All Posts by Mike Saif

1 Conditioned Passing Game

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured game is a regular scrimmage with an emphasis on passing

Depending upon the number of players available this can be a full field game (11 v 11) or smaller if less numbers are available. Play with full sized goals (or if keepers aren’t available play with small goals).

All regular rules apply and the only difference with this game and a normal game is the scoring.

A “negative” pass counts as 1 point. This would be a pass made away from the goal you are attacking. In this case, negative means away from and NOT bad.

A “neutral” pass in the defensive half of the field counts as

0 Moving Forward On Dives

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on coming forward on dives.

Set up 2 goals (using cones) 4 yards apart. A keeper is in the middle of the 2 cones and servers are 10 yards from each goal with balls.

A server starts by playing a ball toward the

1 Progressive Soccer Training - One Grid - MORPHING

This is the Introduction to our new book, Progressive Soccer Training in Grids by Dan Minutillo and Rich Rafloski

INTRODUCTION

Too much time is wasted by a coach or staff setting up grid after grid before and during a training session to accommodate different exercises to be accomplished by a soccer team during the session. Morphing during soccer training allows a coach to set up just one grid with very minor modifications for an entire session, changing only the exercises during the session but not usually changing the grid size or shape. This is done by maintaining the same grid for an entire training session (except for the usual scrimmage at the end of the session) re-configuring players, adding target players, adding neutral players, adding wide players or moving goals in and about the grid, allowing variations in exercises by this reconfiguration based on a singular training theme during the session.

To add value to this book, soccer training themes are discussed, one theme per chapter, with the elements of that training theme broken down in detail and analyzed to help the novice or expert coach recognize those elements during the training session. Each technical and tactical training theme is explained in detail. Four small sided games per theme per chapter are provided and described in detail, including

1 Conditioning With a Finishing Circuit

By Daniel Severn

This week we have an easy to set up, fun, but hard working exercise. This exercise works well using 7+ players. This game involves tons of shooting so it is always easy to get the player motivated and on your side straight away for this one. It is a very rich exercise as we see shots from different angles in situations. One v Ones, Long Range Shooting and Crossing and Finishing are all included in this exercise.

Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. Three lines of players are set up as shown in the diagram below. As we see in the picture, left to right, we have the One v One line, the Long Range Shooting line and the Crossing and Finishing line.

Play begins with our first player running in a one versus one with the goalkeeper. While player one attempts the one v one, player two is

0 Stance and Balance for Individual Defending

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today's featured activity works on defensive stance and individual balance while defending.

Coaches frequently talk about defensive stance and the need to stay low, balanced etc. The thing that frequently gets neglected is the approach and how the defender should get from running toward the attacker to the good balanced stance. This activity will work on this important part of defending.

Start with a group of attackers near the midfield line, a group of defenders on the end line, a keeper in goal and a server out wide with some balls.

The server starts by passing a

0 Positioning and Shot Blocking

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today's featured activity works on positioning and shot blocking

Too often keepers are working on cutting off angles on stationary balls. While this is a good way to start to understand the concept it's quite limiting in that it's not the way most positioning is done in a real game.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 30 yards out with balls, and a line of attackers on each side of the server.

The server starts by passing the ball in front

1 Recovering Back to Goal to Make a Save

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on recovering back to goal to make a save.

Most of the time keepers work on shot blocking with the assumption they are starting in a proper position. The reality is keepers occasionally do get caught out of position and this activity works on that situation.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server at the 12 yard spot and a few balls at the far corners of the 6 yard box.

The keeper sprints out to one of the balls and

0 Decision Making and Turning

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on turning and the decision making on how to turn.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server 45 yards out with balls and a target player starts at the top of the D. There are other players waiting to take the place of the target player.

The target player checks away and then

0 The Formation of the Future - Part Three

By Stevie Grieve author of, Attacking in the 4-2-3-1  (Read Part One here and Part Two here)

We have also seen Real Madrid over the last 12 months being able to stop Barcelona in La Liga, and win in the Nou Camp, and Bayern Munich destroy Barcelona 7-0 over 2 legs in the Champions League semi-final, that a totally possession based game can be beaten if you set ‘traps’ for the possession team, and win the ball when they enter specific areas of the field. Once the ball is won, the counter attacking team can then exploit the fact that they defend deeper and have more space to play in on the counter attack behind the defense and between the lines to build the attack quickly.

The trap is set by, for example, showing a certain space and leaving it open for an opponent to move into, and when the pass or dribble is made into that zone, the defense quickly ‘flood’ the zone with players, forcing a turnover of possession via an overload. From the trap, 3 or 4 player will know where and when to run, where the ball will be played and attack quickly to the opposition goal.

If we look at Borussia Dortmund, they have bought wisely in the past 2-3 years to ensure they can perform this style effectively – they have a solid back 4 in Piszczek, Hummels, Subotic and Schemmel, with 2 very effective

0 Pass Combination with Sprints

By Daniel Severn

This week we have an easy to set up, fun, but hard working exercise. This exercise works well with groups of either five or six players.

Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. The exercise runs with a simple passing combination running around the outside of the marked square (around 10-15 yards each side). Ensure to have 2 or more players at the starting cone and only 1 player per spare cone, as shown.

The ball will be passed around the area in an anti-clockwise rotation. The players must sprint to the

0 2v1 Small-Sided Games

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves a series of 2 v1 attacks working on possession, penetration and scoring.

Start with a 10 x 40 grid broken into fourths. There is a 3 yard wide goal on each line (except where the attackers will start) and a defender in each goal.

The first two attackers start with a ball and as soon as they enter the grid, the defender can

1 Checking and First Touch Exercise

Jebreel Bubtana

This technical warm up works on movement to create space away from a defender (checking) and first touch at various heights.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1.

