All Posts by Mike Saif

0 Small-Sided Game For Crossing and Finishing

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession, crossing and finishing.

This activity uses half a field. Have a 30 x 44 grid just outside the top of the D with a 4 v 4 plus 1 neutral (numbers can be changed). There is also a neutral player out wide on each side. There is a keeper in goal.

The players inside the grid are trying to keep possession and are trying to make 5 consecutive passes (the neutral player is always on offense). Once a team makes 5 consecutive passes (passes to the neutral player inside the grid counts) they can

0 Dribbling with Quick Changes of Direction

By Daniel Severn

This week we will focus on quick changes of direction within a fast paced, competitive exercise. I will use the ‘drag-back’ turn as the example throughout the exercise, but any other turn involving a full change of direction can be used (e.g. Cruyff turn, step-over, inside/outside cuts etc).

Set Up and Directions

For this exercise you only need a few cones. The example in the diagram is set up for just two players, but you can add in more ‘lanes’ of cones to involve as many players as you need to accommodate.

Here we have five cones laid out approximately 5 yards apart from each other. Two players begin each with a ball a few yards either side of Cone number 1. On the coaches signal the players

2 Adjusting Your Position For Shots at Angles

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

Start with a keeper in goal and a few field players on one corner of the 18 with balls.

The first field player starts dribbling across the 18.  With each step the keeper has to

1 Why the 4-2-3-1 Is the Formation of Choice

Discover How to Harness the Exciting 4-2-3-1 Formation and Replicate the Devastating Attacking Power of the World’s Most Successful Teams   If you've been looking for a way to coach your team how to play the 4-2-3-1, you've just found it. Coaching the 4-2-3-1 is a special 12-part video series which provides a comprehensive tactical and training guide to this exciting

0 Combinations For Crosses

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity involves a 4 person combination for a cross and finish.

Start with 2 players on the end line and 2 players 40 yards out.  The sets of players are 5 yards apart.  There is a keeper in goal.

The 2 players on the end line check back to the ball in a

0 Making Far Post Crosses Work For You

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on balls over hit to the far post.

One of the most difficult ball to deal with is the ball served far post that is over hit.

If the attacker can get to the ball they tend to try to go for

0 Teach Your Goalkeepers To Scan the Whole Field

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on seeing the whole field.

Start with half a field with a line down the middle.  A keeper starts in goal and there are two teams of 2 in each half.  There is a coach for each half just beyond midfield.

The teams on the right side start by playing 2 v 2 to goal.  The keeper has to focus on that game while

0 Endurance, Agility and First Touch

By Jebreel Bubtana

This exercise works on first touch with different parts of the body as well as agility, coordination and conditioning, which is great way to start your pre-season training.

There are 3 different stations as shown below (figure 1), with players spending 4 minutes working before switching with the feeder and then moving on to the next station.

Station 1:
The player must run through the ladder placing both feet in the gaps of the ladder, after this is done they must sprint to the feeder who will be holding the ball out in

1 Penetrating With Killer Passes

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 ADVANCED Tactics,  Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.

Barcelona in the 2012/2013 season have been almost unplayable. Last season, they became slightly predictable, they suffered from no width or balance, especially on the left side, which Jordi Alba has fixed this season, and suffered from being too focused on playing centrally, and retaining possession when penetration opportunities have become available. This season, Alba has contributed to the width and balance issue on the left side, but more noticeable has been the massive amount of ‘killer passes’ being played from all over the field. In this game, Alexis, Messi and Villa all scored from a killer pass from different areas of the field.

Alexis’ goal – Iniesta plays a through ball 40 yards from goal between the center backs

Iniesta dribbles forward with Alba in support on the left to make a 2v1. As Iniesta cuts inside, Alexis knows that a space between

0 Using the Team Warm-Up To Include the Goalkeeper

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity is a warm up that involves the entire team.

In the center circle have the field players dribbling around at full speed.  Two keepers are also in the circle

The players are dribbling at speed and the keepers look for

1 First Touch Endurance Box

By Jebreel Bubtana

This exercise is a great way to work on your player’s first touch at different heights and making sure that technique does not suffer as they get tired.

This exercise starts with a 4x4 yard box and one ball between two players as shown below (figure 1). One player will start with the ball in their hands and the other player will do all of the work for 1 minute.

The player without the ball shuffles to

0 How To Maintain Possession From a Throw-In

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on throw ins and maintaining possession. The ball goes out of play and your team takes a throw in.  The idea here is your team should either be trying to get behind the defense with a quick throw in (if available) or, they should try

0 The Secret to Training and Motivating Advanced Players

This advanced soccer coaching program of 6 eBooks and 10 videos will give your players that extra 5-10% they need to develop them from being a ‘talented’ player to an ‘elite’ player   The Complete Guide to Coaching Advanced Players’ by Canadian U18 National Team Coach, Rob Gale is a soccer training course specially designed to give players

0 How NOT To Screw Up a 2v0 Break-Away

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 2 v 0 breakaways.

Recently I have seen a few situations where two players broke through on a breakaway (either because of a poorly executed offside trap or the last defender makes a big mistake). In two of these cases the attacking player without the ball ran beyond the ball, into an offside position, which made him unusable. Here is a simple activity that will help prepare players for this type of a situation.

Start with a keeper in goal and two attacking players 40 yards out (one with a ball). Have a defender 10 yards behind them. The purpose of the defender is to force the attackers to go at speed.

Play starts with the

0 Crossing and Finishing with Agility

By Daniel Severn

This week the focus is on scoring goals from crosses. I have added in some ladders and need for short sprints to help improve the players’ agility and explosiveness. During this exercise the players will be in pairs as attackers and are required to work explosively in order to get on the end of the crosses and score goals. This is a continuous exercise that you will need a minimum of 10 players plus a goalkeeper to run. The short sprints, agility and sharp changes of direction in this exercise will all help develop your players’ anaerobic capacity.

Set up and Directions:

Firstly, set out ladders in front of your wide players (LW and RW) around 25yds from the end of the field. Add cones centrally, around 30yds from the goal – this is where your pair

1 Exercise To Improve GK Conditioning and Diving

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter.  Today’s featured activity works on footwork, fitness, diving and parrying.