All Posts by Tom Mura

1 Train Midfielders and Defenders to Pass to Feet or Space

With only two practices per week with my teams I've found that it works best to focus on a technical topic (Running with the Ball, Dribbling, Control, Shooting) during our first practice of the week and then Passing and Possession progressing to a small-sided game during the second session. We also do one shooting exercise toward the end of practice just to keep a focus on that before the weekend.

I'm always looking for variations on possessions games to focus on different aspects of possession and to keep the practice fresh. I was reminded of one recently when I was looking through one of our best selling books, 'Players' Roles and Responsibilities in Systems of Play'. By creating target areas in each corner

0 Improving Possession Play

Getting our players to make runs off the ball is difficult if they don't know where or how to run. Giving the players options to choose from will take some of the decision making out of the process.

I've started to teach my young players three different runs that create the foundation of our player movement. They are also somewhat progressive so that if one doesn't create an option then they can move to the next one or the one after that before coming back to the first one again.

This concept is from David Goldstein's Improving Your Team's Possession Play.

The three runs that this session focuses on are checking, drifting and

0 #003 Exercises to Develop Creative Finishers

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1 #002 Training Session to Teach Turning

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0 #001 Building a Better Warm-Up

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4 Training Indoors for Outdoor Games

As the winter indoor season comes to an end coaches start to look at transitioning to the outdoor game while we're still forced to do most of our training indoor. This is a challenge as they prepare for outdoor leagues and tournaments just around the corner.

I'm fortunate to train my teams on two basketball courts that are side by side. This allows us to start to spread things out a bit and get the players looking for longer passes in open space.

Here are a couple of games that I used last week to start the transition.

After warming up and playing some 4 v 2 possession games we moved to

0 Different Scoring Methods

Small-Sided games are a great training tool used by most coaches. Most of the small-sided games I see used require each team to score in the same way.

Games like the ones below from Coaching Soccer Through Small-Sided Games are used by coaches at every level, all around the world.

The standard small-sided game has two teams playing on a small field between two goals.

This type of game will give each player more

3 Winter Outdoor Training

With more and more turf soccer fields being installed around the country an increasing number of coaches are training their teams outdoor during the winter months. This provides a great opportunity to continue to focus on playing 'Real Soccer' when we used to be limited to practicing and playing small indoor versions of the game.

0 Coaching Team Shape in the 4-3-3

We've recently released the third edition of our books on Coaching Team Shape. The first one covered the 3-3-1 for playing small-sided games. The second in the series looks at  the 4-2-3-1. This edition focuses on the 4-3-3 formation.

Coaching Team Shape in the 4-3-3 shows you how to give players the positional discipline they may be lacking with grid based training. Not only do grids force players to maintain team shape, but it also helps to improve their decision making, passing angles and gives them a deeper understanding of how to move the ball quickly up the pitch.

This excerpt of the book covers the movements of the central midfielders and striker.

Central Midfielders & Central Striker

The reason we will look at the central striker and the central midfield together is that the striker takes their position from the movement of the midfield. They should work by moving in a rotation to create angles for each other and cause headaches for the opposition. We will look at their movement depending on which area of the field the ball is in.

When the Defensive Midfielder has Possession Deep:
The most important factor for the 3 midfielders and CST is to work together and be a successful unit by rotating to constantly make diamonds with their movement and positioning. This gives passing options at different angles and depths to penetrate the opposition’s lines. The CST takes their position off the CM’s.

0 Using a Tag Progression as a Warm-Up

This week I want to share a warm-up that I've used with every age group I coach. It's a fun and dynamic game that can be used to prepare for many different types of sessions. It's based on a simple game of Tag. The first thing I do is have all of the players give

4 Different Games Teach Different Skills

Each winter soccer teams in the cold weather states are forced inside to continue to train and play. Some are fortunate enough to continue playing the game as they do outdoor. Facilities like Total Soccer in Wixom, MI provide 11 v 11 and 8 v 8 fields indoors.

These facilities are rare around the United States so most teams are left with one or two options: Futsal or Indoor Soccer (also known as Arena Soccer). The two formats are very different

Futsal is FIFA's recognized form of soccer indoors. It is played all over the world is the only form of soccer indoors that offers a World Cup. Futsal is often played on a basketball sized surface with goals that are 3 meters wide by 2 meters tall. Each team plays with four field players and a goalkeeper. The Futsal ball is a, 'low bounce' ball that is one size smaller than the ball each age group plays with outdoor. The rules are almost the same as outdoor soccer with a few exception.

Arena Soccer is played on a field most similar to a

2 The Top Clubs in Europe Do this in Training ....Do You?

This week's post comes to us from Bob Warming, the Head Men's Coach of Penn State University. Warming ranks third among active NCAA Division I coaches with 441 wins. He has been voted Big 10 Coach of the Year for two out of the last three years.

Coach Warming has traveled the world examining the training methods of the top teams and coaches. The innovative training system he describes below is something that most of us don't use and will certainly help take your team to the next level. 

