All Posts by Mike Saif

2 Liverpool’s Diamond Midfield

By Stevie Grieve

Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers have shown tactical flexibility all season, changing from 4-2-3-1 at the start of the season, to 3-1-4-2, to a 4-3-3 before moving to a 4-1-2-1-2 recently, giving them a tactical edge over the opposition as he can change Liverpool’s structure to allow them to gain control of the match through a variety of ways.

Liverpool Diamond Midfield v Manchester United's 4-4-1-1

Liverpool marking in midfield while ball is on the side

Here, Gerrard has nobody to mark so he fills in the space between the defence and midfield, as Johnson blocks the forward pass, as Skrtel marks

2 Overlapping Runs with Aerobic Power

Jebreel Bubtana

This is a great exercise to teach your team how to make overlapping runs and work on their aerobic power.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1, with two feeders and three others who will be working and overlapping.

The feeder at the top of the diagram starts with the ball. As one of the players starts to

0 Shooting and Finishing From Wide

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passing, movement, receiving and finishing.

This activity has a lot of running, passing and shooting. A keeper starts in goal, there is a player wide on each side, another player is near midfield and a target player is at the top of the 18. A few extra players are on the end line. The keeper starts with a ball.

The keeper plays the ball out wide. One of the extra players

0 Low Dives High Dives and Scrambles

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on low dives, high dives and scrambles.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 12-15 yards out with balls and another ball at the corner of the 6.

The keeper starts with a low ball to the keepers right. The keeper dives to

1 Porto’s Midfield Protection Tactics

By Stevie Grieve

One of the main benefits of playing with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is that you can have a high level of flexibility using the 5 players in the midfield. We regularly see teams who like to press playing almost a man-man marking system, particularly in central midfield, where most attacks are constructed.

Another advantage is that defences are best protected via defensive triangulation between defence and midfield when close to goal, which covers most angles and forced 1v1 dribbles to make penetration opportunities.

Porto Midfield man-marking system

Here, Porto play 1v1 all over the field, meaning that 1 player is free from each team, so when Napoli are in possession, it is

4 Bayern Munich’s Defensive Aspects

By Stevie Grieve.

Bayern Munich are right now arguably the best team in Europe, and although they regularly enjoy over 60% possession in matches, they need to ensure that they don’t leave the back door open and conceded goals in the minimal amount of attacks that the opposition will have. In a recent Champions League match v Arsenal, Arsenal have a few noteworthy attacks, but many were cut off at source or stopped by very clever positional play and quick pressing once everyone was in position to do so.

Bayern Munich offside trap trigger

Arsenal are attacking down the left side, and Mesut Ozil makes the centre-wide run behind the full back. Bayern Munich have a very straight back 3, playing Sanogo offside. Bayern have a trigger

0 Build Up and Combination Play

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on combination play between a forward and midfielder and staying onside.

Start with 2 cones 30 yards from goal. A forward starts in front of the cones. Another player is 15 yards further back with a ball. There are players ready to take these two players spots and a keeper in goal.

The forward starts by checking away and then

0 Change of Direction Dives

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves fitness, agility, change of direction and extension dives.

Start with a keeper in the center of the goal with 4 low hurdles between the center and a post. There is also a flag on the 6 even with that post. There is a server 10 yards from goal on the end line.

The keeper begins by jumping over each hurdle (sideways), touches the near post and then

1 Speed and Agility Circuit with the Ball

By Jebreel Bubtana

Improving your player’s speed and agility will help them get to the ball just ahead of their opponent, so working on this is something that every coach should be doing.

Set up the field as shown below (figure 1).

Each stage of the circuit is broken down as below:

1. The players must run by placing both feet
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0 Bayern Munich’s Attacking Movement

Bayern Munich’s attacking movement to lose markers from crossing position - By Stevie Grieve.

Arsenal played Bayern Munich for a long period with 10v11, and defended fairly well against possibly the most fluid attacking team in Europe. Pep Guardiola teams play high possession football with total freedom of movement within specific areas of the field for each player.

Each player has 3 or 4 team mates that they make rotations in tandem with depending on ball position and team mate position, similar to Barcelona under Guardiola, but Bayern Munich have the ability to score goals from crosses, a weapon Barcelona didn’t have, which makes if more difficult to defend against this Bayern team as they can go over a defence, as well as through.

Muller Goal – Intelligent movement to cross over a low block

Here, Kroos has Muller and Robben moving between the lines looking for a way through the defence, either by

2 1st Touch Square

By Jebreel Bubtana

This exercise will work on your player’s 1st touch at different heights, progressing from being easy to control the ball at the start to being more challenging and working more on anaerobic fitness as well as 1st touch.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1, with a 4x4 yard square and three players per group.

The player in the middle receives the ball from either of the players on the outside of the square. They receive the ball from the feeder and have

0 3x5 Small-Sided Game

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on passing, receiving, communication and much more.

