Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Defensive Transition

3-Team Transition Actitivty (10 mins)

Organization: 20 players; 3 groups of 6 in different colour pinnies (in this case yellow, orange and pink), 2 neutrals in green, and 2 coaches in black with balls.

-2 grids 15x15 yards, 25 yards apart, 2 marker cones (1 on each sideline) half way between each grids where the chasing group starts. 

-coach plays a ball into the grid on his side and one group of 3 players from the same side goes to press against the 6 plus the 1 neutral.

-if the group in possession completes 7 passes, they must switch the ball to the other grid, and then the next group of 3 from the other side runs in to try to win the ball; they cannot enter the grid until the ball does.

-if the group pressing the ball, win the ball by kicking it out of bounds, the group that lost the ball must send 3 players to the ther grid, and the other 3 go to a halfway marker to wait for the next ball to be played.

-the neutrals join the pressing team if that team wins the ball and plays a neutral into the middle area,who then switches the ball.

Objective: win the ball as quickly as possible to prevent the team in possession from completing 7 passes to switch.

- every time a team makes a successful switch, it is 1 point

- every time a pressing team is able to play the neutral to successfully switch the ball, it is 1 point.

Time/Sets: 4 sets, 3 minutes each set

Focus: pressing the ball quickly with speed.

- going together, arriving together and staying together as a unit

- re-pressing quickly for the team that loses possession

- density around the ball in possession in order to re-press the opposition

Principles:

- pressure to win

- cover/support the first defender

- balance 

- compactness

POP Defensive Transition in Zone 1 and 2 from a build-up situation (20 mins)

Organization: half a full-sized pitch, 2 teams of 10, 1 team with a GK.

- 3 target gates with 1 player from the defending team standing in each

- a line of cones 8 yards from half; 1 player (CF) of the building team standing behind that line.

- the activity is 10vs7 in the build, which then transitions to 10v10 in defensive transition.

Objective: the team building (yellow) is trying to get the ball to one of the target players in the gate; the defending team (pink) is pressing/defending to prevent the ball from advancing. Pink is trying to win the ball and score in the big goal

- once the ball is played to a target players, from behind the line of cones, defensive transition begins. The CF for pink cannot score, must play on 1-touch and cannot be the first player to pressure the ball in DT.

Time/Sets: 3 sets; 6 minutes each

Focus: density around the ball in possession; particularly in zones 1 and 2 for DT

- spacing of players in positions to ensure rest defending when not involved in action

In DT: 

- immediate pressure to delay and force the ball back of side ways, not forward.

- support from players near the ball

- balance from 3rd defender onward

- compactness of remainder of team

Progression: CF for team building is allowed to score on 1-touch, but still cannot be the first player to press.

Note: if the tteam pressing wins the ball in any area of the pitch, they can try to score and the target players can join the game 

- this means that DT can take place in other areas, without the team building reaching the targets.

Scoring:

Building Team - must reach a target goal and successfully stop the ball in DT to receive a point.

Pressing team - winning ball and scoring, or scoring after a ball was played to one of their targets are both 1 point.