Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): B Diploma Defensive Principles (First Defender)

4 vs 3 (20 mins)

Defensive Principle : Delay (First Defender)

Aim: Defend the oncoming attackers using good group defensive skills.

Rules:

- Split the team into 2 teams. If there is an uneven amount, then some players form the round before must stay on (Just make sure to keep it fair and the player rotate evenly). 

- The defensive team passes to the attacking team and looks to win the ball back and score in the dribble through goals. The attacking team is simply trying to score in the oppositions goals to continue being the attacking team. Similarly to the last drill, if the defenders win the ball and score, they swap with the attacking team. 

- Look to encourage 1st, 2nd and 3rd defender (Delay, Cover and Balance).   

Key Points:

- Group Defending: Aim for the players to get comfortable being in a defensive line. If one player pushes forward as the 1st defender, can the 2nd and 3rd defender stay in position behind to protect the goal and create depth. Creating depth is important as if the ball is lost, we always have players behind that can defend on the front foot, simply put, we have coverage if the person applying pressure to the opposition ball carrier gets beaten.  

- Individual Defensive Technical skills: Look to reinforce the skill taught in the previous drill, as its a perfect opportunity to practise in a more game realistic setting. 

- Run through goals: To avoid attackers shooting from range and not allowing the defender to practise defensive skills. Keeps the emphasis on the offensive/defensive skills, keeps the ball close and always in the field of play.  

- Blue cones half way line: Give the defenders a zone to aim for, and to help them visualise a space to quickly run into to defend. Variations I have tried that worked well include a rule where if the defending player wins the ball in the oppositions half, they can shoot to score, thus leading to quicker team rotations.

- Swapping if defender scores: Motivates the defenders to try and win the ball back. Sometimes children loss attention when defending for long periods of time, however giving them a reason to defend aggressively will help keep the intensity high.

- Help Offensive team: Obviously the focus is on defence, however helping the offensive team will make them more effective, and thus challenges the defensive team. For example, if the attacking team isn't utilising width, encourage them to use the wide channels. This will make the defensive team have to shift horizontally faster. 

Defensive tactical skills:

- 1st Defender (Delay): Player who first steps to apply pressure to the ball carrier using the individual defensive technical principals in the first exercise

- 2nd Defender (Cover): The player who keeps depth behind the 1st defender, who can stop penetrating actions or become the 1st defender if the original first defender was beaten. 

- 3rd Defender (Balance): The player who helps maintain depth, and looks to help intercept penetrating actions and become the 1st defender if the opposition plays wide past the original 1st and 2nd defenders. 

- Don't jump early: Encourage player not to jump before a pass is made, and to instead apply pressure only once the pass has been made. 

- Protect the middle: The middle is the danger zone due to the goal being situated centrally. So get players comfortable staying centrally first and applying pressure once the ball has been played to a wide opposition player.  

- Encourage:

• Team moves together
• Ge aggressive to close space, but patient when close. 
• Protect central areas
• If opposition player is in a corner with back turned, look to double up (send two players) and win the ball. 
• If beaten by attacker, don't give up and aim to win the ball back.