Possession Phase (FNP):
- Organized Defense (DO);
- Defensive (T-) transition.
Through a systemic vision of tactical periodization an attempt is made to reduce

the complexity of the game, and as such, to produce a specific game model to
obtain a improved performance.
3.2 The cycle of the Game Model
"The modeling of complexity allows interested the athlets to own it from a
cognitive standpoint building their own intentional intelligence".
(Le Mogne)
Care must be taken not to confuse the game idea with the game model. The game
idea is a fundamental prerequisite on which the resulting game model is based.
The game model takes shape when the study of the game idea as a prior intention
meets the circumstances of its implementation, which at times are not
ponderable and consequently lead to a 'remodeling' of the game model. It is
therefore important to have a preliminary idea from which to start, a game
''intention '' with which the players can identify, even if this may not correspond
to the actual game they will play on the pitch.
22
3.2.1 The Game Model as a prior intention
“The game model is created first as a mental representation in the players and then
develops on the pitch. Decisions and interactions between players are primarily
anticipated as images" (Gomes, 2008)
Are the game idea and the game model as a preliminary intention the same thing?
The answer is no. The game idea is the kind of football the coach has in mind, an
ideal form of play. It is critical that the coach studies and reflects on the type of
game he/she expects to represent and structures it according to the fundamental
without interrupting its line of thought. The coach also creates his own, sub -
principles and sub-sub- principles. This is done by respecting the way in which
the team must attack, defend and how the coach intends that it transits from the
attacking phase to the defensive phase and vice versa.
Upon the hiring of the coach by a new club and he/she will find himself having
to approach a new context. The idea of the game will be strongly influenced by
everything that surrounds the sporting aspect. The coach will have to intelligently
model it according to the circumstantial needs, maintaining the matrix of his idea,
however, satisfying with the intention of being efficient and effective, the needs
of the context in which it is inserted.
The game model as a prior intention is therefore conditioned by the interaction

of various factors such as:
- Culture of the country;
- Culture and history of the Club;
- Corporate structure and objectives of the Club;
- the coach's idea of the game;
- the playing system;
- Characteristics and level of the players;
23
- Exceptional factors such as religious customs, commercial pressures,
weather, injuries, series of positive or negative results, recruitment
during the current season, etc.
"It is therefore necessary to know the culture of the club, to know the culture of
football in this country, and only after having a perspective and a plan that
integrates with all the factors, to highlight if there are things in conflict with the
ideas of the coach and what is presented in reality. After all, it is the coach who
has to go towards reality by modifying and shaping his ideas as the opposite
turns out to be much more difficult, if not unlikely." ( Tamarit , 2013)
The Game Model is therefore something unique and unrepeatable, a structure

tailored to the context in which it is made and therefore cannot move from one
team to another together with the coach.
3.2.2 The game model as intended when put in action
""Action creates the organization that creates action"
(Edgar Morin)
"The game model is everything: it is the constant evolution of the game idea within the
context and that is what happens in its
realization"
(Vitor Frade)
The idea of the game that inserts and adapts itself to any given setting is realized
in the game model as a prior intention. When it is implemented in the form of a
game during training, in matches and in everything that happens during its
development in the 'here and now', it passes from intention to action.
24
This passage from 'intention' to 'action' will produce an unforeseen act and will
end up changing the prior intention and the game model in some of its details,
producing results different from those expected at the level of the sub -principles
and sub-sub- principles, giving it a unique configuration while maintaining its
conceptual matrix. The coach is therefore faced with a new analysis on the game
model that is conditioned by the way in which the team expresses the prior
intention that inspires their game on the pitch.
He will have to reflect on the substantial differences that emerge between the
game model as intended initially compared to the game model that is put into
action. In the ideal game model there is absolute harmony between what was
intented initially and the intended action, but since this hypothesis is not feasible,
it will be the task and responsibility of the coach to make sure that game’s
'intentions' correspond as much as possible. For this to happen the coach will
have a key role in participating in the exercises in training and creating emotions
and feelings in the 'here and now' of (study by the Portuguese neuroscientist
Antonio Damasio).
"The coach will have to be very focused and have a great sensitivity towards
everything that is happening since even the smallest aspect can have
repercussions on the outcome of his work directing the result towards success or
failure." (Tamarit, 2013)
We can therefore consider the game model as something that cannot be

completed, but rather a set of reference points that is built and will never be
completed, a phenomenon in constant remodeling according to what is called
the cycle of the game model.
(Prior intention> intention in action> leads to a new prior intention).
25
Drawing by Tamarit (2010), modified by Vulcano (2015)
“Nonetheless, no matter how a game model is developed, it will put into question
systematically. That is, it must be built progressively, de-constructed and the be
re -built ”. (Castelo, 1994 quoted by Faria, 1999).
"The legitimation of symbolic models does not coincide with an experimental and
iconic analogy. It goes through an analogy of simulated behaviors, simulations
carried out above symbolic models. The simulation of models is not a neutral
simulation: it affects the models themselves. All knowledge is structurally circular
and auto-referential."(Le Moigne, quoted by Tamarit, 2002)
The strong influence in the ‘here and the now' in the development process should
be emphasized since the coach will have to pay lots of attention to everything
that happens during training and matches. This because the intention put
something in action can bring out, due to the influence of single actions on the
system, an evolution of some aspects of the game model. These can be details
and skills of the team not foreseen and which go beyond the sum of the single
parts that form the system. They can enrich the system. According to the axiom
that "the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts." (Aristotle)
26
Contrary to what one might suppose, it turns out that tactical periodization, the
fundamental unit on which the training is centered around the player, not
intended as any repetitive part of the whole, but rather a fractal which contains
within it the characteristics and references of the collective it contributes to
forming.
27
CHAPTER 4 Training seen through the eyes of
tactical periodization
4.1 The game-training link
“This way, the game model and its principles determine the exercises to be adopted,
expecting its own degree of complexity, difficulty of realization, needs at the motoric
skill level, the degree of adequate provoked stimulation and its specificity".
(Bondartchuck , 1992)
“The organization of the training process must start from the original reference point: the
game model of a team”. (Tschiene , quoted by Garganta 1997)
Football has very special properties that require highly specific preparation and
training. It is therefore important to have a broad knowledge of the characteristics
and needs of football performance, so as to be able to achieve adequate
preparation for trainings. The nature of this sport affects the attitudes of the
players, expressed in tactical-technical aspects and in functional energetic
aspects. During the game it is critically important to determine the objectives, the
resources and the most appropriate training methods.
“The most important and difficult task of training is to correlate the didactic logic
with the logic of the game; a systematic analysis of the structure of the game is
necessary in order to clearly and unequivocally define its internal logic.” (
Teodorescu , 1983 cited by Faria, 1999)
"The intervention process (training) must occur from a methodical and organized
reflection of the competitive analysis of the game’s contents, adjusting and
adapting itself to this reality (Castelo, 1994 cited by Faria, 1999 ).
28
The goal of training is therefore to simulate the game of the trained team in the
most authentic and relatable way possible.
4.2 The concept of simulation
By simulation we mean a realistic model that makes it possible to evaluate and

