## 2 Materials and Methods
### Procedures  
Previous studies have reported that team composition impacts players' performance during small-sided games [40; 41]. Also, playing position was reported to exert an influence on players' behaviour during game-based tasks [42; 43; 44]. For this reason, the four teams (A, B, C, and D) were kept constant over the data collection and were composed of a defender, a midfielder, and a forward to ensure similar positional characteristics as those found in formal gameplay situations [45; 46]. The club's coaching staff selected the teams, as they knew each athlete's performance levels and characteristics.  
After defining the team composition, the small-sided games (SSGs) took place on a 36 m \(\times\) 27 m (length \(\times\) width) field with natural grass [47] and regular-sized goals (2.44 m in height and 7.32 m in width). Two consecutive days of data collection were conducted with a 24 h interval between them. On each day, a 4 min duration series was carried out, resulting in four games, one for each team. The duration of each series is justified by using 4 min in protocols that assess physical, physiological, and tactical responses in small-sided games in soccer [47; 48]. The games were played as follows: On the first day, Team A and Team B (AxB) played against each other in the configuration G + 3 vs. 3 + G, while Teams C and D (CxD) played in the configuration G + 3 vs. 3 + G + 1; and on the second day, Team A and Team B (AxB) played against each other in the configuration G + 3 vs. 3 + G + 1. Meanwhile, Teams C and D (CxD) played in the configuration G + 3 vs. 3 + G. It is noteworthy that in the configuration G + 3 vs. 3 + G + 1, one player, whose positional status was a midfielder, acted as a floater and only participated in the offensive phase for both teams, generating numerical superiority in the AxB and CxD games (Figure 1). This floater player was allowed to perform all offensive actions, including shooting at the goal. The opposing team was kept constant over the data collection to control the influence of the level of the opponents on the observed response [49].  
The data were collected at the same location, and all games were recorded by a GOPRO Hero 8 4K (Black. GoPro Inc., San Mateo, CA, USA) camera, located diagonally to the playing field. All players participated in the data collection without changing team composition or matchups. During the collection, players were instructed to maintain a normal diet, and water consumption was allowed ad libitum during the intervals betweenSSG. Each session began with 5 min of standardised warm-up, consisting of movements without the ball, progressive sprints with accelerations, and changes of direction.  
During the SSG, two referees were positioned on the field'sidelines to observe the game and apply the offside rules when necessary. Additional balls were placed around the field to ensure a quick restart of play when the ball went out of bounds. Coaches and researchers did not give the players any verbal encouragement or tactical instructions. The players wore global positioning system (GPS) devices during the matches. In previous research [50; 51], good to excellent reliability and a low error were observed for tactical variables based on GPS (ICC > 0.9, standard error of measurement < 10%).