By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession and finding a target player.
Start with a 30 x 30 grid with a 5 x 5 area in the middle.
This is a 6 v 6 activity (the number of players and the size of the
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Since the summer, Liverpool have struggled to get back to the fluid and penetrative style of last season. Losing Luis Suarez was a big blow, and replacing him with 2 immobile strikers instead of a more suitable mobile player or use the rapid and mobile Divock Origi (who stayed on loan at Lille) has caused no end of problems for the team in an attacking sense.
Recently, Brendan Rodgers has found a way to fit in his £25m signing Adam Lallana, talismanic figure Coutinho and potential World Class player Raheem Sterling, by using a system of 3-4-3-0, incorporating a back 3 with Emre Can able to stride into midfield and use his excellent ball playing abilities, with raiding full backs Moreno and Manquillo offering the width on the sides.
The often criticized Joe Allen has found a position similar to the one Busquets made his trademark by dropping between centre backs and operating in front of the oppositions midfield, looking for passes into midfield or attack from a deep position, with Henderson playing ahead of him in a position to press or offer short passes to and from Allen to keep play moving.
Liverpools 3-4-3 is designed to place players between the lines and attack the
Continue readingTelling a team that they need to, 'Keep possession' is such an abstract and nonspecific concept for so many young players. Teaching them what it takes to keep the ball gives them specific things that they need to do in order to ensure that the team has the best chance to retain the ball.
In David Goldstein's book, 'Improving Your Team's Possession Play' he outlines simple system that can be taught to players at any age or level of play. The core principle is that the player with the ball must have a, 'Left, Right and Split'.
Here is an excerpt that explains this and the other important concepts of the book.
So what is left/right/split support? It is simply that the person with the ball has someone on the left of them for support, someone on the right of them for support and someone working to
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Bayern Munich under Guardiola have changed significantly since the treble winning team under Jupp Heynckes, but one thing which has returned this season is the direct passes over the top of a defence in attacking transition. This was an aspect missing last season but with Xabi Alonso, David Alaba, Xherdan Shaquiri able to play accurate passes over 40m, and players able to run behind a defence in Robert Lewandowski, Arjen Robben and Mario Goetze, they have the ability to do so.
Pressing results in regain and instant forward pass resulting in a goal
As Bayern press from the front, Bayern like to make play predictable. Here they leave the pass to the full back available but as the CB is under pressure, both CM’s turn and move away to recover the expected loose ball. Instead, the CB recognises the offered pass, but makes a bad decision to pass short into the Bayern press.
Shaquiri is in position to treble up with any of Robben and Lahm or Lahm and Alonso for any
Continue readingBy Stevie Grieve
Scotland went into the game against newly crowned World Champions, Germany on the back of a 6 game unbeaten run. New coach Gordon Strachan has assembled a team with a solid work ethic who can follow out his tactical instructions against stronger opposition and win, as shown by home and away victories over Croatia. The set up of the Scotland team has changed drastically over the past 18 months, with the re-introduction of high pressing, a more offensive game plan and the use of Steven Naismith as a CF, who likes to drop off and roam, leaving space for more movement across the front line from midfielders and wingers.
In this match v Germany, we saw another side to the ‘new Scotland’; a clear coherent game plan designed to use Germany’s ideals against them. Scotland wanted to direct the game to Germany’s left and Scotland’s right, trying to keep the ‘space invader’ Thomas Muller from being able to have an impact from the right, while trying to win the ball on the right and leaving a 2v1 on the far side in Scotland’s favour if it was switched, to release the rapid Ikecha Anya down the left in transition while maintaining defensive balance with Whittaker covering behind at left back.
Scotland using Germany’s pressing against them
When the ball was won, Scotland would often try to play 2 or 3 quick passes before going forward. Traditionally, Scotland would regain the ball and
Continue readingOccasionally a team will play a game when the effort level is just not there. There can be many reasons (or excuses) for it but when this happens with one of my teams I use it as an opportunity to explain that each player is responsible for their level of effort. When they go on
Continue readingI've written before about our club's philosophy that encourages teams of all ages to play out of the back as often as possible. The key to implementing this with your team is to teach the players what visual cues to look for so that they can see patterns in the options that are available. These
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan The possession game 5v5+2 with four end zones has multiple outcomes important for player development. From the technical and tactical perspective, it can be used to develop passing, support, creating space and transition concepts. Looking from the physical point of view, presented game is aimed at improving aerobic capacity needed to maintain
Continue readingBy Alex Trukan
The following practice is aimed at developing the ability to sustain many actions throughout the whole match. In example, that will enable players to produce the same amount of sprints in the first as well as last 15 minutes of the game. In addition, that is achieved in possession game, what increases the motivation of the players and links physical focus with technical and tactical content.
