Tag Archives for " Formation "

0 Should I keep or change my formation

By Tom Mura Question - This high school girls’ soccer season has just begun where I live, and I coach a local JV team. As the JV coach, I view my job as one with two parts, soccer development and confidence building. Normally, I have the girls play a 4-1-2-1-2, partly because it's a simple enough formation

1 Coaching Team Shape in the 4-2-3-1

One of the biggest challenges when coaching young players is getting them to stay in position. Time and again, you see them charging for the ball, before huddling around it in a clumsy effort to get a kick. Even senior players can succumb to over enthusiasm, creating huge gaps for the opposition to exploit and break through on goal.

Coaching Team Shape in the 4-2-3-1 provides a grid based training system that solves this problem. Firstly, it introduces your players to the key principles of keeping team shape before providing a progressive series of drills that improve their

0 The False 9

Our latest book explores how some of the best teams in the world play with a withdrawn forward, also known as a False 9. The number 9 relate to the classic number given a the striker.

The most famous example of this method being used is Spain during the 2010 World Cup. When Fernando Torres was not playing Spain would play without a true forward and only have Cesc Fabregas playing a little higher up the field than

0 Switching to a 4-2-3-1

There is no one formation that will work for all teams. Most coaches understand and accept this. But I also believe that no one formation is always best for a team.

Prior to the start of the season my U16 girls team experimented with a number of different formations: 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2. The 4-4-2 formation proved to be the best fit for us given the talents and qualities of our players.

The team had a fairly successful fall season. They finished second in their league and competed well in tournaments. In the winter league we were placed in a division with teams that were simply more talented. The girls played hard and to the best of their ability but we were simply out classed.

The last game of the season we played a team that was a three time State Champion and Regional Runner up. The girls and I both knew that it would be a difficult game. To give us the best

0 Small-Sided Games in Training

Small-sided games are a great tool for player development. But as with any tool they must be used correctly to achieve the best results. It's not enough to create two teams of eight and drop a ball. The more specifically you design the game, the more your players will benefit. Most coaches will choose a

0 A Variation of the 4-3-3

No formation will fit every group of players. A coach that plays the exact same formation with every team will be frustrated by certain players inability to, 'fit the formation'. For years my teams always played 4-4-2. There are some variations you can used depending on how you play your forwards and your central midfielders but that's pretty much it. Sure, you could play sweeper/stopper with the center backs but very few teams play with a sweeper in the modern game. You can change every
formation to a small degree but I feel that the 4-3-3 is the most customizable of all of the popular formations.

There are so many ways to vary the 4-3-3. You can play with the midfielders spread across the field with a right, left and center. They can be in a