predict the unfolding of a series of events or processes of specific conditions
conducted by the analyst.
"Simulations are a very powerful experimental analysis tool used in many

scientific and technological fields dictated by the difficulty or impossibility to
reproduce them in the real laboratory of the actual conditions based on the great
calculation possibilities provided by information technology and processing
systems. The simulation, in fact, is nothing other than the transposition in logic-
mathematical-procedural terms of a 'conceptual model' of reality. This
conceptual model can be defined as the set of processes that take place in the
system in order to understand the operating logic of the system itself. As a result,
it is comparable to a sort of virtual laboratory which often also allows a reduction
in study costs compared to complex experiments carried out in a real laboratory."
(Wikipedia, 2015)
The simulation, therefore, can also be used in sport as an analysis of complex

dynamic systems, and is nothing more than the transposition into training of a
'conceptual model' of reality. This model (processes) of play as a prior intention,
can be like the set of behaviors (processes) that take place within the game
(evaluated system) in the various phases of the game and whose entirety allows
us to understand the logic of its application (coherent relationship between
principles, sub -principles and sub- sub -principles of play) and of the system
itself.
29
The simulation, therefore, allows the analysis of reality and a high level of mastery
of the complexity of the system detail with ease. This means that a large number
of useful information can be obtained from it. The price to pay for completeness
is obviously time. The operations of construction and analysis of the game model
are in fact very long, so that there is the possibility of obtaining a model (of game
as previous intentions) adhering to reality (Game model as intentions in Action).
This is the concept behind the logic of the specificity of training in Tactical
Periodization. A simulation of a portion of the game, for example, allows you to
predict and evaluate the behavior of the players in the face of requests and
constraints from the coach.
4.3 The methodological principles
The training logic of tactical periodization is based on three fundamental

principles, which must be understood collectively as one the same as if they were
a single principle. They are: the principle of propensities, the principle of complex
progression and the principle of horizontal alternation in specificity.
In order for there to be an adequate articulation of meaning "there is a need for

the methodologies to manifest themselves in an interdependent form". (Maciel
2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013)
To direct these three principles there is the overarching principle of specificity

(principle of principles) which places the condition that everything that is
proposed and carried out during training is carried out in relation to the game
model.
To respect the overarching principle exercise it its specificity, the proposals of the
time must develop all the dimensions of the player, such as the cognitive,
coordinative, socio-affective, emotional-volitional, creative-expressive,
30
conditional and at the same have the pedagogical purposes useful for improving
the aspects of the game.
Therefore, there must be a specific type of application for the development of the
game model and the dimensions of the player, each coaching proposal must be
structured on a contextualized basis with the perennial aim of imprinting into the
brain those dynamics of behaviors that improve the execution of the team’s
game. For this to happen effectively each exercise must necessarily have a series
of characteristics:
- Players who fall within the objectives and purposes of the exercise within
the game in its complexity. To make this happen it will be essential to have
a overall understanding of the game via mental images and experiences of
the game itself. In tactical periodization, this aspect will be focused on
during the first training week in order to establish the ‘how to do’ as well
as the ‘knowing how to do’.
- Players can stay focused while practicing. It will be possible to obtain an
exercise that will be carried out in specific tactical settings and at maximum
intensity for its entire duration.
- The coach will have to intervene in an appropriate form on the interactions
that are sought in this exercise. Through his intervention he will his
demands in terms of expectations and create both positive and negative
emotions and feelings based on the interactions that the players will
highlight during application.
By respecting these aspects we will have 'potentially specific' exercises.
The exercises that will be used in the application of the game model in accordance
with the different levels of organization, will have to assume different dimensions
and scales based on the planning (macro, meso or micro) and the type of
principles (overarching-, sub- and sub-sub principles ) that will be chosen in
training, according to the specific method in terms of horizontal alternation:
31
Collective scale:

intersectoral scale:
32
sectoral scale:
group scale:
33
Individual scale:
The tactical specificity that permeates the entire process allows us to obtain
specificity at all levels and in all the dimensions that make up the performance:
physical, technical, psychological and, at times, strategic.
"This model of preparation and of players refers to a tactical preparation that

constantly takes into account the type of stresses that the model and its principles
require, as well as the type of players with characteristics and skills 'appropriate'
to the needs of the model itself." ( Frade , 1985 quoted by Faria, 1999)
4.3.1 The principle of propensities
Respecting the principle of propensities means creating and manipulating

attentively the exercises with the aim of shaping game competitions whose
objectives and rules will allow the constant manifestation of situations in which
34
the desired behaviors and actions will be realized. Thanks to the repetitiveness
with which these interactions occur, players will be able to 'live' them a large
number of times by acquiring them at all levels.
The management of these drills is a crucial aspect for there to be the transfer
from training to the performance of the team in the match. The tasks of the coach
must be carried out with respect to the execution of the exercise in three
moments:
- before the execution creating favorable and effective competitive drills;

