Tag Archives for " tactical "

0 Teaching Goalkeepers to Control Their Area

By Tony Englund -

Among the more challenging tactical teaching topics for goalkeepers is helping them to control their area. There are numerous moments in the game when the goalkeeper’s ability or inability to eat up loose balls in the area can swing control of the game to one team or another. Crosses, through-balls and balls that fall loose to the ground in the area when the opponent is attacking all present challenges, as do back-passes when the ‘keeper’s own team is in possession. This article will take a look at the crossing and covering topics, and the next article (#2) will examine back-passes.

Dealing with Crosses

Because of the number of variables in any crossing situation (location of crosser; type and location of cross; number, angles and distance of potential defenders and finishers; weather (i.e. wind, rain) and the

0 Reading the Angles

By Patrick Kasperitis -

The ability for goalkeepers to judge their angles correctly is paramount to the success of any goalkeeper. Athleticism can only make up for so much where as good positioning can make any save look comfortable. Below is a session that I use to help goalkeepers improve their understanding of the angles they need to take within the goal.

The key to this skill is making sure that the goalkeeper keeps their body weight forward so that they can get to a good set position and make a good dive. We want our goalkeepers to have that forward body weight and if that is not present in their movement, they might be flat-footed when trying to make a

2 #021 Getting a Jump Start to the Season

Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes

0 #017 Formations and Adjustments

Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes

0 #015 Analyzing Your Team's Performance

Click Here to Listen to Podcast

0 #014 Do Your Players Move Without the Ball?

Click Here to Listen to Podcast Click Here for the Show Notes

0 Changing Your 4v4 Games

Small-sided games are an excellent way to give your players a lot of touches while retaining the core elements of the game. In my opinion the 4 v 4 format is the best of all. It has everything the full sided game has but it allows for a lot more touches and opportunities for each player to contribute to the game. There's no where to hide in a 4 v 4 game.

Obviously, different methods of scoring drastically change way your players approach game. I like to challenge the players with different environments that challenge them to come up with solutions to the problems the game presents

We have three different books that I look to for new ideas when it comes to small-sided games. One of them is 'Coaching Soccer Champions'. The author, Terry Michler, is the winningest high school coach in the country. He's been the Head Coach

0 Penetrating Through the Lines

By Sean Pearson

This session is purposely detailed to give you, the coach, as much information on why, where and how specific things should happen.

Session Length: 1hr 30mins

Warm-Up Time: 10mins

• In pairs pass through gates. Make sure the pair are 10-15 yards apart when passing.
• Player A passes ball the player B, B takes ball and dribbles, player A finds a new gate, player B passes to player A’s feet through the gate.
• After the players have been going for a minute, introduce body position and receiving on the back foot. Explain how the receiver should have their shoulder facing the ball, NOT the chest. The reason is because, when the chest is facing the ball, every first touch is back in that direction. When your shoulder points to the ball, this opens up the body to a sideways stance and naturally the instep of the back foot (which is the foot furthest from the ball) is now at a different angle and will push the ball forwards, in front of you but at a different angle. Later we will see why this is important.
• Make players aware that it is not just good enough to stand sideways and face the side of the field but the must face in field to see as much as they possibly can. This may mean turning 180 degrees to be in the correct position. You will see players cheat and receive on their front foot because they are being lazy, do not let this happen and reinforce correct body shape.
• Explain that their first touch must not stop the ball underneath them, so their head goes down to see the ball for their second touch, but it should be pushed in front of them so they can make a decision with their second touch.
• Move on to receiving the ball on the move. Here player A passes the ball into the space beyond the gate for player B who is at the side of the gate and can run onto the pass. Again it is important to have your shoulder facing the direction of the passer, to turn your body and receive on your back foot in order to go forwards with your next touch.

2 Quick Counter Attacks

By Lawrence Fine, Author of the FineSoccer Coaching Bible.

This activity uses half a field, three attacking players, five defending players and one target player at midfield for the defending team. There is also a keeper in goal.

The attacking team starts with the ball and tries to score. The defending team tries to

0 Overload Switching Play Game

By Alex Trukan

This exercise is focused on improving aerobic power as well as tactical content of switching play. From conditioning perspective, the practice will help players to recover quicker and sustain the quantity of actions throughout the whole game. Apart from that, players will learn how and when to switch the point of attack (team in possession) as well as how to defend as a compact block when overloaded by the opponent (defending team).

Set-Up and directions

Organise a pitch of approximately 50x25 yards with two goals on each end in the corners. Divide the team into two groups, one of which should have one player more than the other. There are no goalkeepers but the goal can only be scored from one-touch finish on the attacking half. The team that has more players starts every time from the own half. After set period of time, the roles can be rotated.

