All Posts by Mike Saif

1 Explosive Goalkeeping Like Keylor Navas

By Danny Carvalho,  I truly madly deeply admire Keylor Navas’ capacity to reach for balls apparently too far to stop. He is amazingly explosive between the bars and underrated in my humble opinion. This practice was designed to have your goalies make miracles like a UEFA Champions League champion! Warm Up Have two cones of

0 Fast Moving Defending Drills

In this week's Animated Drills Video, Matthew Carroll shares some fast moving defending drills that are great to add to your training sessions.These diagrams are created with the Academy Soccer Coach software. See more at https://www.academysoccercoach.co.uk/

0 How to Counter a 4-2-4 Formation

By Matt Carroll The hardest part of playing the winger position is the constant up and down running following the ebb and flow of the game. To prevent this burn out some coaches will stick their wingers in wide areas almost like 2 wide strikers, resulting in a 4-2-4. While the formation provides very little

0 A Fun and Light Training Session

In this week's Animated Drills Video, Matthew Carroll shares how a fun and light training session that could be used after a tough part of your schedule.The diagram is created with the Academy Soccer Coach software. See more at https://www.academysoccercoach.co.uk/

0 ReACT to Defend

By Søren Schamberg - When referring to the basics of defending it is easy to make the topic sound simple or the player foolish for not knowing, but this is furthest from the truth. The term “basics'' should be reinforced as a foundation to build off of. It is a very slippery slope to get

0 The Role of the Center Backs – Defending eBook

0 Three Innovative Counter-Attacking Drills

In this week's Animated Drills Video, Matthew Carroll shares how to counter-attack like the pro's.The diagram is created with the Academy Soccer Coach software. See more at https://www.academysoccercoach.co.uk/

0 Technique to Sprint Drill

By Matt Carroll - Description: This drill is helpful in helping player recognize that the skills that are practiced in repetition are not just for that isolated drill, but to transfer to workable technique on the pitch. Setup: Set up two cones about five feet apart from each other with one cone about twenty feet

0 Competitive Possession Rondo

By Tug McTighe - Description: Here is a rondo that is not only good for ball possession and playing quickly, but also incorporates a real competition to ensure that the players aren’t just going through the motions. It works for younger or older players and can be simplified for less skilled players or made more

0 Coaching Two Forwards

By Danny Carvalho Question - “We play with two forwards, but they keep making the same runs or getting in each other’s way.  How can I train them to work off each other and not get in each other’s way?”” Great question demands an even better strategy to sort it out. Let’s think logically and

0 3-2-1 Technique Sprints

By Matt Carroll - This is a great sprint workout that can be used 2-3 times a week to increase players’ max velocity and improve sprint technique. The key to speed training is to maximize technique and power and to minimize reps so that athletes are able to get to as near as 100% as

0 Playing the Narrow 4-4-2

By Matt Carroll While width is consistently listed in books, interviews, and coaching courses as an integral part of the attacking game, the negatives of width are rarely discussed. Yes, it can spread the defense and open up holes in the opposition, which is clearly an advantage in the attacking phase, but the concept of

0 Stop Crosses Like Cortouis

By Danny Carvalho,  This very important skill is often neglected on goalkeeping specific training which cannot be accepted by a head coach who wants to achieve great accomplishments in their season. So here goes a simple and basic practice on stopping crosses. Warm Up Goalkeepers working in pairs. The goal is just to get the

0 Technique Speed Circuit

By Matt Carroll - Description: The technique speed circuit should be used as a progression for some other type of technical drill. For example, if you are teaching Cruyff Turns a drill should be used first to teach the finer points of the move and to give players the time to develop their technical feel

0 Create Shooting Opportunities From Through Balls

In this week's Animated Drills Video, Matthew Carroll shares how to create shooting opportunities from through-balls. The diagram is created with the Academy Soccer Coach software. See more at www.academysoccercoach.co.uk 

0 Turning with the Ball and Switching Play

By Danny Carvalho The ability of receiving from one direction and turning with the ball to another direction is very appreciated by coaches because it helps the team to switch points of attack which makes difficult for the opponents to have a chance on winning the ball. Today’s session aims to work on that in

0 Dropping Your Attacking Midfielder Into a Back Five

By Matt Carroll The benefits of having a creative 10 are really endless, but the one negative is that the opposition simply needs to drop a 6 in the midfield and they can be used to man-mark the 10 out. Without proper support, this can greatly reduce the effectiveness of that role.  A possible solution

0 The Role of the Center Backs – Attacking eBook

0 Small Group Defending Drills

By Danny Carvalho Question - “I have a group of 10-year-olds who are pretty skillful, but their defending technique is very poor.  I really need to start from scratch.  Do you have any good 1v1 defending drills and then some drills to train the cover defender?”” I hear you, my friend. And I am sure

0 The Angus Drill

By Matt Carroll - This activity has two parts, one is a competitive game with conditioning elements, the other is a conditioning drill with technical elements. It is a great game to play to improve the soccer-specific fitness of your players, but also the competitive drive of your team. The game starts off with balls

0 Pass and Receive Plus 1v1

By Tug McTighe - Description: This is a great warm-up activity that incorporates passing, receiving and 1v1 moves in one simple set-up. The purpose of this activity is to focus on passing, receiving, and 1v1 moves in a pattern that mimics the movements of the game. Setup: Set up grid as shown with cones 10-12

0 Come Off the Line Goalkeeper

By Danny Carvalho,  This ability is a game changer. It separates the average GK from the outstanding GKs! Not only the ability but the decision making, the timing, the courage, the urgency and the acceleration. Warm up Have one GK in the six yard and another facing them at about 5 yards outside the box.

0 Receiver Drill

By Matt Carroll - Description: The receiver drill is a warm up progression that gets players to think about how their movements can be used to shake a marker and receive a pass. By starting off with catching the ball players can focus on the movements rather than the technique and do so in a

0 Playing the 4-4-2 With Wide Wingers

By Matt Carroll While in recent years the 4-4-2 has received some negative press in recent years, the reason it has stayed a viable formation is its balance and flexibility. One way that this flexibility can be exploited is by adjusting the width and depth of the formation. The area that provides the most flexibility