The second LMA and LCA Annual Technical Performance Masterclass, in association with Elite Soccer, took place at St. George’s Park on Wednesday 23rd April 2025.
Over 200 LMA and LCA members attended this year’s flagship coaching event, which is designed to provide peer-to-peer insight and practical expertise, with six demonstrations from some of the best coaches in the men’s and women’s professional game.
LMA member Ian Evatt kicked off the event with a session on building up against a high aggressive press, before ex-Coventry City and Ghana coach George Boateng, supported by Mark Delaney, presented on executing attacking overloads, specifically how to tactically exploit the situation and create problems for the opposition.
A networking lunch then preceded the first of four afternoon sessions, with former Southampton Manager Russell Martin, supported by Matt Gill, providing an insightful masterclass on changing rhythm from build-up to attack. Russell and Matt shared some technical and tactical themes and ideas from their game model, including how they would analyse the game based on courage and intensity as a team.
Gemma Grainger – manager of the Norway Women – shifted focus to defending wide attacks, with a session designed to demonstrate the constraints faced by head coaches at international level, with limited time to work with players whilst in camp. Gemma’s session highlighted how to approach opposition who tend to overload in wide areas, identifying strategic solutions to defend and attack in transition as a team.
Jon Brady then looked at adapting rest defence structure against different rest attacks in order to sustain the attack for longer phases, and talked about the importance of understanding varied opposition formations and recognising how to nullify any counter-attacks against, whilst ensuring the team can continue to apply pressure in the final third.
The day was rounded off with an exciting session on developing an organised chaos identity, spearheaded by former Liverpool first team coach Vítor Matos, alongside Jonathan Jones and Andy Mangan. Vítor offered insight on offensive organisation with counter-pressing and attacking the box with high protection and balance.
This year’s event was supported by a team of coach developers from The FA and the Premier League’s Future Coach Developer programme, who facilitated post-session debriefs in small groups in order to consolidate the key learnings from the coaching demonstrations.
The LMA and LCA offers huge thanks to its members for planning and delivering sessions of the highest quality, as well as participating teams from Notts County, Derby County and Loughborough University for their attitude and application throughout the day. Finally, thank you to LMA Technical Partner Elite Soccer for its continued support of the event. A special edition of Elite Soccer Magazine will be published with all six session plans and will be available exclusively to LMA and LCA members.
To register your interest in next year’s event, or to enquire about joining the LCA, please email marc.williams@leaguemanagers.com