Having less players then the opposition and defending goals in wide areas will force the

0 Creating a 'False 9'

This excerpt is from one of our most popular titles, 'The False 9'. This is a unique offer of both an eBook and videos that compliment each other very well. Detailed diagrams and descriptions from the eBook are followed up with video analysis that present a complete picture of the techniques and tactics that are

0 From Futsal to Soccer

Rather than standing in lines and running around cones, it’s through playing futsal that many elite level players, particularly in Brazil and Spain, developed their silky ball skills, smooth passing and lightning quick decision making. Players love small sided games, and the benefits are obvious. Players get more time on the ball, more touches and the intense nature of futsal puts them under more pressure to be perform. It’s a wonder it’s taken so long for coaches to realize the benefits of harnessing futsal in their training programs.

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 Build Up Play Through Quick Passing

This 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

0 Improving Your Team's Speed of Play

I think that most coaches have a couple of resources that they go back to time and again. Improving Your Team's Speed of Play by David Williams is one of those books for me. The quality of the sessions and thoughtful coaching points always give me ideas that I can use in training with my teams.

This excerpt is from the Small-Sided Games section of the book.

Suppose I have seventeen players, including two goalkeepers, of a reasonably high standard to work with. My aim for this session is to improve the players understanding and ability to run with the ball.

The two teams are set out in a 3-2-2 formation plus a goalkeeper, and I have included the extra player as a floater ( F ). In the defending zone three defenders play against two strikers and

1 Training Sessions for the 4-3-3

One of our latest books has generated a lot of interesting. Both the hard copy and the eBook version of 'Training Sessions for the 4-3-3' have been a very popular choice of coaches visiting CoachingSoccerTactics.com. The book is a guide that provides exercises, drills and small-sided games that teach players how to perform the roles and responsibilities of each position in a 4-3-3 formation.

10 Playing Out of the Back

The year our club is emphasizing the need for our teams to learn to play out of the back from goal kicks and goalkeeper possessions. It will take time for the players to learn how to maintain possession under pressure and build up an attack. There will also be times when we give up goals because of mistakes by the goalkeeper and defenders. However, the long term up-side far out weight the loss of a goal or even a game. If we train our players to deal with pressure and play around it from the back, they will be better able to do this all over the field.

This starts with our youngest teams. Here is how we want our U8, U9 and U10 teams to take goal kicks:

0 Barcelona Tactical Analysis Videos

We have a great new video series called Attacking the Barcelona Way. These are new style "Tactical Analysis" videos. You won't see usual "old school" type footage with players demonstrating drills and exercises. These videos go much deeper and include actual real game footage, where the coach analyses the tactics, breaks down movement, sequences, combinations,

1 First Practice of the Year

Is it time to start 'Fall' practices again already! If you're like me you found yourself asking this question this week. I don't know where the summer break went but it's gone.

Like the first few series of the football game, I like to plan out my first few weeks of training way ahead of time. I know I want to cover a number of topics including some technique to knock the rust off. I also want to start talking about how were going to

1 Nature or Nurture?

This week's post is an excerpt from our latest book, "Developing the Complete Tactical Player". This unique book focuses on methods to train players to develop tactical knowledge, faster decision making and smarter use of the ball. I think we can all agree that this is an aspect sorely missing in many of our players but can make all the difference in taking them to an elite level.

This brief excerpt looks at

0 Conditioning With a Technical and Tactical Element

Here is a fun game for young soccer players that involves a lot of running and also technical and tactical aspects.  While it’s great for young players it’s interesting to do with older players as well.  They will work just as hard, get just as much out of it and have a blast playing.

This game can be played with full sized goals and keepers or smaller goals without keepers.  In this example the game will have keepers.  The size of the field can vary but here the field is 40 x 30

Start with two teams lined up on one of the sidelines with a coach between them with balls.

The coach plays a ball to the middle of the field and the first player in each line starts by

1 Integrating Technical and Tactical Training Into Conditioning Workouts

While it would be wonderful if we could focus all of our time in training on technical and tactical parts of the game, the reality is additional fitness work is important. The key is whenever possible, try to integrate either technical or tactical aspects into your fitness work.

Below is an example of how you can use plyometrics and incorporate quick one and two touches into the activity to get the best of all worlds

Plyometrics usually involve short quick jumps to improve quickness, explosiveness and to decrease the likelihood of injury. One way to look at plyometrics is they wont make much of an impact on your time in the one mile run but potentially can make a major impact on your first step and since you have a whole lot more first steps than you do one mile runs, they are extremely valuable.

2 Coaching More Than Just Soccer

4-4-2 vs 4-5-1 vs 3-5-2 Technical training vs tactical training vs functional training. Zonal defending vs man to man marking. Pushing up into an offside trap vs sitting back and “parking the bus”. Coaches have these types of conversations (either with other coaches or internally with themselves) on a regular basis.  The conversations I don’t