Football/Soccer Session (Advanced): Pressing from the front.

Football Coaches Academy

DJ Ogunlade

Profile Summary

Name:	DJ Ogunlade
City:	New York
Country:	United States of America
Membership:	Adult Member
Sport:	Football/Soccer

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Description

1. Recognizing pressing cues and triggers.

2. Starting positions to bait passes to CBs and FBs.

3. Pressing as a team to regain possession and score goals.

4. Counter attacking / fast attacks.

5. Finishing off scoring chances.

6. Dealing with long balls.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Activation & Rondo

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Activation & Rondo

Organization:

Set up playing area as shown.

Instructions:

1. The activation starts with a 4v2 rondo as shown, the four red players look to make five quick passes, each player has a maximum of two touches. If the 2 defenders win back possession or forces an error to get the ball out of the playing area, they will look to replace the player that gave the ball away and the player to the right of the player that gave away possession or that the error was forced on, both players now look to go back to the un-opposed passing zone. If they don't win back possession after five passes, they will look to go into the 3 players passing zones with both defenders heading into a different 3 player passing zone and look to defend against the 3 players to play a 3v1 mini rondo. Once a defender touches the ball, the red player that gives up possession or that the error was forced on returns to the starting zone. If a defender doesn't manage to win possession after five passes inside the 3v1 rondo, they automatically returns to the starting zone.

2. Once 2 players returns to the un-opposed passing zone, 2 players at the start of the un-opposed passing zone go through the hurdles and go into the 4v2 rondo box to defend, win back possession or force an error.

3. Continuous ball circulation regardless of whether there is a defender or defenders inside the box.

Coaching Points:

1. Quick feet through the hurdles.

2. Sprint into the rondo box to hunt the ball.

3. Look to pressure and cover when defending as a pair.

4. Run through attacker when defending alone.

5. Strong mentality to win back possession.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Pressing Details.

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Pressing Details.

Pressing Triggers:

1. Poor touch - Press immediately whenever opposition player takes a poor touch.

2. Sideline / byline - Press whenever opposition player is close to the edge of the pitch.

3. Less dominant foot - Press immediately whenever the ball is passed to opposition weak foot.

4. Backward pass - Press whenever a backward pass is made by the opposition.

5. Slow reaction - Press whenever the opposition player doesn't expect a pass (slow to react).

6. Slow pass. - Press and intercept passes that are slow between opposition players.

7. Facing own goal - Press whenever opposition players are facing their own goal.

Pressing Strategies:

1. Ball Oriented High Pressing through S.A.G.S. (Sprints, All-in, Going-in and Second-wave) at the right moment. Press and hunt the ball aggressively to force opposition in making quick decisions and forcing them into technical and tactical mistakes.

Sprints - Always looking to sprint and attack the ball when we are out of possession.
All-in - When one player goes in to press, everyone else follow.
Going-in - Players going-in with controlled aggression to go through the ball and win possession.
Second-wave - Players stepping-in quickly whenever our first wave pressure is broken to re-press and win back possession.

2. Slide & Screen - Attacking players sliding across to screen the middle third and prevent opposition from playing through the lines or force opposition to one part of the pitch and press aggressively to win back possession.

Starting Position:

Players look to take up starting positions in-between opposition players, either to the side, in front or behind. This would allow us to potentially hunt the ball, shadow press, cover spaces / players, block passing lanes and eventually regain possession.

Pressing Vocabulary:

1. Press.

2. Doubles.

3. Re-press.

4. Counter press.

5. All-In.

6. Run through.

7. Box them in!

8. Foul break.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Small Sided Game

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Small Sided Game

Organization:

Set up playing area as shown.

Instructions:

Players are divided into two teams i.e. blues and reds at the start of the exercise, they look to work in two small groups and play (4v5 / 5v4).

1. Group 1 - The reds will look to work on pressing to regain and score goals while the blues will look to play out from the back to beat opposition press to score goals.

2. Reds will look to score in the large goal while blues look to score in the three flag goals. Blues can score either by dribbling through any of the flag goals or by passing the ball through the flag goal to the blue target player that is stationed behind the flag goals. The target player moves freely in behind the flag goals to help team mates to score goals.

3. During goal kicks, the reds (pressing team) will look to use the red cones as a guide / line of confrontation to go against the ball.

4. Whenever the ball goes out for a corner kick for both teams, the play restarts with the goalkeeper.

5. Team switches roles on coach's call.

Group 2 - Both teams will look to play the same game as Group 1 with the roles of the teams reversed. The blues will look to work on pressing to regain and score goals while the reds will look to play out from the back to beat opposition press to score goals. All the same conditions that were stipulated as explained with Group 1 applies accordingly to Group 2.

Coaching Points:

1. Pressing mentality.

2. High intensity / high tempo.

3. Setting traps.

4. The nearest player to the ball initiates the press with other supporting players joining in early.

5. Fast attacks / counter attacks upon winning possession to score goals.

Progression:

1. Phase of play.

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): Phase of Play

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Phase of Play

Organization:

Setup as shown above.

Instructions:

1. The Blues would look to work on pressing in the attacking third of the field while the reds would look to patiently build up play inside their defensive third and break opposition pressure.

2. Blues (pressing team) tries to score in the large goal while the reds are looking to score in the gates by either dribbling through the gates or passing the ball through the gates with a team mate receiving it behind.

3. It's very important that the pressing team understands their positioning and have to be very organised as they're pressing very high up the pitch and leaving spaces behind.

4. Whenever the red team manages to score through the gates, that means the pressure from the blues team wasn't good enough as they are allowed to come out of pressure.

5. Reds would be given some freedom to play long balls over the press in identified situations.

Game Scenario:

Final game of the season: Reds (Liverpool) vs Blues (Man City). Reds (Liverpool) needs a draw from the game to become premier league champions for the first time in 30 years, they are down 2-0 in the game. Blues (Man City) on the other hand are leading 2-0 against Reds, they need to win by 5 clear goals to finish as premier league champions and ensure that outsiders (Chelsea and Spurs) doesn't have the chance to claim the title as well.

Defending Coaching Points:

1. Be organized by starting in the right positions i.e. pressure and double press the player with the ball.

2. Keep opposition in quarter of the pitch and make opposition play predictable.

3. Striker should always look to initiate the press and cut off back passes to GK or CBs.

4. Always press in the identified situations and make it compact both vertically and horizontally.

5. After regaining possession, counter attack quickly to score.

6. If counter attack isn't on, can we keep possession and then look to penetrate again?

7. Repress, Retreat and Recover in identified situations when the press is broken.

8. Be ready to deal with long balls when opposition play over pressure.

Attacking coaching points:

1. Spread out.

2. Utilize space and triangulate to create passing options.

3. Speed of play i.e. move the ball quickly to unbalance the pressing team and break lines.

4. What do we do if we can't play through or around?

5. What if opposition are leaving too much space behind?

Progression:
1. Practice match 9v9.

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