In my last blog I wrote about how Ronaldinho was once again looking the complete player and how he created space for himself and the team.

What it means to be a player like that is a lot of hard work! However much skill a player has and however good their positional sense is, you can be sure these players work hard at every exercise they do.

At the Nike Academy, coach Dean Smith refers to it coaching the four Rs. Receiving the ball, Releasing the ball, Retaining the ball and Running with the ball.

You have to make sure you are coaching your players in each of these disciplines. In my coaching publications I make sure I cover each of these with exercises designed to give you the tools to get your players to practice each of them,

Watch Dean coaching his Nike team