By Stevie Grieve, Author of Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.
This is a sneak peek at our soon to be released book, "Coaching the 4-2-3-1". Watch for our email newsletters and Facebook page for more info.
Place 3 or 4 players inside a central zone. With 4 players, all players have 1 zone, with 3, the players closest to the ball play inside the zones; the 3rd player plays behind and makes a triangle.
When the ball is passed, the closest player to the ball sprints out to press the ball as above;
The yellow has pressed the ball, but it has been passed wide. The red presses as the ball reaches his opponent, the yellow drops back into his zone while the orange is ready to sprint out to press the next pass if it is passed right, the yellow will press again if it is pressed left. The blue will cover behind the red and orange and be ready for if the players behind him move round to fill in the spaces and can press if these players receive the ball. Attacking players can move positions to fill in the spaces in the centre to create short passes.
Coaching Points:
- Be ready to press quickly and put the attacker under pressure
- Sprint out and get into good body position to force play into a team mate
- Recover quickly into position and be ready to press again
- If the ball is passed into a central player, you can take the risk and double pressure
This article is by Stevie Grieve, author of Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics. So if you like this type of article, then check out the books for lots more.