Start with a 40 x 40 grid with three groups of fives. One group (in this case the black group) starts with balls, one other group is on offense and the third group is on defense.

Any of the players can go anywhere in

0 Extension Diving Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on catching, footwork, extension dives and a bit of fitness.

Start with a keeper in goal and servers 12 yards from each post on the end line. These servers each have a ball in their hands. A third server is 15 yards out with balls.

The keeper starts by sprinting to the post closest to

0 Active Possession Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick passes, accuracy, footwork and more

Start with three players in a triangle approximately 15 yards apart. One player has a ball.

The players start by passing to each other one touch so that the ball

0 Shot Blocking From Various Distances

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on reactions and shot blocking.

Start with a keeper in a small goal (4 x 6 or slightly bigger). A server is 8 yards away with balls. There is a line 3 yards in front of the goal.

The keeper starts by stepping out in front of the line and

1 Attacking and Defending At Close Quarters

By Keith Scarlett

This activity works on 1v1 attacking and defending in close quarters, 1st touch, intensity and to see who is willing to get stuck in on tackles. The exercise is done at top-speed, is a quick moving exercise and there is a good deal of contact.

Set-up:
The playing area is 18 x 44 metres (roughly the size of the penalty area). There is a goal on one of the 44 metre end-lines (where the goal would be if you were using an actual penalty area) and two markers should be 18 metres out directly opposite the goalposts (or roughly the location where the half-circle intersects with the top of the penalty area if using an actual penalty area for this activity). Players break into four lines. Two lines are on each post with balls and two lines are at the ‘markers’…or the corners of the “D”…without balls.

How it Works:
The line besides the goal drives the ball to the first person in the opposite diagonal line and then

0 Developing Anaerobic Fitness Using Sprints

By Jebreel Bubtana

This exercise will work on the anaerobic fitness of your players in a fun and competitive environment. As soccer involves a lot of short sprints, this exercise will focus on this.

Set up the field as shown below with two cones 8 yards apart. You can set up multiple areas so that your whole team can work on this, with two players per area facing each other in the middle between the two cones (figure 1).

The players will give themselves a letter, A or B. A’s will start by

0 Finishing With Quick Touches

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick touches, sharp cuts and finishing

Start with two goals 40 yards apart with a keeper in each goal. There is a line of 6 cones 1 yard apart across the middle of the field. A line of players, with balls starts at one end of the cones.

The first player starts by dribbling through the cones and when he gets to the

0 Shot Blocking and Balance

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork, shot blocking and balance.

Start with a server, with balls. near the 18 on a slight angle and a keeper in goal at the near post. There is a cone in the middle of the goal.

The keeper starts by

0 Philadelphia 3v3v3 Penetration and Defense Activity

By Keith Scarlett

This activity works on possession to penetrate, combination play, defending, pressure, cover, recovery and communication.

It is important for all the players to be on the same page. Both attacking and defending requires teamwork and that means every single player has to be on the same page. In this activity, we put the players under pressure from all sides and if they don’t play well as a unit, chances are, they’re going to be letting in quite a few in the game. The exercise is about playing your responsibility and staying on top of things. REMEMBER: the FIRST pass is of the utmost importance!

Set-up: The playing area is 30 x 20 meters, divided into two halves of 15 x 20 meters. One ball is used. There are three teams of three players each.

How it Works: The game begins with one team (Red) standing in the middle while the other two teams (Black and Yellow) stand at opposite ends of the playing area. The ball is given randomly to

0 Dribbling Races For Fitness

By Jebreel Bubtana

As always, making fitness exercises fun and adding an element of competition will make your players psychologically more willing to work hard, which will help to develop their fitness. The exercise below will try to do that.

Set up and instructions:

Split your squad into two teams and set up the field as shown below in figure 1.

The first player in each line will now dribble in and out of the cones in the direction as shown by the arrows. When they reach the end cone they

0 Speed Off the Mark and Finishing

By Alex Trukan

The exercise is focused on developing speed off the mark and finishing skills. Short distance speed is required to lose tight marking, win short distance duel or be the first player to shoot from the cross. Therefore, this fitness component is integrated with finishing skills.

Set up and directions
Divide players into two groups and organise them as on the diagram below. One group of players should be placed on the cone in front of the goal, second group of players, on the cone situated on the side of the penalty box. This exercise, ideally needs to be done with 4-6 players and a goalkeeper. That is why, it is suitable for small group training. However, if two independent goals are used, this practice can be also suitable for bigger groups.

First player from the attacking group makes a quick slalom between two mannequins. Shape and direction of runs can be

0 How To Defend Break-Aways

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defending breakaways.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 30 yards out with balls and an attacking player facing the server.

The server passes the ball past

0 Spreading the Field With Depth

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on spreading the field with depth.

Frequently when we talk about spreading the field, they talk about getting wide to open up space in the middle.

The part of spreading the field we frequently forget to work on is