Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): #5# Defending from the front with a 9 and 10 and 3 man midfield

Setup (5 mins)

Welsh Game model reference – Switching play, breaking lines.

Attacking Transitions - Secure the first pass, switching play to the

opposite side, Aim to build from the back to find the spare player.

Defensive Transitions – React quickly, desire to regain the ball, protect space between units, prevent split passes between players.

Setup

We will use one half of the pitch to create relevant area sizes for the drill and

Have 2 gates created on the halfway line 5yds In from the touchline.

1 cone to be placed on either touchline, halfway between edge of the box and the center circle as a retreat line for the 4 blue midfielders.

Goals brought forward from other end to edge of the opposite penalty area with the pitch tapered in to transition into SSG.

As many balls as possible placed behind the server/coach’s box.

Bibs in 2 different colours and right amount for the session.

14 players ideally with good passing ability (including GK and Server).

Speak to all players before the practice to arrange players into

Teams/position, issue the objectives of the session and to check

for understanding. Re-affirm these out on the pitch before we

play live. Blue will be coached and the reds will be managed.

Organization – Blue Team

Playing with a back 3 with 4 across midfield (replicate a 3-4-3/ 3-4-1-2)

The game starts with the server playing a ball into the GK, the aim is to play the ball from the back into the 2 scoring zones. Through the gates counts as 1 pt and playing the ball back into the server’s feet counts as 2 pts.

Organization – Red Team

Playing with a No 9 a No10 and 3 CM (replicate a 5-3-1-1 or 3-5-1-1 using wingbacks)

Try to regain possession by any means possible and score a goal within 8 seconds

Start with 2 minutes of free play with no instructions about

Positioning etc. to check firstly that our setup is right.

Problem 2/3 (10 mins)

Problem 2

If players are finding the gates with success create a new challenge by asking the Red 10 to drop into create a 4 man midfield to match the blues with the instruction stop the midfield turning and playing through the gates.

Play

Solution 2

Seeing as only the 9 is now pressuring the defence give instruction to the players as follows.

On the ball – Central defender, good first touch then get your head up to see what’s on. If you can play to a free midfielder, great if not don’t be afraid to play sideways to another defender.

Off the ball – other 2 defenders can we drop 5yds deeper to create a passing angle bust with our backs to the goal line so we can see what on before the ball arrives.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE THE GK TO SWITCH THE PLAY OR AS A MEANS OF RESETING OUR POSITIONS!

Off the ball – plenty of movement to create a pass into midfield, can we take our opponent away to create space for others? Can we rotate positions? Can we play in behind our markers?

Problem 3

Reds now only have 5 seconds to score a goal, guided discovery how are we going to make this possible? Lead them to the following.

No 10 can now go into a more advanced role and create an aggressive press with the 9, 3 CM still have to start behind the press line but can they now create “chaos” with their high press whilst working as a unit?

Play

Solution 3

On/around the ball - Even though they have a 9 / 10 press the yellow still have a 4v2 including their GK, use it to their maximum to create space and tire the attacking players out don’t be afraid to bring the ball into midfield if the space is there and suck in players to create space in behind. Quality of pass is vital under pressure along with a good first touch into space.

Off the ball – We have a 4 v 3 overload how can we use this to affect our opponent?

Wide players can they play with width at all times enabling us to play around when possible?

CM can we take our markers away from our defence to give them more space/time?

If the marker does press the defence can we then use the freedom to create a passing option to play through the press?