This week's Animated Drills Video is a follow up on a topic that I discussed on the CoachingSoccerWeekly.com podcast. My teams are getting ready to compete in the US Youth Futsal Nationals and we've been working on a tactic to use if we're down a goal and want to get an extra attacker on the
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By Sean Reed - Objective This session can focus on both attacking and defending play. The focus for the purpose of this session will be on attacking play and exploiting the overload. Session 1 Diagram 1 Set Up Working within the penalty area up towards the edge of the centre circle Each side 5yds inside
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This week's Animated Drill Video shows a fast paced and functional shooting competition that puts your players in situations that they will face in the game. The competitive aspect puts pressure on the players to perform. [wpsharely id="6889"][wpsharely][/wpsharely] The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through the Member Drills Database.
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This week's Animated Drill Video looks at a great environment for training goalscoring because there are so many different variations and progressions you can use. [wpsharely id="6889"][wpsharely][/wpsharely] The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet Training that is available through the Member Drills Database. Please share your ideas for variations of this exercise in the comments
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Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
Modern players are becoming more universal and adaptable to different situations and requirements. Defender is no longer responsible just for defending and striker’s role have evolved and now different types of strikers have emerged, who not only score, but assist, distribute and defend. Midfielders’ role has been probably the most multidimensional out of all the positions for many years. These type of players have numerous responsibilities both out and in possession of the ball. One of the crucial elements that can make a good midfielder a great one is his scoring ability.
Working off striker’s movements
The type and direction of midfielder’s forward run will be determined by the position of the striker who should move across the opposition back line and create space for the
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Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes
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Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes
Continue readingI like using continuous games because they are high energy, engage the players and create a very competitive environment. If you keep score then the game can replicate the pressure of the actual game.
This game is best played with at least six players on each team. To start the coach passes a ball into the middle and
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
This game-related practice combines tactical and physical development focus. From the tactical perspective, its aim is to improve attacking from the middle third by exploiting the space in behind of the defence using dribbling, through passes and forward runs with and without the ball. Apart from that, it develops Aerobic Capacity which is crucial for maintaining the quality of actions throughout the whole match by quick recovery after high intensity efforts.
Set-Up and directions
Set up a pitch of approximately 30x40 yards (depending on players’ characteristics) with a separate area in the middle third as shown on the diagram. Divide the team into two groups of 4. There should be one goalkeeper in each goal.
The starting point of this game is in the middle third. Two teams compete and
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The shooting circuit exercise incorporates fitness content of starting speed. This quality is needed in 1v1 duels, runs for the ball or exploiting shooting opportunities in and around the penalty area. Due to competitiveness of this practice, players are motivated to perform at 100% intensity, having fun and being engaged at the same time!
Set up and Directions
Set up two goals on each side of the area and 3x3 yards square in the middle. Divide the team into two groups (give them different colour bibs) and organise them on each end, next to the goal as shown on the diagram. Each player should have one ball each. There should be one goalkeeper in each goal.
On a coach’s signal, one player from each side dribbles to the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
One element in tactical development is the ability of players to do the unexpected to open up scoring chances. Tactics allow for the team to have a structured playing style which leads into a game process to find a way to win a game, but often a game is won by players in attacking areas making a chance to score from a piece of inspired play, often in tight situations.
Origi creates a chance for Chadli
De Bruyne dribbles inside to look for a diagonal pass into the feet of a player between the lines or into the
Continue readingWhile much of what I do during the Futsal season is intended relate to soccer in general and not just Futsal, there is still an adjustment period that my teams go through when we move from indoor to outdoor. The two areas that I focus on during the transition are recognizing and playing longer passes and finishing with a different ball, on the larger goal.
Shooting sessions to prepare the players for the different
Continue readingI usually end each session with a shooting exercise that incorporates aspects of the practice theme. One of the formats I often us is a simple three line set-up. I like this because you can do a wide variety of things from these basic starting position. The players are comfortable because we use this set-up often but I can make adjustments to place the emphasis where I want it.
I started using this as a regular part of my practices after
Continue readingI would say that most coaches believe that it's very important for all soccer players to be very comfortable with the ball at their feet. How they go about developing this confidence varies widely from one coach to another. Some will focus on fast footwork exercises, others will use cones or other obstacles to encourage players to keep the ball under control.
I've had the most success using fakes and moves to train ball control, creativity and 1 v 1 ability at the same time. The moves engage the player's imaginations and make it fun to practice. I discussed which
Continue readingAs the year progresses I like to add more functional activities to replace purely technical exercises. Not only do the players enjoy activities that are game related more I've also seen a greater transfer of training when I use them.
I prefer drills, exercises and games that are progressive; moving from low pressure to full pressure. They allow the player to have initial success but then be challenged by the ever increase pressure of
Continue readingMy U13 team that is playing in the 4-3-3 formation played it's first tournament this weekend. I think it's very beneficial to have an early season tournament so that the team plays three or four games over the course of a weekend. Generally I'm not a fan of the current tournament system and feel that they put too much emphasis on who has the fittest team rather than who has the best team. But the advantage is that you can spot areas that need to be worked on in one game and then come back and focus on those in the next game.
After an early season tournament I usually have two or three weeks of sessions in mind based things that we need to improve on from those games. This weekend we were clearly the strongest team but we ran into a team that knew our players and system of play. They sat in and played a 4-5-1 (which looked more like a 4-6-0 at times) and just looked to catch us on the counter attack. They were successful in keeping us out because we
Continue readingWelcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s topic deals with adding defensive pressure to shooting activities to make it more realistic. There are some excellent examples of this in the book Modern Attacking & Goalscoring by Liverpool Academy coach, Phil Roscoe and Mike Vincent.
This can best be demonstrated using an activity I wrote about a few years ago (and is a nice little passing/shooting activity). This is a simple three person combination using the D as the work area. One player starts at each corner of the D and one player is at the top of the D. There are other players behind the first player in one line and they all have balls.
When I work on shooting with my teams I like to create realistic situations that transfer easily into the real game. My favorite resource for these kind of exercises is a book by Chelsea Academy Coach, Michael Beale, called Training Creative Goalscorers. This is the best book or dvd I've seen for exercises that engage
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