Tag Archives for " Penetration "

0 Creating options to penetrate

By Philip Joe Cauchi One important principle that we should work on during the phase of possession, is to create numerical superiority around the ball. This creates various options especially in front of the ball where we aim to verticalize and break lines. To be able to verticalize we have to first create the necessary

0 Penetration Targets with Dummies

By Steven Smith Area Size: A grid that is 20 X 20 is set up with three dummies (or poles) in the middle as shown. Three groups of three are divided into color groups. Teams: At least two teams but prefer three or more. Time: 20 minutes for full progression to completion. Objective: The objective is

0 Central Midfielders’ Runs Behind the Back Line

By Alex Trukan Typical penetration in behind the opposition’s back line involves a striker or a winger running off defenders’ shoulder to a well-timed pass. This approach, however is relatively easy to defend against as striker remains within defender’s vision and his starting position is predictable. Much more complex to defend against are forward runs

0 Breaking the Defensive Block

By Alex Trukan Red Bull Leipzig has been a revelation of this Bundesliga season, currently sitting second, just three points behind Bayern Munich. Not only results but also their style of play is what they became famous for. RB Leipzig is mainly recognised as high intensity, aggressive pressing side which tries to win the ball

0 Penetration in the 2 - 3 - 1

By Sean Pearson With the new USSF mandated birth year and small sided games changes there is a lot of trial and error regarding formations and systems of play. Instead of 8v8 formations, as coaches, we are now trying to figure out how to position our players in the new 7 v 7 and 9

0 4 v 4 + 2

0 Lateral Play

By Mike Smith Ever ask your team, “What exactly are you doing to the other team?”? Meaning, are your possessions, movements and tactics really causing a team to make adjustments to deal with you? Often times the answer is “no”, and for those times, a little more focus on lateral play can be the “yes” which

0 Width – Length - Width

By Mike Smith “It’s not rocket science.” I’m probably not the only coach to use this phrase when explaining what to do with the ball to my players. Most times, I find myself using this phrase to the teams which are really good at possessing the ball, to the point that’s all they try to do.

0 1 v 1 + 1 / 2 v 2 + 2

By Sean Reed - Objective This session focuses on looking to play forward and support the play in order to combine to finish on goal. Session 1 Diagram 1 Set Up Working with two groups of 1v1+1 1v1 in the middle 1 player up at each end working either side of the goal 2 small

0 Training Movement Without the Ball

By Mike Smith This session is focused on small groups of players working together to defend the space behind them. The fact is most of a soccer game is played off the ball. Because of this, great technical skill is needed to take advantage of the short time a player does have the ball. However, there is

0 Small Group Defending

By Chris Kouns USSF A License (USSF Coaching Education Instructor) – NSCAA Premier Diploma (NSCAA Coaching Education Associate Staff Coach) – Head Women’s Soccer Coach – Georgia Gwinnett College This session is focused on small groups of players working together to defend the space behind them. Set-Up In an area approximately 30 x 30 there will

0 2 v 1 Possession to Progress

By Alex Trukan This practice is aimed at developing players’ capacity to maintain the number of actions throughout the game – aerobic power. This physical component is fundamental to further develop other conditioning attributes such as strength or speed. In addition to that, it challenges players’ passing as well as movement off the ball qualities.

0 Runs in Beyond from Deeper Positions

By Alex Trukan Moving the ball forwards is one of the essential requirements to create goalscoring chances and finish. In order to be able to secure the ball in more advanced positions, forward runs without the ball are needed. Forward runs are for example used to play the ball into the striker going in behind

0 Breaking Through the Midfield

By Alex Trukan Defending in midfield and central areas is usually a big emphasis in a lot of teams. When out of possession, midfield is a unit that prevents the opposition from exploiting the back line as well as breaking into the final third of the pitch. Therefore, from the attacking point of view, finding

0 Penetration in the example of Red Bull Leipzig

By Alex Trukan Red Bull Leipzig, one of the clubs owned by Red Bull holding has been a revelation of this season’s 2 Bundesliga, currently (07.01.2016) occupying 1st place in the table and not only winning the games but also playing very interesting and unusual style of play. Team managed by Ralf Rangnick, one of

0 Playing Forwards from Centre Backs’ Possession

By Alex Trukan Combination of playing out from the back through central defenders with quick penetration through the thirds is not only attractive to watch but also effective. The ability to prioritise passing options and play forwards if possible is one of the attributes modern centre backs will definitely need. That requires not only great

0 Possession to Penetrate

By Eric Clermont -  Over the last few years, with the continued success on tiki taka and the possession style game, many youth coaches have taken it upon themselves to develop a syndrome I like to call a possession-itis. While many coaches teach the possession style along with it’s many coaching points, they have given their

1 Coaching the Principles of Soccer

When you coach young players, it can be difficult to know where to start. Some coaches will focus onlyon developing technique without teaching the key elements of the game. But this can just stunt a young player’s development. When they don’t understand the game’s core principles, they won’t know where they need to be and why so they can use their  technique to create chances to score. To solve this age old problem, two experts in youth coaching have created Coaching the Principles of Soccer – Attack and Defense. This book presents a structured approach to developing an understanding of how the game is played and to provide them with a solid base on which they can develop.

The drills in Coaching the Principles of Soccer – Attack and Defense will

0 Philadelphia 3v3v3 Penetration and Defense Activity

By Keith Scarlett

This activity works on possession to penetrate, combination play, defending, pressure, cover, recovery and communication.

It is important for all the players to be on the same page. Both attacking and defending requires teamwork and that means every single player has to be on the same page. In this activity, we put the players under pressure from all sides and if they don’t play well as a unit, chances are, they’re going to be letting in quite a few in the game. The exercise is about playing your responsibility and staying on top of things. REMEMBER: the FIRST pass is of the utmost importance!

Set-up: The playing area is 30 x 20 meters, divided into two halves of 15 x 20 meters. One ball is used. There are three teams of three players each.

How it Works: The game begins with one team (Red) standing in the middle while the other two teams (Black and Yellow) stand at opposite ends of the playing area. The ball is given randomly to

0 The Art of Passive Defending

By 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

0 1v1 Penetration Drill

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on 1 v 1 penetration

Start with a 30 x 30 grid with two teams of threes. There is a player from each team in diagonal corners and a 1 v 1 in the middle. There is one ball

In this example the yellow team starts on offense. The player in the corner with the ball starts by

0 Possession to Penetration

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession penetration as well as transition.

Start with a 50 x 40 grid with two 10 yard long end zones. There is a neutral player in each end zone. There is a 5 v 5 inside the grid.

This is a possession game within the grid but to score a goal the team with the ball must

1 Penetrating With Killer Passes

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Coaching the 4-2-3-1 ADVANCED Tactics,  Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.

Barcelona in the 2012/2013 season have been almost unplayable. Last season, they became slightly predictable, they suffered from no width or balance, especially on the left side, which Jordi Alba has fixed this season, and suffered from being too focused on playing centrally, and retaining possession when penetration opportunities have become available. This season, Alba has contributed to the width and balance issue on the left side, but more noticeable has been the massive amount of ‘killer passes’ being played from all over the field. In this game, Alexis, Messi and Villa all scored from a killer pass from different areas of the field.

Alexis’ goal – Iniesta plays a through ball 40 yards from goal between the center backs

Iniesta dribbles forward with Alba in support on the left to make a 2v1. As Iniesta cuts inside, Alexis knows that a space between