By Jebreel Bubtana
This exercise works on counter attacking and recovering as a defender.
Set up the field as shown below in figure 1, with two goals 25 yards apart and two lines of players to the right of each goal.
The exercise starts with one player attacking the goal in front to
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on passive defending and looking to penetrate in the attack.
Start with a 30 x 20 grid with 2 goals on each end line that are 3 yards wide. There is a midfield line and 2 teams of 5 players.
The teams try to score in either of the two opposite goals. As soon as a team loses possession all of
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By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity works on defensive shape and patience
Start with a keeper in goal, a back 4 and 2 center mids (this is assuming you play with a back 4, if you play with 3 in back, set up accordingly). The attacking team has 2 forwards and 3 midfielders to start.
The three attacking midfielders pass the ball around and try to
Continue readingBy Jebreel Bubtana
This exercise gets the players to develop their anaerobic endurance very well by winning the ball back quickly. The idea is to place the team with the ball under high pressure and win the ball back as quickly as possible and then pass the ball out the outside players and keep possession to get their breath and shape back.
Set up the field as shown below (figure 1). The area is 20x20 with 4v4 in the middle and 4 neutral players on the outside who cover the four sides on the square.
Both teams try to keep possession of the ball and can use the neutrals on the outside of the area to help them keep the ball and get as
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive recovery
Start with a 4 v 4 game plus keepers on a 50 x 40 area
This game is designed to work on players getting back and providing support after the player they are marking plays the ball. Too often we see defensive players either
Continue readingBy Jebreel Bubtana
Learning how to defend a 2v1 is very important, as it is a situation that comes up many times during the course of a game.
Set up the field as shown below in figure 1. Mini goals or Pugg goals can be used in the top right and top left corners of the area. The exercise starts with the defender who passes the ball across the area to the two attackers.
The attackers try to dribble the ball through the gate on the other side of the field in the middle. The defender must
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
A long time rule of thumb for soccer in the defensive part of the field has been “If in doubt, kick it out”.
The logic for this rule of thumb is when the ball is in the defensive part of the field, if you have possession of the ball and can’t find a good option, if you kick the ball out of bounds, it will give your team time to get back to help you defend.
The problem with this is when you factor in that more than 50% of all goals come from dead ball situations, do you really want to give the opposing team a dead ball situation? Needlessly giving away corner kicks and throw in’s can create a lot more danger than working your way out of danger.
Most of the time, when a player has the ball in back, even when they are under pressure, they still out-number the opposition (especially if the keeper is providing support as opposed to just standing in goal yelling “Clear!, Clear!”.) Think about the amount of time spent in training working on 3 v 2, 4 v 2 and 5 v 3 and most of the time, this is the exact same situation. It’s just a matter of
Continue readingBy Jebreel Bubtana
It is important to get your players to understand that when defending they must show the attackers away from goal and this set of exercises is great for developing this understanding and working on endurance.
Set up and directions:
Set up the field as below (figure 1). The cones are set up 10 yards apart and the cones act as attackers. The defenders must curve their run and close the space down to the cone quickly. The player must defend the cone for 3 seconds and then move onto the next two cones, doing the same thing before going back to the start cone. The defenders must complete this circuit using the correct techniques 6 times. This also works on the players’ endurance and the coach must emphasize that the players cannot get sloppy and not defend the cones properly as their legs get tired.
Coaching Points:
• Curve run as shown by the arrows above.
• Close down the cones quickly.
• As the defender gets closer they must
By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive organization in a 2 v 2 situation
Frequently we train by starting with the players in traditional positions and then see how they react. In this activity we have a 2 v 2 going to goal but the 2 attacking players start one in front of the other.
Start with a keeper in goal and 2 defending players. The first attacker starts 35 yards out with a ball and then second attacker is 10 yards further back.
The player with the ball starts with a dribble and then it’s a live attack on goal. The defenders want to concentrate on
Continue readingWhen we launched the WCC Video Library our first task was to get most of our DVD collection uploaded and included. Once that was complete (it's almost done), all of our new stuff will be high quality Hi Def videos. So I'm pleased to announce that we have now started uploading more Hi Def videos...AND we
Continue readingWe recently asked coaches to submit their favorite defending drills and small-sided game. We picked one from all the entries as the winner and the coach received a $200 gift certificate to our site. The winner was Gabriel Celante for his Transitional Defending Game. Here's a look at the game.
Transitional Defending Game
This Transitional Defending Game focuses on developing and practicing defending cooperation, defensive pressure, and specific decision making while defending. This small sided game also focuses on developing transition to
One of the factors that always kept me from moving away from the 4-4-2 was a concern for how to cover the wide areas using a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. Once I understood how to teach my players to recognize cues and cover for each other I saw how the systems could be used to teach players more about the game. Requiring them to make decisions is the best way for them to learn rather than just putting them in a formation that has strictly defined roles where they just, 'do their job'.
Stevie Grieve's latest book, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 Advanced Tactics, does a great job
Continue readingBy Daniel Severn
This exercise will help your players to develop an understanding of key defensive positioning, delaying an opponent and help to develop their decision making. It can be broken down into a more tactical practice, but I like to play this game with a continuous aspect to increase the intensity. It is also a great way to teach players how to keep focus when tiring in the game.
