Tag Archives for " Shape "

0 Blind Cross from a 4-5-1

By Mike Smith The idea of the blind cross has less to do with eye sight and more to do with trusting the space the concept creates, but many times it’s just so simple even a blind man could do it. I really like the idea of a 5 man midfield, not always to give my

0 Funnel Back from a 4-3-3

By Mike Smith A couple weeks ago, my high school team played in the regional tournament for the first time in 4 years. In the first round, we played a team that had beaten us 7-1 earlier in the season. Stocked full of club players from a school of over 1000, my 14 players from our

0 Transitional Shape in a 4-4-2

By Mike Smith The idea of transition, which Merriam Webster defines as the passage from one state to another, should contain elements of both states until the full change is made. From a soccer perspective, this to me means taking an extra step between defending and all out attack especially when a quick counter opportunity is

0 Possession for Tactical Front Third Direct Play

By Mike Smith This training session is a functional tactical approach that emphasizes that we must have clarity on our roles. For this session, seven and eleven must stay wide when ball is down the middle of field. When ball moves to flank, the near side player must stay wide and the far side needs to

0 Hold Your Space

By Mike Smith “Be in the right place at the right time.” Tons of success stories on and off the field and in all walks of life have come down to that statement. In soccer, the idea of team shape exemplifies this concept. However, actively managing team shape can be hard for players (especially young ones

7 Diamond Training Session for 2-3-1, 4-3-1 or 4-3-3

This week's Animated Drill Video is a session that will show your players how they can build out of the back. It's useful whether you're coaching a 7v7 team playing a 2-3-1 formation, a 9v9 team playing 4-3-1 or a full-sided team playing 4-3-3. [wpsharely id="6889"][wpsharely][/wpsharely] The diagram is being created with the session planner on Planet

1 Teaching Possession Play

Telling 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

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 W Passing Pattern

The use of shapes in passing patterns is very common. Most coaches will be familiar with diamond and square passing patterns. The Dutch are fond of 'Y' passing patterns. A pattern that I had not run across before, but transfers beautifully to game situations, is the 'W' pattern. I found it in The Complete Soccer

0 Defensive Shape and Patience

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