Many activities work on attacking and defending. Many activities work on possession. Not many work on both. This activity, and many like it can be seen in the book Full Season Training Program - Elite Team by Terry Michler
This activity is a 6 v 5 plus a keeper in the penalty area. 5 attacking players are inside the 18 with a ball. 3 defending players are inside the 18 as well. The other 3 players on the defending team are around the 18. There is a keeper in goal.
The attacking team starts off by playing 5 v 3 to goal. If they score a goal, they get the ball again. This is a relatively small space and the idea is for the attacking team to get to goal quickly (it doesn’t make sense to make 8 passes inside the 18 before trying to score as this would be unrealistic in a real game). To make this a bit more difficult for the attacking team, the offside rule is in place (the 3 players on the outside of the 18 don’t affect offside).
If the defending team wins the ball they try to maintain possession using the 3 players inside the 18, the keeper and the 3 players on the outside of the 18. The players on the outside of the 18 are restricted to 1 touch and while they can move along the 18 they must stay within 5 yards of the 18 at all times (they can’t enter the 18 but to improve their angles, they can move back up to 5 yards)
A goal by the attacking team (the team with 5) counts as one point.
5 passes by the defending team (the team with 6) counts as one point.
If the team with 6 has possession and then loses the ball, the team with 5 can score right away so not only does the team with 6 have to try to keep possession but they also need to be aware of where they are on the field and play accordingly.
The first team to 5 points wins. The team with 6 would rotate their players so each players gets an equal amount of time inside the 18 as they do outside.
This is an excellent activity to work on attacking and defending the goal as well as maintaining possession of the ball.
This activity, and many like it can be seen in the book Full Season Training Program - Elite Team by Terry Michler
