Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Defending Session U10

Warm up - Ball (10 mins)

Warm up

Organization: Players begin with ball mastery inside their square working on Changes of direction or moves inside the square wth both feet.

Progression 2 - Seen in the diagram, players are split into 3 teams with 4 neutral players on the outside with a 2v2 in the middle objective is when not in possession not to get split.

Main Activity 1 (20 mins)

Organization:

1v2 to endlines

2v2 to endlines.

Continuous play

Instructions:

Must stop ball on endline to score

Coaching Points:

2nd Def provides cover for the space in behind the 1st defender.

Keep an eye on 2nd attacker

Angle and Distance of support depends on position, shape and attitude of 1st and 2nd attackers

Where are they on the field? Close to our endline? Far away?

Communicate

Can we use the side line as a 3rd defender?

What happens if/when 1st defender gets beat?

Progressions:

From 1v2 to 2v2

Add Goals

Conditioned Game 5v4+2 (15 mins)

Organization: 

Grid is 20x25 however works better with more space depending on players ability. Thre is a 6x6 square in the middle iddle.The objective of the red players is to keep possession inside the square and score a point by passing the football through the 6x6. Red players cannot enter or dribble into the square but can rotate around it freely. Blue players aim to use a pressure/cover/balace system to win possession aggressively and stop any forward passing and then looking to play to target players to get a point.

Coaching points:

Pressing - The nearest man to the football must press aggressively and with intensity. Before the player decides to press, can they identify a certain trigger to press? Can players use the grid to their advantage? eg; arc to the touchline

Pressing triggers - Bad touches, eye contact, moving football

Covering - Players are always covering when not in possession, can a player ask themself, if I'm not pressing, what can I protect? Can the covering player see his pressing teammates number? Can he get into a position of pressing if ball gets transferred?

Balance - This player is key to stopping forward passes, blocking killer passes and also being in a position for the ball to be recycled if won clrealy. If the ball gets switched, can they apply early pressure as the ball is travelling?