- during the execution intervening in the 'here and now';
- after the execution through feedback.
This principle is what allows you to have a systematic repetition of contextualized

situations and not a systemic repetition of pre-established schemes, which is very
important for the learning process and for the assimilation and imprinting of the
game model’s principles.
Maciel (2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013) reinforces this concept by stating that
“learning derives from the assimilation of 'non-mechanical mechanisms', that is,
through the 'living' of open, non-deterministic but probabilistic contests. The
purpose is therefore not to quantify the number of actions, but to create a
competition of exercises that establish a certain dominance of the game related
to our form of play, without ceasing to take into account the type of commitment
and muscular effort that characterizes that day of the morphocycle. "
It is therefore a matter of referring to the competitive condition and not to

behaviors with the aim of creating intentions and habits to create conscious and
then subconscious understanding of a set of principles that constitute a form of
play. The true systematic repetition, therefore, materializes in the realization and
living of the Morphocycle.
Following the principle of propensities, the manifestation and strengthening of

the properties of the game model is facilitated, in accordance with the day of the
Morphocycle (thanks to the principle of horizontal alternation in specificity) both
on a tactical, physical, technical, psychological and sometimes the strategic level.
To allow this, it will be essential to obtain a reduction without impoverishment of
35
the game which will guarantee the desired dominance for each of the training
units. This 'reduction' will be both quantitative in terms of the existence of three
variables: space, time and number of players that determine the complexity of
the exercises as well as qualitative aspects in play.
The complexity of the exercises is the second principle of complex progression

which in the short term will have to be manipulated according to the Morphocycle
of the specific training day. In the longer term it will have to take into account a
gradual progression of the complexity.
"The configuration of the exercises and the way in which our way of playing is
trained (without losing specificity) requires that the coach manipulates the
variables of space, time and number of players which, despite being quantifiable
variables, should not be considered universal in terms of differing players, nor
differing teams. Rather they will have to be adjusted on a case-by-case basis in
order to safeguard a complex progression. (Vitor Frade , 2010 quoted by Tamarit
, 2013)
4.3.2 Linear thinking and complex thinking (in relation

to the principle of complex progression)
Starting from the assumption that the principle of complex progression refers to
the non-linearity of the team development process (complex system), we present
some brief and simple considerations on a topic that deserves to be studied in
depth: the differences between linear and complex thinking.
“The concept of linearity is often used to define an idea or a phenomenon

(whatever its nature) that is extremely simple, evident, and has a regular
development, without unexpected events. It is used to refer to a gradual process
without giant logic leaps in order to ensure there is a natural incremental
progression.
36
Linear thinking is distinguished from complex thinking because it tries to explain
phenomena, through a linear modulation, according to the logic of:
- causality (cause-effect relationship);
- principle of non-contradiction (sequential links);
- hierarchy (priorities and subordinations);
- order (logical - temporal - space).
and through these logics he tries to reduce them, simplify them, categorize them
". (Wikipedia, 2015)
This sequential cause-and-effect view of linear-rational (also called mechanistic)

thinking has guided training theories to this day.
A phenomenon is considered linear when to understand it, it can be broken down

into the dimensions that compose it. They are independent of each other. A non-
linear phenonmenon is when they are inter-related between the dimensions that
compose making it impossible to separate one from another or to understand
the phenomenon step-by-step.
The concept of complexity is used to define an idea or a phenomenon (whatever

its nature) which is not simple and evident in understanding and which has an
irregularity and a victim of unforeseen events. It is used in reference to a process
whose development, although imaginable, is not predictable due to logical leaps
and events that interfere in the progression. “Complex thinking, therefore, is
distinguished from linear thinking, because it tries to understand phenomena and
not to explain them through a set of contributing causes and by providing for a
37
reticular modulation. Complex thinking is a living thought. As Heidegger said, it
is 'thinking thought' ”. (Wikipedia, 2015)
The non-linearity of interaction between the components of a system derives its

aptitude to exhibit inexplicable properties on the basis of the laws that govern
the individual components themselves, as explained by Bridgman (1927 from
Wikipedia, 2015): "The emergent behavior of a system is due to non-linearity. The
properties of a linear system are in fact additive: the effect of a set of elements is
the sum of the elements considered separately, and as a whole new properties
don’t appear other than the ones that are already present individually. But if there
are then new / elements combined, which depend on each other, the complex is
different from the sum of the parts which results in new effects.”
In football, the complexity of the system (team) does not mean only its intrinsic
properties rather than objects (players), but the properties of the set made up of
the players, the observer and creator of the game model (coach), and the Game
Model itself..
4.3.3 The principle of complex progression
The principle of complex progression has repercussions on the non-linear, and

therefore non-predictable development of the team.
This progression occurs on two levels: a general level and a specific level.
These levels, although described individually, interact with each other.
At the level this type of development is related to the hierarchization of principles

and sub -principles that has occurred and is taking place in the game model
(remember that it is subject to the continuous construction-analysis-remodeling
cycle).
38
It consists in giving precedence to what is considered a priority for the evolution
and evolution of the game throughout the season.
From the first week of training in which you want to instill the type of game to
the team you will want to respect this principle. It’s a snapshot of the game model.
Subsequently we will pass, respecting the priorities given by the previous and
evolving hierarchy, to the development of the principles and sub-principles of the
game that will shape the identity of the team.
To fully respect this principle we will go from a less complex and less detailed
training that allows the imprinting of the greater game principles to a more
complex training that gradually implements new details; this happens consciously
through the implementation of sub- principles and less consciously thanks to the
non-linearity of the development of the collective system.
The goal is to introduce the game identity on general terms and then quickly
consolidate the matrix through more exercises with a lower cognitive load. The
training will then be directed towards the hierarchical development of the
principles and sub-principles of the game gradually increasing the complexity of
the exercises and raising the level of tactical-technical detail in a more specific
manner towards the game model (sub -principles and sub- sub -principles ).
The contents of the training process, therefore, start from the general to
progress towards the particular and from the simple towards a more
sophisticated and complex level of organization. In doing so, we must pay
attention to the relationships that exist between the various game principles.
More specifically, it will be necessary to manipulate the complexity of the

exercises that are proposed in the individual training sessions. Discontinuity is a
must by alternating between exercise time and recovery time in accordance with
the day of the morphocycle in which the training itself is occuring. This effort-
recovery based alternation focuses not only on the physical dimension as per
conventional methodologies, but also on the emotional (cognitive) psychological
effort-recovery based alternation. This calibration in terms of complexity based
on the morphocycle is aimed at allowing players to prepare for the game in the
39
best overall shape possible. The complexity of the exercises depends on the
relationship between many variables, including:
- complexity of the principles, sub-principles and sub - sub -principles of

play and their relationship;
- number of players involved;
- space;
- main muscle contraction system: tension, duration and speed of muscle
contraction;
- duration of drill;
- recovery time between exercises.
Drawing by Oliveira, modified from Vulcano (2015)
40
4.3.4 The principle of horizontal alternation in terms of
specificity
During the morphocycle it is necessary to efficiently calibrate and alternate effort

and recovery, especially in a dense match schedule, in order to recover from the
psychophysical stress that the previous game produced and to be ready for the
upcoming one. The objective is to restore optimal physical conditions in order to
improve the psychophysical state which will, in turn, allow for a better
performance in accordance to the game model.
The principle of specific horizontal alternation affects the bioenergetic and

