Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 1v1 Midfielder v Midfielder: shaking your defender off the dribble

Screen 1 (25 mins)

Purpose: to develop a midfielder's ability to lose their mark while on the ball, focusing on the use of body feints and quick turns, while also developing man-marking defensive qualities.

Set up a work area as shown, with 4 gates, and two players at the center.

Play begins with Blue as the attacker, Red as the defender.

Blue begins by using body feints only, trying to shift the Red player as desired. Once this occurs, Blue takes ball and attempts to dribble through one of the attacking gates. Red may not move from their spot until the ball is touched.

If Red wins the ball, the play is dead and players return to center where the roles switch.

Coaching points:

-Quick and purposeful feints by the attacker, and hard attack of resulting space

-Focus on the ball by the defender, and quick recovery run if beaten.

-Encourage attacker to use turns away from first gate and toward second gate to shake defender (inside/outside twist, Xavi turn, Cruyff turn)

Progressions:

-If defender wins the ball, they may immediately attempt to dribble through their attacking gates. Play ends when someone has successfully dribbled through a gate or a time limit (10 seconds) passes.