By Sean Pearson
Area Size: 18-yard and surrounding area up to 30 yards
Teams: 2 teams (7 v 5)
Time: 20 Minutes
Objectives
- To get the ball wide as quickly as possible
- To beat the full back with pace/skill and find a pass in the 18-yard area.
Sometimes when coaching a game, you will come up a team who wants to sit back and as we say ‘park the bus’. Basically a team get all of their players behind the ball and stops any penetration with the form of a ’block’. This is very frustrating to play against as it takes away a lot of space to attack. We are going to focus on beating the block by going round it, using speed and skill.
Set-Up
Use the 18-yard and surrounding area with 2 goals on the 30-yard line for the defending team to score in. Set the defending team up in 2 lines of 3 or a ‘block’ with a GK. Set up the attacking team with 2 wide players, 2 central midfielders and a central striker.
Execution
To beat the block your team will be going around it. It is important that the attacking team moves and passes with speed. If you pass and run with the ball slowly this only plays into the hands of the defending team. A center midfielder passes out wide to the wide midfielder who looks to run with the ball at the full back at speed.
Encourage your players to use skill to beat the full back, but at speed, try not to do to many tricks, remember the focus is speed of play so the defenders can’t get set and organized. The wide midfielder’s aim is to get to the touchline and survey their options. As they do this the rest of the players will move accordingly.
With the wide midfielder dribbling to the touchline, they are looking for 2 options. The 1st being to pull the ball back to the penalty spot area. Because of their position, the defense has congested the area around the GK so there is no space. Because it is natural for players to watch the ball and take their eye off of other players this is when a center midfielder, at the top of the 18 meets the ball at the penalty spot area for a shot. Now the shot may get blocked or saved but the more you do this the more, higher quality chances you will get. It is important that the striker (9) makes a run to the front post to take players away
from the penalty spot area.
The other option for the wide midfielder to consider is to play the ball across the 6-yard box if there is room. This pass will need to have pace on it to beat the GK. It also has the possibility of coming off a part of a defender and deflecting into the goal anyway.
If the defense does well and stops penetration from out wide, instead of forcing the ball through on that side, it is important that your team see this and move away from their current positions to switch the ball with speed to attack from the other side.
If the defense wins the ball then they are to shoot into the goals in the corners, this is to replicate a team who just wants to sit back and kick the ball long.
Variations
- Add more attackers/defenders if you have the players
- If there is the space allow your wide midfielders to cut inside before the touchline
- If the defending team sits off too much allow central midfielders to carry the ball forward and shoot
By Sean Pearson. Sean is also the author Coaching Team Shape in the 3-3-1, Coaching Team Shape in the 4-2-3-1 and Coaching Team Shape in the 4-3-3
