Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): SPAIN VS WALES Breaking lines session

FAW Coach Ed

Amal Mohan

Profile Summary

Name:	Amal Mohan
City:	treforest
Country:	United Kingdom
Membership:	Adult Member
Sport:	Football/Soccer

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Description

Aims to develop understanding in players on breaking lines, when to play through, play over and play around.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Specific Practice

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Specific Practice (10 mins)

Practice Design

Type of Practice: Breaking Lines

Session Design:

Order of Practices:

Terminal Practice (5 minutes) – Walkthrough.

Functional Practice (20 minutes) – Breaking lines underaggressive press.

Small-Sided Game (SSG, 25 minutes) – Full positional play inhalf-pitch conditions.

Pitch Layout:

Half-pitch setup with:

Full-size goal for the Red team’s defense.

Two mini-goals on the halfway line for Red’s attack.

Defined zones to illustrate defensive/midfield/attackingthirds.

Equipment:

11-a-side goal, 2 mini-goals, 8 balls, 8 sets of bibs (4Red, 4 Blue), cones.

Session Objective:

To develop understanding on players, how to break lines effectively by prioritizing playing through. If this is not feasible, players will learn to adapt by playing over the opposition's defensive structure or around it using wide areas, emphasizing decision-making, movement, and technical execution in various game scenarios.

Coaching Points (In Possession):

Weight & direction of a pass
Receiving skills
Dribbling with ball
Running with the ball
Create space
Limited touches to move ball
Look to play forwards

Coaching Points (Out of Possession):

Defend narrow
Prevent the split pass
Force to play wide
Protect space in behind (unless told to press high)

Organisation:

Play begins with the GK (Red) distributing to a CB.

Blue team applies aggressive pressing as per their setup.

Red team aims to break through defensive lines to score inmini-goals.

If Blue wins the ball, they transition quickly tocounterattack and score in the full-size goal.

Progressions/Regressions:

Progression 1: Add conditions for the Red team (e.g.,8 passes before scoring).

Progression 2: Allow Blue team to stay compact on certain zones.

Regression 1: Remove the CAM’s man-marking role.

Challenges:

Block 1 - The opposition (Blue) look to force the Coached team (Red) into wide areas by being aggressive with their press. E.g. If the LB is in possession of the ball then; 7 presses the LB, 9 presses LCB, 11 presses the RCB. The midfield would go Man to Man, their RCM would stay on the LCM, LCM would Stay on the LCM and their CAM would mark the CDM.

Solution- The full backs to play the way it came from using the goal keeper as an overload, whilst our CB's are being aggressively pressed we're looking to for our full back to maintain width to receive the ball from the GK. to then look for the 8 on the outside shoulder.

Block 2- The opposition striker and midfield to complete the same movements as problem 1. The winger on the opposite side is to mark the space between the CB and fullback E.g. If the RB is in possession of the ball then; 11 presses the RB and the 11 Stays between the LCB and LB.

Solution- Again the full backs are to play the way it came from using the goal keeper as an overload to find the CB who will look to drive with the ball forward to force the CAM or winger to commit and to find the spare player to create a 2v1 in midfield

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): SSG

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SSG (15 mins)

Small-Sided Game (SSG, 25 Minutes)

Formation:
Red Team (1-4-3-3): Unai Simón, Dani Carvajal, Aymeric Laporte, Robin Le Normand, Alejandro Balde, Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Álvaro Morata, Nico Williams
Blue Team (1-4-2-3-1): David Raya, Jesús Navas, Pau Torres, Nacho Fernández, Grimaldo, Martín Zubimendi, Mikel Merino, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal, Joselu

Key Roles:

Red CBs (Laporte, Le Normand) drive into midfield when pressed
Red fullbacks (Carvajal, Balde) create width and overload options
Blue team focuses on counters and transition moments

Interventions:

Step-in: For tactical adjustments during stoppages
Drive-by: To highlight fullback positioning and movement
Fly-by: Reinforce individual decisions for CBs under pressing scenarios

Four Corner Approach

Physical Corner Tools:

Half-pitch setup to increase press-recovery demands

Social Corner Tools:

Assign captains (Morata for Red, Nacho for Blue)
Team discussions during rest: How to solve midfield overloads

Technical and Tactical Corner Tools:

Use width under aggressive press
Identify spare players for overloads
Crisp, purposeful passes to exploit gaps

Psychological Corner:
Conditions:

Time limit (10 seconds) for Red team to reach mini-goals
Targets:
Focus on composure under pressure

Challenges:

Individual: CBs must break first pressing line