biochemical aspects in training and distributes the different contraction systems
in the various days of the morphocycle.
In football these three contraction types interact to create a unique dynamic: the
dynamic effort specific to the game of football. These dynamics will be connected
during traing and will appear in a systematic way. It is possible, however, to lay a
higher emphasis on a single contraction system compared to others based on the
specific training demands of the coach.
41
It will be necessary to recreate a greater or lesser cadence between exercises

depending on the day of the morphocycle in which you are training and on the
relative muscle contraction system involved.
Esteves drawing , modified from Vulcano (2015)
The physical development resulting from the alternation between effort and
recovery will not be just a generic one, but a physical development specific to the
game identity. In fact, variable muscle contraction and a metabolism specific to a
42
game model, greatly differs from a generalist view in terms of physical training.
This conventional approach derives from athletics.
"The differentiation in the contraction systems involved in the different training

days is determined by taking into account the fractalization of the cycle of the
various dimensions that make up the game. The key components of the
morfocycle are:
1. the level of complexity of the greater principles, the sub- principles and
the sub-sub-principles.
2. The contraction systems must be proportional to the time we play, which
is understood as a part of a whole that is the morphocycle ; act of our
playing in the different days that make up the morphocycle;
the strategic dimension and its distribution in the various days that make up the
morphocycle ". (Maciel 2010, quoted by Tamarit 2013)
The principle of horizontal alternation also allows you to train according to a

specificity of the game but without necessarily reproposing the same level of
physical, technical, tactical and psychological specificity.
43
4.4 The game trained through game fractals
"The whole is in the part that is in the whole"
(Morin)
"A specific training is different from a training comprised of situational exercises.

It is important to emphasize that specificity is ensured and is worked in an
effective form, especially if the player’s work loads are interconnected with an
adopted game model or respective principles, because otherwise we are talking
about situational exercises." ( Resende , 2002 quoted by Tamarit , 2007)
As outlined extensively in the previous chapters, the exercises must always respect
the overarching principle of specificity while the training must always be guided
by the tactical dimension. A training session, however, cannot always include
exercises that are wholly and fully aligned with the aspired game vision. It must
therefore be oriented to a level of detail, to a part of the game's entirety in
relation to the organization scales of the game itself: intersectoral, in accordance
with the structure of the Morphocycle and the methodological principles that
govern it, sectorial, group or individual. In doing so, you do not train parts of the
game as if they were terminal, but fractals of the game, which form a key
relationship with the adopted tactical-technical model. In fact, they are part of
the model being a re-proposal of the same on smaller scales. This is how we
remain faithful to the vision of tactical periodization.
“Imagine training some players on the finalization towards the goal. This exercise
does not include all moments of the game. However, being presented in line
with the methodological principles, it does not break the inseparable uniqueness
of the game. Why? First off, because the players must include this part within the
entire context, i.e. it must be contextualized within the model of the whole game.
And for this to happen the prior intention it to put this siuation into practice.
44
Second, because our exercises will not be closed, but will foresee the
unpredictability that is inherent in the game.” ( Tamarit, 2013)
Obviously the exercises with a higher level of detail represent only a small part of
the proposed exercises. The majority will instead be composed of exercises of
holistic nature in which all the moments of the game will be present in their
continuous and unpredictable alternation. It will therefore be important, whatever
the chosen exercise, that there is a presence of intrinsic unpredictability, which
will ensure that the players do not have absolute control of the situation but are
instead subjected to the contextual interference of its development ma siano
invece sottoposti all'iinterferenza contestuale del suo svolgimento.
"The game is an inseparable unit because of its continuous alternation between

attack to defense and defense to attack which renders it uncontrollable, as well
as in the moments of transition between these two. This alternation does not
cease to exist even if the game is not played in 11 against 11. This uniqueness of
the game is determined by the absolute lack of control of the situation and this
can also be valid for technical improvement since it is possible to work on the
playing times of technical gestures and make sure that less complex situations
are improved." ( Vitor Frade 2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013)
45
CHAPTER 5 Tactical Periodization in practice
In tactical periodization, training must always include competition as a key

component with the aim of increasing the motivation of the players so that the
training routine takes place at relative maximum intensities and promotes specific
developments very close to the in-game dynamics (high transference between
training and match). This can be achieved through tournaments, competitions,
goal challenges and prizes in which the competitive aspect is emphasized while
imposing game behaviors (intentional interactions). Therefore, everything that
will be contained in the training sessions will be carried out according to a way
of playing, of a game model that is. It will develop over the course of the season
and will have to be revealed in the match. The match day, consequently, is a day
that is part of the training process and is essential for evaluating the evolution of
the team from a qualitative point of view. What is observed during the game, in
fact, will serve to evaluate will determine the analysis of the next Morphocycle.
5.1 The training cell: the Morphocycle
In tactical periodization, training plans are calibrated over a very short period of
time that goes from one game to the next and appears to be 'tailored' since it is
sown specifically to the needs of the team's development. This time span takes
the name of a morphocycle.
46
((In the event of midweek matches the morphocycle maintains its structure and
principles, adapting itself to the contents).
47
This type of ad hoc planning is put into practice because the team is an adaptive
complex system. To allow for the game to evolve along with its objectives, the
the methods and the resources used must be in line with the development of the
dynamics thereof. It is utopian to think of being able to plan an entire season or
even just a mesocycle attempting to predict the infinite variables that would have
to be considered beyond the 'here and now'.
We come to understand how in the implementation of tactical periodization

long-range planning is impossible, in fact inadequate.
Since the circumstances control the training process, it is only right to define the
general objectives of the morphocycle and then check the work and the results
obtained on a daily basis at which point you plan the subsequent training session.
"Both, the morphocycle -in other words the period that separates two official
matches- as well as the game model, have a unique characteristic because they
evolve constantly as they represent the outcome of the interaction between three
different key factors:
48
- the game model;
- the indications from the previous game;
- the characteristics of the next opponent.
The interrelation between these three different factors will lead to the definition
of the weekly objectives and the contents of the morphocycle.” (Gomes, 2008))
In addition to these three key factors, the morphocycle must also take into
account other variables: the moment of the season in which it occurs, the position
in the standings, any injured players, the psycho-physical status of the players as
well as the days that you have at your disposal between one game and another.
The morphocycle , being a cycle between two games and therefore a short-range
periodization, must in any case be understood as a fractal of a larger tactical
periodization as it is a "whole that represents a part that is the whole". ( Morin ,
quoted by Faria, 1999)
It is by virtue of this assumption that the morphocycle represents the birth of a

training cell, whose structure is replicated throughout the entire season.
49
The Morphocycle not only defines the structure in which the workouts follow one
another but above all, the very form, content and structure of the exercises that
will be different in the daily training sessions which, in turn, guarantees that the
necessary routine in terms of structure and logic does not become repetitive. It
keeps the training process alive and attractive. This is possible only through
exercises based on a guided discovery and exploration process of the game. In
this way, the structure and the form evolve on their own as a result of targeted
exercises, from one morphocycle to the next, and in different ways. All this always
bearing in mind the 'here and now' and according to the logic that you train as
the way you play.
“It is the training that creates the competition”. (Frade, 1999 quoted by Faria,
1999)
50
5.2 The structure of the Morphocycle
(xample of Morphocycle with matches SUNDAY-