First of all, don't feel bad if you haven't been doing this type training. And...if you are not doing this...don't feel alone! In my experience, very little of this type training is being performed in American soccer training sessions. It's not being taught in our coaching schools and yet it is prevalent throughout top teams in the world. If the academies and first teams at major clubs are doing this type training...shouldn't we be doing this type training in the USA?

I believe that we can add an important component to our youth training in America. I have seen this training develop quicker feet, quicker minds, and a transformation on my own players about thinking, combining and playing in Triangles. I only wish my players had started doing these type exercises when they were younger! And that is the main reason for this article.

Since we began using this methodology as part of our training, we have

1 Combination Play Exercise

A large part of teaching combination plays is teaching timing. The challenge is that timing is developed through an understanding of the basic principles and then getting the number of repetitions necessary to get a feel for the timing.

It's best to first teach the patterns of movement and basic principles of each combination play separately. The ones I focus on with young players are the give-and-go, overlap and layoff.

Once these have been learned and understood then I like to combine them into a pattern that allows for a lot of repetitions on both the left and the right side.

This setup is one that can be used for many passing activities from

0 Reversed Passes

By Sean Pearson Area Size: 2/3 of Field Teams: 8 v 8 Time: 20-25 Minutes Objectives To draw defenders out of position To realize when to run beyond the striker The players in black are set up in a 4-3-3 point down system (without full backs). This allows the #8 & #10 to start higher and closer to

0 Running with the Ball

Everyone does dribbling exercises but you don't see many coaches teaching their players to run with the ball. It might seem like this doesn't have to be 'taught', players will just do it on their own. But their is a when, where and how to running with the ball. This is an example of a

0 Training Movement in Futsal

In any sport, movement is the key to creating options. When players don't move or move in easily predictable ways they become easy to defend. The fewer players that are involved in the game, the more important movement becomes. With only four field players, Futsal places a high demand on player movement to pull the defense out of position and create openings to attack.

I attending the recent US Youth Futsal National Level 3 course in Gardner, KS. It was conducted by US Youth Futsal Technical Director Keith Tozer. The 20-hour course covered the basic techniques and

0 Creating a 'False 9'

This excerpt is from one of our most popular titles, 'The False 9'. This is a unique offer of both an eBook and videos that compliment each other very well. Detailed diagrams and descriptions from the eBook are followed up with video analysis that present a complete picture of the techniques and tactics that are

1 Teaching Possession Play

Telling a team that they need to, 'Keep possession' is such an abstract and nonspecific concept for so many young players. Teaching them what it takes to keep the ball gives them specific things that they need to do in order to ensure that the team has the best chance to retain the ball.

In David Goldstein's book, 'Improving Your Team's Possession Play' he outlines simple system that can be taught to players at any age or level of play. The core principle is that the player with the ball must have a, 'Left, Right and Split'.

Here is an excerpt that explains this and the other important concepts of the book.

So what is left/right/split support? It is simply that the person with the ball has someone on the left of them for support, someone on the right of them for support and someone working to

1 Breaking Down the Technique of Shooting

A player's shooting technique is a bit like a golfer's swing; there is a generally accepted way to shoot a soccer ball but there are also individual differences that can exist without a negative effect on the final product.

Even though there we can accept individual difference, I think it's important to give young players a template to work from. This session is designed to give a player the key points so that they check for breakdowns in these areas if they are not hitting the ball with the kind of power or accuracy they are looking for.

Volleys in Pairs

I start with volleys and focus on

0 Dynamic and Active Warm Up Variations

A good pregame warm-up should get a team physically and mentally prepared to play from the first whistle. You can look for some patterns that may point to a need to change how your team warms up before matches.

Does your team often have a slow start or go down a goal early?

Does your team always play better in the second half?

If you answer yes to these question then the issue may

0 Teaching Pressing to Increase Effort Level

Occasionally a team will play a game when the effort level is just not there. There can be many reasons (or excuses) for it but when this happens with one of my teams I use it as an opportunity to explain that each player is responsible for their level of effort. When they go on

0 Dutch Up, Back and Through to Finish

Some  coaches may consider pattern play to be limiting. They say, 'I don't want my players to be robots that just pass and move in the patterns that I've taught them.' I can understand this and I agree with it but where are our players supposed to get their creative ideas from? We want our

0 Technical Passing Practices Using Different Shapes

Once we've taught players the proper technical components of passing (foot next to the ball, toes out and up, ankle locked, pass through the middle of the ball) then the natural progression is to have the players pass and move in a pattern in order to accommodate team of players and to replicate the shapes found inside of the game.

The most widely used shape is probably the classic 'Dutch Square'

0 From Futsal to Soccer

Rather than standing in lines and running around cones, it’s through playing futsal that many elite level players, particularly in Brazil and Spain, developed their silky ball skills, smooth passing and lightning quick decision making. Players love small sided games, and the benefits are obvious. Players get more time on the ball, more touches and the intense nature of futsal puts them under more pressure to be perform. It’s a wonder it’s taken so long for coaches to realize the benefits of harnessing futsal in their training programs.