Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Week 4 - Foundation - out of possession (defending)

Screen 1 (15 mins)

THE SESSION:

• Warming up.

• Dribbling using small touches (encourage players with the ball to do some ball mastery), player opposite to learm to jocky backwards on a passive defending no tackles allowed for 2 to 3 minutes.

PROGRESSIONS:

• Now defenders learn to force attacker to the colour of the cones when called out by shifting thier stance.

• Defender to win the ball and attack.

KEY MESSAGES/POINTS:

• defending body posture.
• small touches from attacker.
• transition play.

Defending Organised (15 mins)

THE SESSION:

Set up 2 areas as seen on the image above. 4 Blue players start as defenders. Red to pass the ball 4 times 'slowly' to allow the blue team replicate a good shape and become accustomed to where they should be when the ball is in a specific place (Allow 1 or 2 seconds before the defender makes the next pass). Once the Red team have passed the ball 4 times, their objective is to hit the Target player in the centre behind the back 4. Red team can hit the target player at any time. Once achieved, teams to swap with the Red team being the defenders and the Blue the team in possession. Target player to swap sides.

PROGRESSIONS:

-Allow it to be a 4v4 game with the target man as a goal.

KEY MESSAGES/POINTS:

-Stay compact

To defend the goal, players should look to remain compact and disciplined in the defensive third. Players should be encouraged to maintain good shape when pressing the ball, providing good balance and cover to defend the ball against the goal.

-Prevent the opposition playing forwards

When out of possession, players should look to prevent the opposition from playing forwards by pressing the ball. When pressing the ball, defenders should be in line with the ball the opposition player and the goal they are defending as much as possible.

-Reducing spaces

By using good balance and cover whilst being organised, players need to limit the spaces that are between them when screening and sliding to prevent forward passes.

Use LFC role models and values

Defending Game (15 mins)

SetUp

-3 teams of 4, with 4 mini goals as shown

 Organization

 -One defending team, one attacking team and one 'target team. *The teams must stay in their respective zones. The attacking team must play in their zone, create space to look for gaps to play into targets. If targets receive the ball they try to score in the mini goals. *If targets receive the ball, defending team can recover to prevent a goal being scored.

Progressions

 -Rotate teams every 3-4 minutes