Rafa Benítez Blog RSS Rafa Benítez Blog

08
Feb 2012
10:40 Comments (18)
Training curriculum for goalkeeping coaches

Professional Football

Xavi Valero

Goalkeepers have always trained in specific ways, differentiated from the rest of the team. It seems like a long time ago when we could see the manager or his assistant dedicating just half an hour extra to the goalkeepers after training whilst the rest of the players stretched on the pitch. Yet the truth is that this has been quite common until recently...
17
Oct 2011
16:02 Comments (3)
Different countries, different styles

Professional Football

Xavi Valero

Style and efficiency don’t always go hand in hand and we often hear interesting debates regarding how convenient it is to prioritise one or the other when, as coaches, we take on both the complexity of the learning process and the need for keepers to perform. If we look at football in different countries and observe in detail the solutions that each goalkeeper uses to face similar game situations...
16
Sep 2011
11:28 Comments (11)
Champions League at Anfield

General Articles

Xavi Valero

We all have played on many football pitches in our lives. Neighbourhood football pitches, muddy pitches, pitches we only dreamt about, pitches which took us a step forward, pitches to forget and pitches of hope and many more...Stadiums full of history and stories, filled with failures and legends, which have moulded our careers and have propelled us forward, sometimes without direction. Football offers no truce. It devours and forgets only to reinvent itself and start again.