Original Research

Exploring the Effects of Playing Formations on Tactical Behavior and External Workload During Football Small-Sided Games

Baptista, Jorge^1,2; Travassos, Bruno^2,3; Gonçalves, Bruno^2,4; Mourão, Paulo⁵; Viana, João L.^1,2; Sampaio, Jaime^2,4

¹University Institute of Maia, ISMAI, Portugal, Maia, Portugal;

²Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, Portugal;

³Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal;

⁴Department of Sport Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; and

⁵Benfica, Lisboa, Portugal

Address correspondence to Bruno Travassos, bfrt@ubi.pt.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: July 2020 - Volume 34 - Issue 7 - p 2024-2030

doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002445

Abstract

Baptista, J, Travassos, B, Gonçalves, B, Mourão, P, Viana, JL, and Sampaio, J. Exploring the effects of playing formations on tactical behavior and external workload during football small-sided games. J Strength Cond Res 34(7): 2024–2030, 2020—This study aimed to identify the effects of playing formations on tactical behavior and external workload during football small-sided games. Twenty-three semiprofessional footballers integrated 3 different playing formations in a 7-a-side small-sided game, according to their specific player positions: team 4:3:0 (4 defenders and 3 midfielders); team 4:1:2 (4 defenders, 1 midfielder, and 2 forwards); and team 0:4:3 (4 midfielders and 3 forwards). Based on players' movement trajectories, the following individual and collective tactical variables were calculated: total distance covered and distance covered while walking, jogging, running, and sprinting, distance from each player to both own-team centroid and opponent-team centroid, individual area, team length, team width, and surface area. Approximate entropy was computed to identify the regularity of each variable. The team 4:3:0 promoted players' space exploration with moderate physical efforts. The team 4:1:2 promoted compactness and regularity of the team with increase in the physical efforts. The team 0:4:3 promoted team balance and adaptability on space coverage with increase in physical efforts. Concluding, different playing formations support different game dynamics, and variations on external load were directly linked with the variations on tactical behavior. The analysis of tactical behavior through quantification of variability of patterns of play and quantification of distance covered at different velocities were the most useful information for the analysis of the effects of practice task manipulations. Therefore, in a practical sense, strength and conditioning coaches should plan and monitor these tasks in interaction with the head coaches.