Football has four moments that keep occurring throughout a match.
These are; In possession, losing possession, out of possession and gaining possession.
These moments are separate and can only happen one at a time for a given team.
The best players that make it to the top level, know and understand how to behave in all these four moments.
In possession is attacking, out of possession is defending while gaining possession and losing possession are known as transitioning.
In possession: The team in possession of the ball is the attacking team. Players in the attacking team are expected to behave by applying the principles of attack and roles in attack.
The efficiency of an attack is determined by how well individual players in a team are comfortable at executing attacking football skills.
Out of possession: The team out of possession is the defending team. Successfully defending an attack in football requires individuals in the team applying the principles of defending and the roles of defending.
This requires the individuals being able to execute all football defending skills comfortably.
Transitioning: Losing or gaining possession happens at the same time.
As one team gains possession, the other team is losing possession.
The faster the transition, the better the outcome.
If a team losing possession transitions faster than the attacking team, then defending will have the desired effect.
Players with excellent football speed transition better.
The higher the level of football, the higher the demand to have better football speed to perform with quality during transitions.
Top teams in modern football are capable of transitioning under five seconds if the ball is won or lost at the halfway line.
It’s important for football coaches to ensure that players are taught how to comfortably execute all football skills irrespective of playing position because modern football dictates that every player gets involved in all the moments of football.
Ben Mwesigwa 