Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity is a structured small sided game working on interchanging positions and support. Similar type activities can be found in the book Professional Youth Academy Training Sessions by Sam Saif.
This is a 5 v 5 game on a 30 x 20 field with 2 full sized goals. The field is broken into thirds and there is a keeper in each goal, 2 backs, 1 midfielder and 1 forward for each team.
The ball starts with the black teams keeper who can roll the ball to either of his backs. The two backs would split in order to make it difficult for the opposing player to mark both.
The back who receives the ball can either pass to the midfielder, pass to the keeper or other back or dribble into the midfield. If he passes to the midfielder he then follows the ball and joins into the middle third.
This creates a 2 v 2 in the middle third of the field.
The two players in the middle third can now pass the ball into their forward or can dribble into the final third. The key here is either player can be the one to go forward BUT it can only be one of them.
When the team loses possession they must get back into their 2-1-1 formation. The key to understand is players don’t have to go back to where they started. If a back makes a run forward into the middle third and then keeps going into the final third, when possession is lost, the forward might go back to the middle third and the midfielder might go back to the back third. It’s not about playing a specific position but rather about maintaining proper shape and balance. The keeper will be an integral part of the reshaping of the team on transitions.
Similar type activities can be found in the book Professional Youth Academy Training Sessions by Sam Saif.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
