All Posts by Mike Saif

1 How to Deal With Corner Kicks

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on dealing with corner kicks.

Corner kicks are one of the most difficult situations for keepers to deal with. The reasons range from having a lot of players in a small area which makes decision making difficult (“Can I get the ball?”, “Should I punch or catch” etc). It also is difficult as different teams take completely different approaches to corner kicks so the situation a team saw last week might be very different the next week. One big reason corner kicks are so difficult for keepers is they don’t prepare for them enough.

To start you might have a keeper in goal and a player serving balls in from the corner.

The keeper decides whether to come and get the ball or whether to stay back.. The problem is many keepers

5 Conditioned SSG - 6v4 Offense vs Defense

by Gabriel Celante

This drill focuses on teaching the art of attacking in numbers and building attack from the center of the field and finishing in the 4-2 (from 4-4-2 Diamond formation). This soccer drill also focuses on innervating tactical movements.

Organization

• Set up the field as showed in the diagram:
• Two full size goals (GK in each goal)
• Two smaller goals (made with cones)
• Divide one team into
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0 Developing a Style of Play - Defensive Transition

This is an excerpt from our new book, Developing a Style of Play by Jordi Pascual.

The excerpt is from Chapter Three that looks at various principles of Attacking, Defending, Transition From Attack to Defense and Transition From Defense to Attack.  This particular part looks at the principles of Transition From Attack to Defense.

Developing a Style of Play - Chapter 3.4

We'll go into Defensive Phase from the moment that the opponents have recovered the ball and don't do counter attack, either because they refuse to do it, either because we managed to stop it, but they still have the possession of the ball. Since our aim is to have the ball in attack, this means that, the objective of this phase is that the opponent team make a mistake and, as a consequence, make them lose the ball.

Here we have the following Principles and Sub-Principles:

The First Principle is what is referred t

1 Technical Conditioning

By Daniel Severn This week’s exercise can be used as a technical warm-up or as the main technical focus of the session. There are endless variables with this exercise; I will share some of my favorite ones at the end. This works best if the players can be paired up, but there is also a

0 Using Width in Attack

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on using the width of the field in attack.

This activity uses half a field with a full sized goal. The field is broken into thirds with two lines going from the end line to the the midfield line 10 yards in from each end line. There is a keeper in each goal and an attacking player in each wide zone. In the middle zone is a 3 v 4.

The rules in this game are quite simple. No defending player can enter either wide area until

3 Continuous 1v1 Under Tight Pressure

By Daniel Severn

This week we have an exercise which will work close control, changes of pace, protecting the ball and plenty of skills and trickery. The exercise can be used as a fun game after a warm up or as the technical part of your session as you can focus on many different aspects of the game in this situation.

Set Up and Directions
Players will work in pairs, with one ball between two. The exercise is set up in a 20x20 yard area with small, 1 yard gates scattered around the area.

Through the diagrams, I will show the exercise running with just one pair of players but I would often use around four or five pairs working at any one time.

When play begins, the two players will compete one versus one to score as many points as possible within the time limit. The players score points by

0 Attacking With a Front Three Barcelona Style

This article is an excerpt from our new eBook by Scott Allison - Coaching the Barcelona 4-3-3  This is from the chapter - Attacking in the Final Third

ATTACKING IN THE FINAL THIRD – INTRODUCTION

It’s the part of the game that Barcelona under Pep Guardiola will be forever remembered - Attacking in the final third with some of the best team play, individual quality and finishing we have seen in modern times. Players, coaches and spectators have all enjoyed watching some fantastic football and the success of Barcelona’s play in the final third can be attributed to three key elements:

1. Penetration
2. Combination play
3. Individual brilliance

In this section we will look at how Barca unlock packed defences using their version of the 4-3-3 system. It is worth noting from the outset that those close to the club will always state that the philosophy and vision play a central part in how all Barcelona teams from youth to first team play. However, the first team under Pep Guardiola evolved to accommodate the individual brilliance of players like Messi and Iniesta and the system was adapted to maximise the strengths of these great players. The Barcelona version of the 4-3-3 system may not suit all types of players so coaches should always be aware of the quality, attributes and game understanding of the players they are working with before trying to adapt to this style of play. Indeed Barcelona at times have had issues with world class players like Ibrahimovic, Eto’o and Henry finding it difficult to adapt and fit into a system that is very much geared to getting the best out of exceptional talents like Lionel Messi.

