Patterns of Play in the Counterattack of Elite Football Teams - A Mixed Method Approach

This study aimed to detect and analyse regular patterns of play in football teams during their offensive phase, through the combination of the sequential analysis technique and semi-structured interviews of experienced first League Portuguese coaches. The sample included 36 games (12 per team) of the F.C. Barcelona, Internazionalle Milano, and Manchester United teams that were analysed through sequential analysis with the software SDIS-GSEQ. Based on the detected patterns, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 8 expert high-performance football coaches. Data were analysed through the content analysis technique using the software Nvivo 9. The detected patterns of play revealed specific characteristics of different philosophies of play. Through the performed content analysis we could observe that coaches interpreting play patterns mainly based their opinions on tactical-strategic and tactical-technical aspects, and on the characteristics of the players on their team. On the other hand, consideration was given to three of the main evolutionary trends of play/soccer practice, which focus on the development of exercises that cover: i) the connection between the four play moments (offensive/defensive organization and transitions); ii) the pre-programmed ball possession recovery; iii) the execution of set pieces.