Positional demands for various-sided games with goalkeepers according to the most demanding passages of match play in football

Abstract

The main aim was to determine the differences between four training games and competitive matches (CM) according to position and compared to the most demanding passages (MDP) of competitive match play. Global Positioning System data were obtained from 21 football players belonging to the reserve squad of a Spanish La Liga club during the 2015/16 season. The training games were small-sided games (SSGs) with 5 and 6 and large-sided games with 9 and 10 outfield players per team. The players were categorized based on positional groups: full back (FB), central defender (CD), midfielder (MF), offensive midfielder (OMF), and forward (FW). The variables recorded were the distance covered (DIS), DIS at high speed (HSR; >19.8 km·h-1), DIS at sprint (SPR; >25.2 km·h-1), high metabolic load distance (HMLD; >25.5 W·kg-1) all in m·min-1, average metabolic power (AMP; W·kg-1) and number of high-intensity accelerations (ACC; >3 m·s-2) and decelerations (DEC;