First of all lets look at the general setup and deployment of players as Barcelona begin to build attacks in the final third. When looking at attacks in the final third you must first look at

0 Recovering For Rebounds

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on shot blocking and getting up quickly for rebounds.

Start with a keeper in goal, a server at the top of the 18 and two other servers on angles. Each of the servers has a few balls.

The server in the middle starts by shooting toward

0 Using One-Touch Passing to Improve Attacking

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on one touch passing and attacking in a game situation.

This is a small sided game (although it can be 11 v 11 on a full sized field) with only two limitations.

A player can only play one touch

The only exception so rule 1 is if they attack a defender or the goal with their first touch.

As an example, in the picture below the black team has the ball.

The player can pass one touch or can

1 Continuous 1v1’s with a Goalkeeper

By Jebreel Bubtana

This is a fun exercise for your team to do that gets both your attackers and goalkeepers working hard.

Set up the field as shown below in figure 1 with 10 soccer balls on the edge of the 18-yard box.

The attacker dribbles towards goal on a breakaway and tries to score the 1v1 against the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper can come out and try to stop the attacker from scoring, as they would do in a real game situation. After the attacker has had a shot they

0 2v2 Transition Small-Sided Game

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 2 v 2 attacking and defending with quick transition.

Start with a 10 x 10 grid with two teams of players. Each team is assigned two end lines and they have a team of two 10 yards behind each end line

The black team starts with the ball and they try to dribble

0 Drill For Dealing With High Balls

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on high balls, footwork and some fitness

Start with a server on the top of the 18 with some balls and a keeper in goal.

The keeper starts by dropping to the ground and doing a push up. The server then tosses a ball high in the air which should

2 How to Exploit the Central Midfield of the 4-2-3-1

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 Advanced Tactics here  AND his new book, Beating the 4-2-3-1.

This article is an excerpt from the chapter called "Exploiting the Central Midfield" from our new book, Beating the 4-2-3-1.

Attacking the centre of the 4-2-3-1

When attacking the 4-2-3-1, one of the main strengths is the base of 2 players infront of the back 4, but playing in a manner which forces one of the players to come out and press, especially against a dribbler who likes to play quick passes in their stride while running, can be an easy way to penetrate the midfield line, pull a central defender out for a through ball into a run behind the defence, or even allow for long range shots if enough space is created.

Drawing out one of the defensive midfielders isn’t always easy - playing with several players occupying the same space can allow for wide attacks, wide play can force one of the players over to help the full back press the ball and leave central space.

Chelsea v Napoli – Napoli’s 3-5-2 (3-4-1-2) overcomes Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1 via central attacks

Wing Backs provide support on the sides to move holding midfielder over to play 3v2 on the side

Cavani pulls wide to leave Hamsik and Lavezzi playing 2v4 against Chelsea’s centre backs and holding midfielders. Napoli’s left wing back support’s on the overlap bringing

0 Improve Endurance While Doing This Dribbling Exercise

By Jebreel Bubtana

This is a great exercise to use during pre season training as it gets your players working very hard. You can also use this to get your players competing against each other.

There are 3 stations to set up as shown below with the cones being placed 5 yards apart (figure 1).

Station 1 – The players dribble to the first cone, turn and then dribble back to the start as quick as they can. This sequence is repeated with the second and third cone. The players must be encouraged

0 3v2 Attacking Small-Sided Game

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on transition, 3 v 2 attacking, finishing and much more.

Start with a 40 x 30 grid with two full sized goals and a keeper in each goal. There is a player on each side of the goals on the end lines and a 3 v 2 to start on the field. Each team has extra players on a side.

The team with 3 starts with the ball and they try to get to goal. They can score directly or use

1 Why Footwork is Critical For High Balls

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork for high balls.

Start with a keeper on the top of the 6 yard box and a server at the top of the 18 with some balls. Place a cone 3 yards from the goal line and 2 yards in from each post.