Set up and directions:
Set up a square of 30-40 m. depending on the ability as well as number of players. Organise min. 6 little gates in the middle of the square as shown on the diagram. Divide the group into two teams of 5 players. To score a point, a team should pass the ball through a small gate. The team with more points wins the game.
Method of scoring points in this exercise requires constant support in front and in behind the ball. After single point is scored, the game
Continue readingI feel confident in saying that most coaches use a 5 v 2 possession game in their training plan. It's a great exercise that is a technical challenge but also requires the players to make good decisions about where to pass and how to support. Like any exercise, if you use it too often it
Continue readingThis weeks posts is from the May edition of WORLD CLASS COACHING magazine that is available exclusively to Member Drills Database subscribers. The training session was contributed by Kevin Thelwell who is the Head of Football Development and Recruitment for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Reed has been working with professional clubs for more than 13 years. He
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Newsletter. Today’s featured activity shows you how to work on passing a receiving while building in a lot of fitness.
Start with groups of threes. Two players are 20 yards from each other and the third player is in the middle with a ball.
The player in the middle (1) starts by passing to
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on quick passes, accuracy, footwork and more
Start with three players in a triangle approximately 15 yards apart. One player has a ball.
The players start by passing to each other one touch so that the ball
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 readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on working the ball out of the back and switching fields quickly.
Start with a full field and one full sided team (in this case I’m using a 4-4-2 but can be in any formation you choose) and an opposing team with a couple less players (in this case they are in a 2-3-2)
The ball starts with the keeper of the full sided team and they try to
Continue readingAs an American I'm drawn to statistics to evaluate players and teams. The mainstream American sports of Baseball and Football are often viewed through the stats of the players. They are evaluated and ranked based on batting averages, yards per carry, quarterback rating and earned run averages. Soccer enthusiasts used to decry the use of
Continue readingThis is an area that I'm constantly thinking about. Especially with players that are moving from one developmental stage to the next. My focus currently is on my U10 that plays in a U11 division. We have focused on individual technique to the point where they are very confident with the ball. But at times
Continue readingBy Gabriel Celante
This drill will work on individual and group decision making about where to play the ball, holding possession, and completing a series of passes. This drill also emphasizes switching the point of attack and quickly transition play.
Organization
1. Set up the field as shown on the diagram.
2. Split the field in two halves
3. Split the teams in 2 groups of 5v1, 5v2 or 4v2
Instructions
The team that starts the ball has to make 5 passes and then
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession, penetrating passes and defending.
Start with a 30 x 30 grid with a 10 x 10 area in the middle. This is a 5 v 5 possession game with 2 neutral players.
In this example, the black team is going to start on offense, the yellow team is defending and the white players are neutrals and are always on the
Continue readingIf there's one standard possession game that just about every coach uses it must be 5 v 2. It's a great introduction to possession play because the intensity of the defending is easily controlled by the size of the area. The attackers have enough of an advantage that they can gain confidence from being successful but it is still a challenge. Once the players achieve a certain degree of comfort you can put a limit on their touches and challenge their ability to think quickly and read where the open pass is.
The most common way I've seen the game played is with five offensive players
Continue readingBy 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
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession and getting to goal.
This activity uses a half field with a goal and a keeper on each end line. There is a middle grid of 20 x 44 with a 4 v 4 in this grid. There is a neutral player out wide on each side and an attacking player 15 yards from each goal.
The players in the grid play possession and need
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity helps a player work the ball out of the back under pressure
Start with a player defending the goal out wide around 35 yards from goal. A player attacking the goal starts 5 yards further back. There is a keeper in goal and a server toward the middle of the field with balls.
The server plays a ball toward the
Continue readingBy Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.
Welcome to the FineSoccer Drills Newsletter. Today’s featured activity works on possession, crossing and finishing.
This activity uses half a field. Have a 30 x 44 grid just outside the top of the D with a 4 v 4 plus 1 neutral (numbers can be changed). There is also a neutral player out wide on each side. There is a keeper in goal.
The players inside the grid are trying to keep possession and are trying to make 5 consecutive passes (the neutral player is always on offense). Once a team makes 5 consecutive passes (passes to the neutral player inside the grid counts) they can
Continue reading