The player without the ball will sprint to the disc on the right (check to the disc) to start the exercise. As soon as they as they

0 The Formation of the Future - Part Two

By Stevie Grieve author of, Attacking in the 4-2-3-1  (Read Part One here)

Recently, Chile played against Spain, and deployed a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Arturo Vidal as the number 10, which performed 2 duties.

• He was the outlet for central penetration as he is capable of creating and scoring goals
• He has a great engine and works hard defensively, show in his performances for Juventus

Vidal’s role was to stop Spain from gaining easy possession in the build-up and consolidation phases of play, giving the defence time to reset into shape.

As Spain played with their usual tiki-taka game, and with a mixture of a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations (both with a false 9), Chile’s 3 central defenders could afford to make sure that one can go out to mark the false 9, as there were no players to mark centrally, only wide. The Chile wing backs were asked to mark the attacking full backs of Spain if they came forward, but often they came back to help the defence and mark the wingers, allowing the near side centre forward to play against the full back and stop him from being an outball, or commonly, not moving forward ahead of the ball as Chile would be left

0 Making the Second Save

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on parries, getting up quickly and making the second save.

Start with a keeper in goal, on one knee, a server 15 yards out with balls and a second server 15 yards out on an angle also with balls.

The first server starts by playing a hard ball to the side of the keeper (the side where

0 High Pressure and Defensive Transition

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive transition and high pressure.

This is a 6 v 6 plus keepers on half a field with 2 full sized goals and a midfield line.

The ball starts with one of the keepers and the defending team plays

0 Goalkeeper Exercise For Strength and Balance

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on strength, balance, catching and a little bit of fitness.

Start with a keeper and a server 10 yards apart. The server has a ball in his hands.

For a one minute period the server volleys balls to the keeper who catches and then

0 The Formation of the Future - Part One

By Stevie Grieve author of, Attacking in the 4-2-3-1

Coaches nowadays are always looking to find a way to take advantage of the spaces left by each formation that is commonly used in football, whether it is 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or 4-5-1. I feel that the way the game is going, the next major ‘trend’ in football may well be the utilisation of a flexible 4-6 man midfield/attack, in the form of a 3-3-3-1, 3-3-1-3 or a 3-2-4-1 or 3-4-2-1.

Most teams play with a lone striker and the space made around the centre backs made by forcing full backs to defend from wider positions means that they either allow more space for flexibility centrally, specifically around zone 14 (the zone UEFA studies suggested most goals are scored from), or they defend narrower, allowing the attack to pass the ball wide and then draw out full backs and wide midfielders, and try to exploit the space in the spaces they have just left to press the ball.

If we analyse Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, when Busquets drops deep, Alves and Abidal pushed into midfield, creating a flat 3-4-3 with Xavi and Iniesta in midfield, Pedro and Villa wide with Messi in the fairly new ‘False 9’ position between midfield and attack – playing as a center forward in a more withdrawn role to play between the lines and either bring out a center back, or pull deeper a central midfielder to pick him up.

If neither happens, he finds himself able to receive and turn with Pedro and Villa making diagonal inside runs from

0 Fitness and Technical Circuit Training in Pairs

By Jebreel Bubtana

This is a great way to work on your player’s fitness and technical ability on the ball, with passing, first touch and dribbling included in the circuit.

Get your team to partner up and set up the field as shown below in figure 1.

There are 5 stations in this circuit described in more detail below:

Station 1 – The player without the ball must shuffle through the ladders as quickly as possible. After this is done, that player then

0 Counter Attacking and the Recovering Defender 1v1s

By Jebreel Bubtana

This exercise works on counter attacking and recovering as a defender.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1, with two goals 25 yards apart and two lines of players to the right of each goal.

The exercise starts with one player attacking the goal in front to

0 The Art of Passive Defending

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passive defending and looking to penetrate in the attack.

Start with a 30 x 20 grid with 2 goals on each end line that are 3 yards wide. There is a midfield line and 2 teams of 5 players.

The teams try to score in either of the two opposite goals. As soon as a team loses possession all of

0 Working On Hand Strength For Goalkeepers

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activities work on hand strength.

One of the things we want to do is condition our hands both to make them stronger but also to prepare them to catch the ball with the proper hand position.

This activity only requires a keeper, a flat surface (wall or even a goal post) and a ball.

The keeper starts with the ball in his hands in proper catching position (ball starts head height). He should be between 2 and 3 feet from the flat surface (depending on the

2 Attacking in the 4-2-3-1 Blog

This is part of the first chapter of our new book, Attacking in the 4-2-3-1, by Stevie Grieve

When we are trying to make training sessions for the 4-2-3-1, we must be mindful of which areas we can take more risks in to try and score a goal.

Build Up Phase
When close to your own goal, you should try to build safe possession and ensure that the ball can be brought forward into the Consolidation phase. Players should look to keep the ball moving across longer distances across the defensive line and if possible, into the

2 Conditioning 1v1s

By Jebreel Bubtana 

This is a fun way to have your players compete against each other whilst working on their endurance.

Set up the field as shown below with the cones in a zigzag shape all the way to the edge of the 18-yard box (figure 1).

The players at the front of each line race against each other to the edge of the 18-yard box by touching each cone in the zigzag with their hand (figure 2). As they make it to the to the last cone, the coach will

0 Transition For Quick Counter-Attacks

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on transition for quick counter attacks.

Start with 5 attackers (2 forwards and 3 midfielders) attacking a goal with a keeper, 4 backs and 2 midfielders.

Next we add 2 outside midfielders for the defending team BUT they do not get involved with