All Posts by Tom Mura

0 #104 From High Pressure to Goal Scoring

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0 Full Game

0 Gap Goals for Forwards

0 Gap Goals 2

0 Gap Goals 1

0 Screening Forward Passes

By Alex Trukan Forward passes breaking the lines can be very dangerous and hard to defend against. Many modern teams try to break out from the back line by passing accurately on the ground, usually directly into the striker or winger. When trying to defend this type of attacking strategy, compactness, organisation, screening and marking

0 Counter Attacking from a 4 v 2

This week's Animated Drills Video shows an activity that will train your players how to effectively pressure the opponent to win the ball back and counter attack quickly to score. This activity comes from our latest eBook, 'Scoring Goals from High Pressure Defending'. It includes ways to progress this activity to train the whole team to

1 Winning the Ball in the Middle Third

By Sean Pearson Area: 40 x 32 yards (2 x {8x32} 1 x {24x32}) Time: 15 mins Players: 6 v 6 + 2 Objectives To recognize where to pressure in the middle third To win the ball in the middle third and maintain possession Set Up 3 areas, two end zones and 1 large middle

0 Warm-Up

0 Use the Box for Better Touch

By Mike Smith Pele famously stated, “ There are no tactics without technique”.  And while a skillful debater could argue the advantage of tactical awareness and application, Pele’s words still prevail. From a developmental stand point, I boil down the idea of technique into one aspect, first touch. “It”, i.e. success, all comes down to that

0 Handling, Shot Stopping and Positioning

By Wayne Henderson - The most important attribute of a successful goalkeeper is being a good shot stopper; this simple drill will help work on a few aspects of “making saves”. First Phase Feeder number 1 strikes a simple volley straight at the goalkeeper, who catches the volley and throws the ball back to feeder number 1.

0 Quick Finishing with Duels

By Alex Trukan The following practice is aimed at improving players’ repetitive short sprinting power. This conditioning element is responsible for maintaining the quantity of high intensity actions throughout the whole game. Therefore, players will be able to make sprints and bursts even towards the end of the match without loss in its’ quality. The

1 Heads Up

By Steven Smith Area Size: 40 X 35 Grid Teams:  Everyone on the team in groups of two Time: 10-12 minutes Objective:  Increase passing skills in teams of all developmental levels Narrative This warm up activity can take away the boredom that often comes with warming up. It is a gradual progression of passing and receiving with

0 #103 Why Your Players are Bored

Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes

0 Spin to Support

0 Turn and Face

0 Pass and Spin

0 Play AWAY from Pressure

By Mike Smith “Why is the other team touching the ball?”  This is a great question to ask your team, and while there are obvious reasons the other team gets the ball, many times, it is because we actually play INTO pressure and didn’t use all our options. A team who can learn to relieve pressure

0 Creating Speed of Play and Support

By Anthony Hazelwood The following activity is a long intensive and non-directional possession exercise aimed to train the speediness of play on a mental, physical, technical, and tactical level. On a tactical level, coaching emphasis should be on ball circulation and player movement. Although players are initially placed in a particular formation (2-1-2 or 1-3-1),

0 Dealing with Crosses

By Wayne Henderson - The Idea behind this drill is to emphasize the importance of the goalkeeper catching the cross at its earliest and highest point. Warm-Up Up to 5 goalkeepers on the move, altogether within the 6 yard box either one of the coaches (if you have 2 coaches available) shouts the goalkeeper’s number;

0 Attacking Transition

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 45 length, 5 yards wider than the penalty area on each side. Time: 15 mins Players: 7 v 6 Objectives To understand if the team can counter attack or maintain possession To decides how the ball should move forward Set-Up Depending on the age and physical capability of the players you coach the area should

0 Cogi Receiving Pattern

This week's Animated Drills Video shows a great way to organize an activity to work on receiving the ball out of the air while also challenging the players to run through the pattern. The video also shows some of the progressions you can use as well. The diagrams are created with the session planner on Planet Training

2 Layoff to Diagonal Pass

0 Building from the Back with Two Defensive Midfielders

By Alex Trukan With many teams choosing to build up from the back through the thirds, as well as playing with a midfield three, one of the important things to consider becomes the role of central midfielders. One of the options to choose from is to play with two defensive midfielders operating in front of