Set Up
You will need a minimum of 9 players to run this exercise as continuous (you can play this with just 6, but for the best intensity, 12 players is ideal). You begin with 1 Goalkeeper and 2 Defenders placed just inside the penalty area. You now have 3 lines of attackers set up as if they are playing the roles of a striker and the two wingers/wide midfielders. The Striker starts with the ball.
Set up is shown below in Fig 1.
Rules
- 2 minutes on the clock
- The defenders begin with 10 points
- Each goal they concede, they lost 1 point
- Winning pair are the ones with the most points remaining at the end
Directions
The striker begins with the ball centrally. As soon as the striker takes
By Jebreel Bubtana, BRASA, Brazilian Soccer Academy If you like to have your team play a high pressure game and win the ball back quickly when they lose it, then this is a great way to develop this. Playing a high pressure game can be very successful during games but must be worked on regularly
Continue readingThe 4-2-3-1 formation has become the system of choice for many of the worlds top professional and national teams like Real Madrid, Manchester United and Brazil. As coaches at every level have watched these top teams play they have looked for ways to implement the system with their college, high school and youth teams.
The first step in introducing a new way of playing s to break the system down and identify the most important components. The was done very well by
Continue readingBy Jebreel Bubtana, BRASA, Brazilian Soccer Academy
This exercise starts with 3 attackers in a large triangle shape around 25 yards out from goal and 2 defenders that start either side of the goal (figure 1). The idea of this exercise is to get the defenders working as hard as possible, which is why they are in a numbers down situation. To keep this exercise at a high intensity, make sure that there are a number of balls ready for the defenders to pass into the attackers. This will speed up the exercise and keep the defenders working at maximum intensity. This also puts the attackers and defenders in a real situation that they are likely to face in a game. Award the defenders points for stopping the attackers from scoring a goal, this will provide them with an incentive to work hard, especially for the younger age groups.
The defenders start with the ball and pass the ball to one of the attackers. Make sure that the defenders
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on defensive clearances.
Because of the tremendous success of teams such as Barcelona and Spain’s national team there is a great emphasis on playing out of the back but all teams (and players) have to clear balls from time to time. Most teams don’t work on it much because it’s not a glamorous type thing to work on but too often, it’s the difference between winning and losing.
Start with a back around the 12 yard spot and servers spread out 30-40 yards out.
Start by having the servers play simple balls into the box for the back
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on the back 4 supporting each other.
Start with a keeper in goal and 4 players across the back (if your team plays with 3 across the back you can do that instead). Two forwards from the opposing team are just in front of them and a midfielder with a ball is 20 yards away
The two forwards move along the line in front of the
By Justin Cresser
Today’s activity focuses on a number parameters, including individual and small group defending; 1 v 1 attacking; speed of reaction; and anaerobic endurance. It is an exercise I like to use during the competitive or in-season as it allows me to ‘kill many birds with one stone’.
Set-Up and Directions:
Divide your players into groups of 4 (or 8) and set up the following station for each group: Create a grid 20 yards wide and 20 yards long. Place a small goal (1.5 yards wide) on each side of the grid so that the goals are in line with the centre of the area. Have one player stand beside each goal with a ball at their feet. Give each player a different number between 1 and 4 (Figure 1).
When ready, the coach will call two numbers. The first number called will be
Continue readingBy 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,
Continue readingBy Justin Cresser Author of Total Soccer Conditioning: A Ball Orientated Approach
Individual and Small Group Defending; Dribbling to Beat and Opponent; Speed of Reaction and Developing Anaerobic Capacity
Today’s activity focuses on a number parameters, including individual and small group defending; 1 v 1 attacking; speed of reaction; and anaerobic endurance. It is an exercise I like to use during the competitive or in-season as it allows me to ‘kill many birds with one stone’.
Set-Up and Directions:
Divide your players into groups of 4 (or 8) and set up the following station for each group: Create a grid 20 yards wide and 20 yards long. Place a small goal (1.5 yards wide) on each side of the grid so that the goals are in line with the centre of the area. Have one player stand beside each goal with a ball at their feet. Give each player a different number between 1 and 4 (Figure 1).
When ready, the coach will call two numbers. The first number called will be the attacker and the second number called will
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Todays featured activity is a 3v1 possession game with rotating defenders.
Start with a 10 x 10 grid and 3 players on offense inside the grid. Three defenders are just outside of one corner with balls.
The first player in the corner passes the ball out to an
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured article works on 5 v 4 defending.
We are using a 40 x 30 grid with a small goal on each end line. There are two teams of 4’s on the field and an extra player behind each goal.
Whichever team has the ball their extra player join in. So if yellow
I think coaches spend a lot more time teaching offensive skills and techniques than they do teaching young players how do defend individually and in small groups. The attacking techniques of dribbling, passing and shooting are easy to create training sessions around and they are definitely the sexier skills of the game. But teaching a young player to defend a 1 v 1 effectively is vital to their development as a player.
This point was driven home to me last weekend as my teams played their first games of the new season. We had worked on all of the attacking skills but spent no time learning how to defend correctly. There are so many topics to cover that you just can't do it all in two weeks of training sessions before the first game. So this week
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