By Jakub Pietrzak -
Not many players have the ability to pass the ball through the lines consistently. It requires good game understanding, high quality of the pass and adding the right weight into it. If players in your team struggle to play through well organised teams, training which allows multiple repetition of that pass can be very useful.
Principle of that drill is maximising players time on the ball while teaching one specific technique of the through ball. Depending on the number of players we put half of them on the cones in a zigzag. Players are asked to run with the ball using different techniques (laces, inside/outside, sole). As they arrive to the next cone, next player has to move away to create space, take a touch across the cone and run with the ball to the next cone. Ball mastery, repetition of simple technique allows that drill to be used in any parts of the session, but can be mainly useful as a warm up which can be followed up by games focusing on playing through the lines especially in the final third.
Players move to the next cone after performing the technical drill. As the ball arrives to the last cone in the zigzag, pass is made to the player who will attempt to play a final ball. Focus on good timing of movement off the cone (space creation) and the touch forwards into the space. Players are asked to set themselves with a good touch off their feet and pass it within 2 touches into the space. Distance between mannequins and the goal can be adjusted so players have to think about the weight of pass. Number and distances between the mannequins can be changed to raise the difficulty of the pass.
Wide players who are waiting outside the far mannequin are asked to make a run. Focus should be put on lateral movement and running into the space behind the mannequins as the passing player release the ball. It allows the players to understand the offside rule better and work on the timing of movement. That drill gives players opportunity to repeat the action many time and understand the weight of the pass better depending on the distances between the defenders and between the ball and defenders. The longer distances between defenders the longer pass can be played through. It highlights the importance of good touch in the space before playing a through ball and playing the ball in front of the running player to maximise his speed achieved through the lateral run.
If there is no goalkeeper there should be a rule of one touch finish to make sure the pass finds the run at the right time and is played in front of the running player. If goalkeeper available attacking players can be given more freedom, but to keep the right flow of the exercise they shouldn’t be allowed more than 2 touches. The right tempo of the drill is achieved when the second ball comes in as the first ball reaches 3rd/4th cone.
By Jakub Pietrzak