The purpose of this activity is to have the keeper get back and behind the ball before

0 How Bayern Exposed Barcelona's Fullbacks to Score Three Goals

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.  Check out his new book, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 Advanced Tactics here.

Barcelona v Bayern Munich (0-3) Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg, April 2013

Bayern Target Barcelona’s Full Backs to Create Goal Scoring Chances

Robben Goal – Alaba’s long pass opens up the space on the far side

Alaba has possession and can see that Alba is too narrow (out of picture) and Robben will be able to receive on the far side. He drills the

0 Exercise For Shot Stopping

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

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

Start with two goals 8 yards apart. A keeper starts in one goal. There is a server for each goal 15 yards out with balls.

The server starts with a shot at the keeper who makes

1 Continuous 1v1 Battles

By Daniel Severn

This week we have a very high tempo, quick-fire 1v1 exercise that is worked in groups of three. It is always good to practice 1v1s they happen all over the field in every single game. 1v1s also get players thinking from both the attacking and defensive side of the game. A good warm up should be performed before this exercise as it is played at a very high tempo.

Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below. The feeder ( player in blue on the outside of the field) must have a number of soccer balls available in order to keep a high tempo for this game. The two active players wait centrally in the 20x15 yard field marked out with two goals, one at either end.

Play begins with the feeder playing a pass directly between the two competing players. The two players then compete for

2 Coaching the Barcelona 4-3-3 Attacking

This article is an excerpt from our new eBook by Scott Allison - Coaching the Barcelona 4-3-3

Attacking in the Final Third

Exercise 1: Combination play in and around the box

Objective:
To develop good combinations in and around the box that lead to goal-scoring opportunities in the scoring zone from central positions.

Setup:
In this exercise you need a minimum of 8 players and a goalkeeper attacking a goal (For larger groups duplicate the exercise with another group going towards another goal. Use a penalty box area and have two groups working from either side of the goal. Players positioned on the goal line start the exercise with a ball. Three players are positioned in a triangle at the edge of the box (use markers as a guide for players). One Goalkeeper in the goal:

Instructions:
The exercise begins with player A passing the ball to player B. A then moves forward and player B plays a quick combination with A. A then passes to C. C plays a pass to D and makes a

0 Creating Goal Chances With Takeovers

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on takeovers and getting to goal.

Start with a center midfielder with some balls just 30-40 yards from goal. A target player is at the top of the D with a defender marking him. There is a player out wide and a keeper in goal.

The midfielder plays a ball into

0 Practicing Crosses With Opposition

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on footwork on crosses with opposition.

Start with 3 coaching sticks (or corner flags or mannequins) along the 6 yard line. A keeper is in goal and a server is just outside the 18 with some balls.

The server plays a ball into the box around the top of the 6 and the keeper must

0 Racing to Finish the Cross

By Daniel Severn

This week we focus on speed and agility combined with crossing and finishing under pressure. The exercise works best when run as a competition as this adds extra motivation for the players. Speed and Agility are obvious essentials in any game of soccer as players in any role or position on the field will benefit from having good speed and being more agile. The crossing and finishing aspects are more honed towards specific positions, so depending on the situation of your team, (whether you rotate players in positions or if your players have set positions) you can work a little bit of positional specific training into this exercise, especially for your outside defenders and midfielders. A good warm up should be performed before this exercise as it is played at a very high tempo.

Set Up and Directions
The exercise is set up as shown below with the coach positioned centrally around 30 yards from goal. The coach must have a supply of soccer balls to keep the exercise fluid. We also have two wide players, positioned on each wing. Each will have three cones laid out in front of them which they will use to perform agility. The wide players will act as neutrals and should try to play crosses into general areas, trying not to favor a team, but giving the players a good chance to score from the cross. Two teams will line up on opposite sides of the goal (minimum two players per team) with a goalkeeper in the goal.

Play begins with the coach playing a pass out to either wing (left wing in the example below), the winger then shuffles through the cones as quickly as possible and then

0 A Passing Drill Warm-Up

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a passing warm-up.

Start with 4 players in a line 10 yards apart. The first player in the line has a ball.

The first first player passes the ball to the second player while all four players start