SUNDAY)
Let's now consider an example of a morphocycle on a Sunday-Sunday cadence to

understand the ways in which its contents will be chosen and structured in the
different training days.
5.2.1 1st day: the match
The first day of the morphocycle is when the game is played. It is the day in which
there is the greatest psychophysical commitment in terms of tactical
periodization.
The game produces cognitive, physical and emotional fatigue from which the
team must recover the best possible to face the next challenge in optimal
conditions. This is why the morphocicle focuses on completing the recovery
process, without however interrupting or preventing the team’s ongoing
development of the game model. The type of training applied in the upcoming
morphocycle, will address the recovery from fatigue and as well as the evaluation
on how to support the team’s development from a qualitative standpoint.
Subject to the conclusions thereof, the preparation of the next morphocycle will
commence.
It is also important to consider that some players did not take part in the match
and thus there will be two groups with different needs.
51
“For these reasons the match can and must be considered an integrated and
initial part of the entire training process”. (Mourinho, quoted by Maiuri, 2014)
5.2.2 2nd day: passive recovery
The second day of the Morphocycle is the one following the game. In tactical
periodization this is usually the day of passive recovery and of rest.
On this day it is essential that there is mental recovery even if, from a physiological
point of view, it would be more convenient to rest on the third day of the
morphocycle and in the second to carry out an active on-field recovery to better
deal with physical fatigue. Tactical periodization is a process in which you
constantly train in a concentrated tactical state which weighs heavily in terms of
the cognitive effort the players exert. For this reason it is necessary to pay more
attention to recovery from a cognitive point of view. The rest day is therefore
chosen the day after in which the highest commitment is expected from a nervous
standpoint which is match day.
5.2.3 3rd day: active recovery
The third day of the morphocycle is the one following the passive recovery. In
tactical periodization it is considered an active recovery day.
This day is considered a critical moment for the players who have played to take
part in an active recovery session with specific exercises. Such sessions are
shorter and have a lower complexity while conducted in a more or less stable
environment. The recovery on this day will be obtained by ‘cheating’ the
52
metabolic model. This consists in activating, for short periods of time, the
metabolism in specific effort dynamics according to our form of play. The goal is
to activate the very recovery mechanisms that occur during the game. This way,
an optimal (and specific) recovery will be achieved.. The exercises proposed on
this day will be characterized by low levels of complexity and will be less
demanding because the focus is set on sub -principles as well as the principles
that address the mistakes that occurred during the match while working in small
groups.
The sessions will be conducted in medium-sized spaces with the number of

players variating in line with the complexity of the exercises.
Nonetheless, the physical effort will be high and immediate, with few eccentric
contractions with high tension, high speed while keeping the duration of muscle
contraction very low.
The training session will not be continuous, but rather will include a lot of recovery
times proportionate to the complexity of the exercises.
53
"The players on Tuesdays recover and recover completely. It is necessary to
promote movement within exercises in a playful form, For example a match
between amongst each other without tactical concerns. I got to this conclusion
over the years (my process of training is one that constantly grows as I pay
attention the results obtained and what they entail), in the first part of my career.
On Tuesdays I would conduct tactical sessions, or recovery exercises with 10
players against zero with merely defensive or attacking objectives. Upon further
reflection I noticed a fundamental thing, namely that the players started on
Tuesday already accusing the so-called tactical fatigue as a result of the high
concentration levels and the resulting nervous expenditure that would have
lasted until the upcoming game. This is why I considered that a Tuesday training
session should start to be more playful ". (Vitor Pereira 2010, quoted by Tamarit ,
2013)
5.2.4 4th day: acquisition
SUB-PRINCIPLES AND SUB-SUB-PRINCIPLES WITH EMPHASIS ON

CONTRACTIONS IN TENSION
The fourth day of the morphocycle is the one following active recovery. In tactical
periodization, the day of acquisition is dynamic with normally muscle tension.
The exercises proposed on this day will be characterized by levels of medium

complexity and will present demands that are fairly high. You will train the sub-
sub - principles and sub -principles in relation to your next game, on an
individual, sectoral and intersectoral basis.
The sessions will be conducted in small spaces, with a low number of players.
54
The physical load will be high as a result of the drills that lay emphasis on a large
amount of resistance and strength related tasks such as jumps, accelerations,
stops, restarts, changes of direction and tackles, thus guaranteeing a large
number of eccentric contractions with high-tension, medium speed and low
duration of muscle contraction. Contextual interference and the insertion of
disturbing elements that cause continuous adjustments and readjustments will
have great importance within these exercises.
The training involves a lot of discontinuity and ample recovery times between
sets and between different exercises to obtain the ideal and complete anaerobic
metabolic state.
In order for the team to obtain full biological recovery, the team requires four
days. Therefore 3 days after the last match the team has not yet completed its
recovery.
55
This is the first day of acquisition and the last day of recovery before a high-
demand training takes place. It is therefore important that the morphocycle
maintains its structure from the beginning of the season until the end, thus
allowing the necessary adaptation of the players to this type: effort / exercise -
effort / recovery.
"Experience tells me that three days after the game the players have not yet fully
recovered. I am not referring to their physical recovery, but rather on emotional
terms. Emotional consumption needs more recovery time than physical. ".
(Mourinho, 2006 quoted by Tamarit , 2007)
"On this day, while working on the sub-principles we can focus on transitions,
sectorial and intersectorial aspects. This foresess sessions with great intensity,
interruptions, and again great intensity. There can be drills whereby two teams
of five, with two players playing in one half of the field while the other three
remain in the opposite half to finish, or even some possession exercises focused
on possession in which the players rotate from one field to another; all while
training specific sub-principles.
(under sub principles) "(Oliveira, 2010 quoted by Tamarit , 2013)
MAJOR PRINCIPLES AND SUB-PRINCIPLES WITH EMPHASIS ON

