Tag Archives for " Carvalho "

0 How to Defend When Attacking

By Danny Carvalho Question - “In a recent game, the opposition would leave three forwards near the half line when we were attacking and near goal. I told my players that we needed four players back to cover them, but this left us short of numbers when attacking. How would you deal with that?" This

0 When and How to Come Off the Line

By Danny Carvalho,  This session was designed to get the goalkeepers to push further their knowledge and ability regarding when and how to come out the line to stop an opponent. Warm Up Have five balls aligned at the penalty mark height, about three yards apart. The balls will be numbered. The GK starts facing

0 30 Activities For a Possession Based Game Model – eBook

1 Organizing Your Center Midfielders

By Danny Carvalho Question - “We play with a 4-4-2, but I'm struggling with the two center mids. I give them freedom to move where they want and interchange with each other. However, there are lots of times where both of them move forward to join the attack which leaves a big hole in the

1 Playing in the Final Third – eBook

0 Invite the Opposition to Press Then Sucker Punch Them

By Danny Carvalho I love this idea of the negative pass! Some player passes to someone behind him. The opposition runs forward to press for the ball. They leave space behind… BOOM! Sucker punch them with a through ball and a free path to their goal! Oh, what is the sucker punch? Let’s quote Pep

1 GK Distribution to Start Quick Counter-Attacks

By Danny Carvalho,  When thinking about a fast and direct counterattack starting from the GK I believe the first play that will always come across my mind is the third Belgium’s goal against Japan in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The game was even at 2-2 with only a few minutes before full time

0 How To Turn Your Shots Into Goals

By Danny Carvalho Question - “My team always out shoots an opponent. But we struggle with finishing our opportunities and don't take our opportunities when shooting when they are open from outside. Help!” I know it is no fun being in the coach’s shoes when this is the case but, as the expert trying to

0 Confuse Your Opponents With Overlaps

By Danny Carvalho Have you ever caught yourself watching a game where nothing different happened in attack, both teams were always trapped by the opposite defending system and every play was so predictable? Yeah, I know the feeling. It sucks! With this session I hope you won’t ever have to deal with a predictable boring

0 Brazilian Street Games to Develop Your GKs

By Danny Carvalho,  The following games exist for a long time. Back on the 90s/2000s you could see in any place you would go in Brasil where there was a goal or anything alike, a whole bunch of kids (including myself) and teens playing these games for fun. Little did we know how good these

0 Force Inside or Force Outside

By Danny Carvalho Question - “As rule, when defending. I ask my players to force the ball inside, hopefully into pressure and crowded spaces. But sometimes we get caught out and it's just like we are inviting them to get into scoring positions in the center. So, I often wonder if it might be better

0 Space and Support

By Danny Carvalho These two tactical concepts are key in every area of the field for a team that likes to play possession-based soccer. This session focus on the general macro aspects of spacing and supporting. One could say that is an introductory session to these principles. Warm Up Split the group into three teams.

1 Explosive Goalkeeping Like Keylor Navas

By Danny Carvalho,  I truly madly deeply admire Keylor Navas’ capacity to reach for balls apparently too far to stop. He is amazingly explosive between the bars and underrated in my humble opinion. This practice was designed to have your goalies make miracles like a UEFA Champions League champion! Warm Up Have two cones of

0 Coaching Two Forwards

By Danny Carvalho Question - “We play with two forwards, but they keep making the same runs or getting in each other’s way.  How can I train them to work off each other and not get in each other’s way?”” Great question demands an even better strategy to sort it out. Let’s think logically and

0 Stop Crosses Like Cortouis

By Danny Carvalho,  This very important skill is often neglected on goalkeeping specific training which cannot be accepted by a head coach who wants to achieve great accomplishments in their season. So here goes a simple and basic practice on stopping crosses. Warm Up Goalkeepers working in pairs. The goal is just to get the

0 Turning with the Ball and Switching Play

By Danny Carvalho The ability of receiving from one direction and turning with the ball to another direction is very appreciated by coaches because it helps the team to switch points of attack which makes difficult for the opponents to have a chance on winning the ball. Today’s session aims to work on that in

0 Small Group Defending Drills

By Danny Carvalho Question - “I have a group of 10-year-olds who are pretty skillful, but their defending technique is very poor.  I really need to start from scratch.  Do you have any good 1v1 defending drills and then some drills to train the cover defender?”” I hear you, my friend. And I am sure

0 Come Off the Line Goalkeeper

By Danny Carvalho,  This ability is a game changer. It separates the average GK from the outstanding GKs! Not only the ability but the decision making, the timing, the courage, the urgency and the acceleration. Warm up Have one GK in the six yard and another facing them at about 5 yards outside the box.

0 Creating Goal Chances in the Final Third

By Danny Carvalho With the modern game having more and more compact defenses, our teams need to create as many goal attempts as possible and make the most of each chance created. Today’s session is all about flair, creativity and scoring goals! Warm Up A 2v1 game situation on the top of the box to

0 Active Shooting Drills

By Danny Carvalho Question - “Can you share some small-sided games for shooting that include at least 12 players?  This way, I won't have players stood on the sideline” Alright, here goes three top games that your players are going to love! Activity 1 1st step: (A) starts from the yellow cone and goes unopposed

0 Goalkeeper Distribution Following Cruyffs Principle

By Danny Carvalho,  The one and only Johann Cruyff once said a phrase that is forever immortalized in soccer for the ones who appreciate attacking and possession-based soccer. It was something like: “In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.” As I’m a big fan of this philosophy,

0 How to Delay Counter Attacks

By Danny Carvalho In modern soccer, a deadly counter attack can sometimes be what determines a good or a bad result. For this reason, we must be effective right after losing the ball when we are transitioning from attack to defense. In today’s session we are going to talk about and work on delaying counter-attacks.

0 Drills for Playing Out of the Back

By Danny Carvalho Question - “I want my team to play the ball out of the back third and build up play to attacking situations. Can you share some drills that start with small numbers and then build up to 11v11?” Personally, I’m a fan of building from the back with short passes like Guardiola’s

0 Playing Through Midfield

By Danny Carvalho In my humble opinion the wisdom of knowing when to pass and when to dribble is key to differentiate a beginner to an advanced effective player. In this session we work on this specifically on the middle third where the is usually crowded, with less time and space and under a lot