CONTRACTIONS WITH LONGER DURATIONS
The fifth day of the morphocycle is the one following the exertion of muscle
tension. In tactical periodization, this is the day we focus on dynamic movement
with longer durations in terms of muscular resistance.
56
The exercises proposed on this day reach high levels of complexity and will
demand maximum attention. Major principles and sub -principles of the game
will be practiced as well as the relationships between them. We’re starting to refer
to our own upcoming match as well as our opponents, on a collective and
intersectoral level.
The sessions will be conducted in large spaces, with a high number of players.
This will be the training day that is closest to competition. This does not mean
that the athlete will train in a scrimmage, nor on the whole pitch, but that the
athlete will be subjected to more general exercises, manipulating those so that
the systematic repetition is obtained, thus addressing a principle of propensity.
The physical effort will be high, since it is the day most similar to the match in
terms of psychophysical effort. The session will follow the complexity and
continuity of a match. As such, there will be a varying number of eccentric
contractions with moderate tension, low speed and longer periods of muscle
contraction.
Discontinuity will be minimal with long exercise times and short recovery times
between drills. The recovery times will be such as not to allow the players a
complete recovery, but rather recreates the fatigue conditions of the game.
According to Professor Vitor Frade on this day "training with discontinuity within
continuity is important, allowing training to be created at all times at relative
maximum intensity (and ensuring that the exercises are specific to providing
energy).”
57
"The configuration of the exercises on this day will have to contemplate exercises
in large spaces, yet slightly reduced to those that are the actual ones of the game.
In this way, a system of muscular contraction similar to that experienced in
competition is simulated. Tension and contraction speed is kept quite low
compared to those in the previous training. Since the period of the muscular
contractions is greater, there is a need to cover a greater space resulting from the
greater dimensions of the training field. The coach intervenes with specific
requests that will privilege certain principles. As such there will be a greater
density of principles relating to the principles of play despite that they occur less
often during a competition. The theme of training is not general, but meets the
criteria for that specific morphocycle. It addresses the concrete needs for that
training session thanks to the various exercises that make up the training, thus
favoring one principle or sub -principle, over the others "(Maciel, 2010 quoted by
Tamarit , 2013)
58
SUB-PRINCIPLES AND SUB-PRINCIPLES WITH PREVALUS OF

CONTRACTIONS IN SPEED SYSTEM
The sixth day of the morphocycle is the one following the acquisition of muscle
duration. In tactical periodization, this is the day the athletes focus on dynamic
skills with emphasis on muscle speed.
The exercises proposed on this day will be characterized by levels of medium

complexity and will present medium-high demands in which the sub- principles
and sub -sub- principles of the game will be trained. The attention is centered
around the opponents in the next game with focus on individual, sectorial and
intersectoral tasks. The exercises cannot be very complex and therefore the
variables of the environment are reduced by preferring drills without opposition
or with passive opposition. It will be important to train the game situations and
to have internalized the game model. The goal is to interact with the
subconscious sphere, otherwise there is a risk that the team is fatigued and
mentally unresponsive heading into the next game.
The exercises will be conducted in medium-small spaces, with a low number of

players if you want to train finishing situations or with a high number of players
if you want to train situations in which decision speed prevails and therefore
activates the subconscious side.
The physical effort will be short but high, with a low number of eccentric
contractions and with moderate tension. In short, high speed and low duration of
muscle contraction. It is about creating exercises that promote muscle
contractions with high speed of contraction and tension at the beginning of the
play but which will not last beyond the start (with a very short duration). On this
day there should be no high contextual interference, but rather little
unpredictability. Almost zero opposition should be expected, because the duels
and continuous adaptations would cause an increase in eccentric contractions. It
59
must therefore be a sort of 'straight line training', without jumps, changes of
direction, continuous acceleration and braking.
The training will have many break and very long recovery times between sets and
the different exercises. The exercises will be short and with a high speed of
decision and execution. From this day on, it will be necessary to take into account
the imminence of the next game. The recovery times, therefore, are such as to
allow players to reach an almost complete recovery. They are practicing at
relative maximum intensities and without tiring them both from peripheral and
nervous standpoint.
"The propensities on this day must be aimed at soliciting 1/3 of the time used in
each action, that is the one intended for execution / implementation of the
movement itself (movement efficiency), while avoiding to affect the remaining
2/3 intended for awareness and decision-making (cognitive dimension of
60
movement). It is important in this training not to recall the structures of the game
model that create nervous fatigue, they will necessarily be involved in the
upcoming match. May emerge and may manifest itself ". (Maciel 2010, quoted by
Tamarit, 2013)
"I train very short duration, very quick actions that we can do and do normally in
most game situations (the situations played must not be those that prevail on
this day), looking for an acquisition of principles or even aspects at a strategic
level. Normally it continues to be intense and with higher speed but, despite
missing two days, it does not stop having a high intensity; however, we want to
avoid those periods to be too long.” (Carvalhal , 2010 cited by Tamarit , 2013)
5.2.7 Day 7: active recovery
PREPARATION FOR THE GAME
The seventh day of the morphocycle is the one following the day of muscle speed
acquisition. In tactical periodization it is normally the day of recovery and
activation according to the game.
The exercises proposed on this day will be characterized by low levels of

complexity and will demand high acquisition, however for very short times. It will
demand attention from a tactical-strategic point of view of the principles, sub -
principles and in part of the sub- sub -principles. Compared to the other trainings
of the morphocycle, the main emphasis is on the strategic plan for the next game,
on an individual, sectoral, intersectoral, group and collective level. Mental
exercises can be simple so that no fatigue builds up.
61
The drills will be conducted in spaces and numbers of players that vary in relation
to the contents we focus on.
Physical effort will be low, with a low number of eccentric contractions with
moderate tension, moderate speed and very low duration of muscle contraction.
The training is purposely discontinuous with very long recovery times between
sets and between different exercises. The work loads will be of very short duration
and the movements will be very fast and automated, such as those in training set
pieces or those useful for remembering the collective movements of the team.
The recovery times are exclusively aimed to guarantee a complete recovery.
"The day before the match is a strategic tactical training of revision of what has
been seen during the week with a focus on set pieces, throw-ins, corners, the
indirect free kicks, the penalties". (Carvalhal 2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013)
62
"There is a need to recover fully from the previous days and to prepare the players
for the upcoming game as to their approach to very simple sub -principles "
(Oliveira, 2006 quoted by Tamarit , 2007)
As highlighted, in the structure of the morphocycle there are days that tend
towards recovery and days that tend towards acquisition. They 'lean' because
recovery and acquisition are not mutually exclusive, but there will be a
coexistence with dominance on one or the other. Therefore, in all morphocycle
workouts there will be an acquisitive component of the game model and at the
same time there will be a specific recovery component.
“Recovery and acquisition must be understood as two sides of the same coin”. (
Frade , 2010 quoted by Tamarit ,2013)
5.3 The physical dimension in Tactical Periodization
As highlighted throughout the thesis, it is clear that tactical periodization is a

training methodology that lays its foundations on the specificity of the game.
This methodology succeeds through the application of the methodological

principles that govern it, to develop all the dimensions of sports performance
continuously during training.
The training process, however, must always be subjected to a overarching tactical

and tactical-strategic dimension, placed at a higher level than the other
dimensions as it is the one that ensures that everything proposed in training is
specific to a certain way of playing. within a game model.
One can commit the error of understanding tactical periodization as a

methodology that has no physical problems. This is a rather gross error. In fact,
the physical dimension is not only important, but essential. It is a physical
dimension not developed in generic terms through any athletics model aimed at
63
raising the levels of the various conditional capacities, but specific to the game
model. This performance model will always be supported by the same metabolic
profile (mainly anaerobic - alactacid metabolism ) and will not only refer to
football in general, but to that developed in one's own game model. The team
will therefore be physically prepared when calling upon its game model and the
resulting metabolic profile. This is how it will reach the so-called 'sporting form'.
"The concept of sporting form appears associated with the game model and its
principles, that is, associated with a particular style of play and at the basis of a
preparation process that embraces training and competition". (Faria, 1999)
“In the large number of competing football and their concentration imply lower
relative form levels, with fewer variations and smaller stability, as a function of
greater stability. It therefore seems more correct to avoid fluctuations, the
adoption of the so-called 'performance levels' to the detriment of the
propaganda 'peaks of form' which are regulated above all for sports with a short
competitive period ”. (Garganta, 1992 quoted by Faria, 1999).
To further corroborate the consideration that Tactical Periodization has of the

physical dimension there is the methodological principle of horizontal alternation
in specificity.
"We do not say that the physical aspect is not important, because the physical
aspect is very important. What we say is that our exercises and our orientation of
the weekly, daily, monthly and yearly exercises have the objective and the aim of
It is clear that, in this way, the psychological side, the physical side, the technical
side lies in the idea of organization and play, but it is the idea of this organization
that commands everything we ask to be done from the beginning of the
preparation ". ( Carvahal , 2010 cited by Tamarit, 2013)
64
"Contemplate the physical dimension, but only once you have succeeded in
putting into practice the manifestation of a certain expressiveness or collective
gestures with individual particularities. They are congruent and allow the
manifestation of these intentions with the right timing". (Maciel, 2010 cited by
Tamarit , 2013)
5.4 Proprioceptivity : The body in relation to the game
The specific proprioceptive training that is pursued with tactical periodization

differs from that proposed conventionally. The traditional methodologies have a
vision of proprioception separate from the training logic, in that it follows its
development as separate and integrative of the training itself. In standardized
and commonly accepted workouts, exercises and prevention are applied that are
far from the needs of the game; these are exercises that use proprioceptive
platforms, rows of inflatable discs, fitness balls and other devices that can be
decontextualized and decontextualizing. Therefore, a general proprioceptivity is
trained not taking into account the different surfaces the game of football is
played is practiced on, the different movements required, the different body-
context relationship and above all, it does not consider the fact that it is played
with the feet and that this demands strong conditioning, resulting almost in an
unnatural motoric practice.
The same exercise, therefore, cannot be applied to all sports, since they have
completely different characteristics and needs.
Tactical periodization, on the other hand, has a vision of holistic and contextual
proprioception that develops in relation to the training logic. In accordance with
this argument, in workouts, many exercises are performed in which the
proprioceptivity is trained by playing the game in specific competitions that
65
maximize development, activating the mechanoreceptors and proceptors in a
relateable and not decontextualized form. As such, proprioception is intimately
related to the context, the decision making, the emotions and the connected
sensations. This form of propioception is based on the development of the
relationship of the body in motion with the game.
What is trained is a proprioception in sync with football and, even more so, in
harmony with the football practiced by the team that trains.
“It is important to know that if two very similar gestures are performed but with
different purposes, even if parts of the movement are the same, the whole
activation sequence takes place with different neurons. So when you teach, for
example, a tactical or technical gesture in a context detached from the reality of
the game, they 'learn' to activate neurons that will then not be operating in the
competitive phase. This applies to any activity, from tactics to physical running;
this makes us understand how the neuronal activity (remember that the muscle
moves thanks to the neuron that sends the impulse) turns out to be specific not
of the action we carry out, but of the purpose, or rather the intention that
stimulates the action itself." (Montella, 2011)
" Proprioceptivity is achieved through play, since it is necessary to respond within

the context. The somatization resulting from the presence of opponents is
fundamental, like the rest of things." (Gomes, 2010 cited by Tamarit , 2013)
"It is like learning how to drive by practicing driving a train that moves along the
tracks automatically, only to find yourself driving a bus in a context where there’s
a lot of traffic, where there are specific rules to follow and where there is
contextual interference given by the presence of other machines. This results in
decisions as to when, where and why to turn, putting into practice our own
evaluations." (Maciel 2010, quoted by Tamarit , 2013)
66
This represents a further reason why tactical periodization supports the claim as
to why players are best developed with experiential training.
“The muscle is a receptive organ and must adapt continuously to small changes
that influence it because – similar to in-game settings- it is imperative that the
player interiorizes the ability to react efficiently to stimuli. A muscular co-
contraction and another timing that adjusts this contraction to the circumstantial
alterations while in motion. This second timing, called anticipatory, highlights the
importance of the 'experiential memory function' of the contractions of each
athlete (mechanoreceptors that alter in order to capture the evolution of the
relationship of the body in space and time)." (Frade ,2010 quoted by Tamarit,
2013)
67
Conclusions
The underlying thesis attempted to shed light as to how football, as a tactical-
situational sport requires its own organization and how tangible the complexities
of the game are, we realize how impossible it is to reduce aspects that are so
closely tied to one another and maximized in training separately.
The approaches of traditional and integrated methodological concepts are

limited (and are limiting) given that a physical dimension prevails as the driver
able to direct and dictate training.
Having highlighted the need to better manage the complexity of football in a

tactical context, the intention was to expose a particular approach born in
Portugal by the brilliant mind of Professor Vitor Frade. He makes the organization
of the game and its conscious and almost scientific manipulation his credo. It
places the tactical dimension, the real organizer of the game, at the heart of the
training process while the other dimensions (technical, physical and
psychological) have a supporting role in common.
This methodology which has its roots in the theory of dynamic systems,
cybernetics, neuroscience, fractal geometry, complexity theory and sociology
takes the name of 'tactical periodization'.
The main objective of tactical periodization is to allow a team to instill a tactical

organization that can be internalized by the players not only at a conscious level
but also at a subconscious level, so that they can perform on a collective level in
the game. This is achieved by respecting a clear methodology and a specific way
of training.
In order for an optimal tactical organization to be obtained it is therefore not

sufficient for the team to train according to general terms of the game. Specificity
is necessary when it comes to collective principles forming an organized game
model.
The game model is the practical expression of the coach's game idea that adapts
to the context as well as to the skill set of the players and to numerous other
factors that influence their development. The definition of a game model
68
therefore becomes a fundamental prerequisite representing a systemic approach
to training put into practice by tactical periodization.
Tactical periodization is not the perfect formula that allows you to win and raise
trophies. Fortunately, football and its unpredictability render pre-established
schemes and recipes for success fruitless. In my opinion, it is critically important
that there be a scientific approach when it comes the tasks a coach has to
confront and resolve . Tactical periodization provides a methodological pathway
to maximize the qualities and the potential of a football team.
I hope that curiosity, experience, ambition and the desire to improve allow me to
progress with increased efficiency and consciousness towards the role as a coach
69
Bibliography and Sitography
Ambrosetti, G. (2015): Interview conducted by Luciano Vulcano.
Carvalhal, C. (2014): Futebol – Um saber sobre o saber fazer. Prime Books, Portogallo.
Faria, R. (1999): “Periodizacao Tactica” – Um Imperativo Concepto-metodologico do

rendimiento Superior em Futebol. Monografia de licenciatura, FCDEF-UP, PORTO. Non
pubblicato.
Ferrari, F. (2001): Elementi di tattica calcistica Vol. 1. Editoriale Sport Italia, Italia
Ferrari, F. (2009): Elementi di tattica calcistica Vol. 2. Editoriale Sport Italia, Italia
Gomes, M. (2008): O desenvolvimento do jogar, segundo a periodizacao tactica. MC

Sports, Spagna.
Maiuri, G. (2014): Un diverso modo di pensare calcio: l'approccio sistemico e la

periodizzazione tattica. Youcanprint Self-Publishing, Italia.
Mendonca, P. (2013): O modelo de jogo do FC Bayern Munique.
Monteleone, M. (2013): La costruzione di un modello di gioco. www.allenatore.net, Italia.
Montella, V. (2011): Preparazione precampionato (primi 14 giorni). Tesi del corso master
Uefa PRO, Settore Tecnico FIGC, Coverciano (FI), Italia.
Oliveira, B. - Ameiro, N. - Resende, N. - Barreto, R. (2009): Mourinho – Questione di

metodo. Marco Tropea Editore, Italia.
Tamarit, X. (2009): Que es la periodizacion tactica?. MC Sports, Spagna.
Tamarit, X (2013): Periodizacion Tactica VS Periodizacion Tactica. MBF, Spagna.
Tossani, M. (2009): Un nuovo metodo: la periodizzazione tattica. www.allenatore.net,

Italia.
Treccani (2015): www.treccani.it
Vulcano, L. – (2016): La periodizzazione tattica. Come e perché. Edizioni Correre, Italia.
Wikipedia (2015): https://it.wikipedia.org/
70

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SETTORE TECNICO

Relatore: Renzo Ulivieri

for always supporting me.

In particular, I would like to thank:

Equally, my appreciation goes to the professors of the Coverciano School for

Stefano Pioli, my coach, a fundamental person in my career whose shaped my

My bubino, to be there, always.

In football training methodology, the player is considered an indivisible unit. It’s

In this paper, a study was conducted on the bibliographic material relating to a

CHAPTER 1 Football as a complex phenomenon: dimensions that interact and do

1.1 What is football? 3

1.2 Football training 4

1.3 Current concepts of football training 6

1.4 The four dimensions of the game 8

CHAPTER 2 The Tactical Periodization 11

2.2 The overarching tactical dimension 12

2.3 Tactics: definition of a special one 14

2.4 The idea of play: an adaptive concept 15

2.5 The team as a non-mechanical mechanism 17

2.6 The element that strengthens the organization: creativity 19

CHAPTER 3 The Game Model 21

3.1 Definition of Model 21

3.2 The cycle of the Game Model 22

3.2.1 The Game Model as a prior intention 23

3.2.2 The game model as intended when put in action 24

CHAPTER 4 Training seen through the eyes of tactical periodization 28

4.1 The game-training link 28

4.2 The concept of simulation 29

4.3 The methodological principles 30

4.3.1 The principle of propensities 34

4.3.3 The principle of complex progression 38

4.3.4 The principle of horizontal alternation in terms of specificity 41

CHAPTER 5 Tactical Periodization in practice 46

5.1 The training cell: the Morphocycle 46

5.2 The structure of the Morphocycle 51

5.2.1 1st day: the match 51

5.2.2 2nd day: passive recovery 52

5.2.3 3rd day: active recovery 52

5.2.4 4th day: acquisition 54

5.2.5 5th day: acquisition 56

5.2.6 6th day: acquisition 59

5.2.7 Day 7: active recovery 61

5.3 The physical dimension in Tactical Periodization 63

5.4 Proprioceptivity : The body in relation to the game 65

Bibliography and Sitography 70

This places us in front of numerous methodological questions on training, which

The planning and periodization processes are limited due to methodological

My thesis today aims to outline the methodological concepts commonly

riddle". (G. Giacometti, S. Venturi, R. Sassi, 2013)

1.1 What is football?

Football is by its nature a complex and unpredictable phenomenon, which is why

A need arises which demands that there be effective methodological planning

1.2 Football training

Before explaining concepts on which methodological training plans are based on

It is important to underline that a training must be proposed in an 'organized

The quality at which these performances will be expressed is proportional to the

The most important features of training planning are:

- planning based on specific competitions ;

- periodization of the 'physical/ athletic load'.