pass run without the ball shot

pass run without the ball shot

Last week, I watched Surrey County Football Association Coach Educator Keith Boanas deliver this session to the youth academy of Barclays Premier League side Fulham. It looks at passing and maintaining possession through midfield without having to resort to long passes. Why not try it out yourself?

How to set it up:• Mark out a 50x40-yard area with a five-yard central zone.

• Place four midfielders on each side of the zone, with four defenders in the central zone.

• There is a full-size goal at each end of the area.

Getting started:• Both teams of four players on each side of the playing area have a ball. They must make three or more passes before switching play to the opposite side along the ground.

• Midfielders are either looking for gaps in the defensive line to pass through, or are preparing to receive a pass coming towards them.

• Defenders must block without straying out of their zone. If they win possession, they can try to score in either goal.

• After five minutes remove one of the balls and repeat the drill. This time though, two of the defenders can move out of their zone and press the midfielders. If the switch is made, the defenders must go back into the zone and the next two press the opposite box.

Progressing the session:• After 10 minutes change the area to 60x40 yards with three equal 20-yard zones - two midfielders and a defender in each outer zone, with four midfielders and two defenders in the centre. This creates 2v1s in each outer zone and 4v2 in the centre.

• Players have three passes before they must switch the ball.

• Midfielders score a point by getting the ball from one end to the other. Defenders again score in the goals.

Further development:• Now put a keeper in each goal, and alter the zones so that it’s 3v1 in each outer zone and 2v2 in the centre.

• Now, when a player from the end zone passes forward he can move into the central zone to create a 3v2, but must drop back after one more pass. A player from the other outside zone can then drop into the central zone to support.

• Play this for 10 minutes.

Why this works:This is a detailed session whose focus is on moving the ball

by passing through midfield. It works by covering technical and tactical elements such as first touch, movement, angles, distance, body shape, vision, decision-making and pass quality.

It requires constant movement of the ball, and for players to create space and good angles to receive.

December 28 2011 Issue 244Under 4s - Under 16s WEEKLY

Midfield possession mechanicsAn accomplished midfield session, as observed by Soccer Coach Weekly’s David Clarke

Midfield possession mechanics

WELCOME…

Soccer Coach Weekly 1

pass run without the ball shot

... to the new issue of Soccer Coach Weekly. Our Head Coach David Clarke was lucky enough to sit in on a training session at Fulham’s youth academy last

week – see the detailed training plan in all its glory below. In this

issue, we’ve also got a great quick fix for leaky defences – check it out on page 3. And to all our readers, a Happy New

Year. See you in 2012!

1 Midfielders move the

ball left and right before

deciding when to

switch play

2 In the progression, 2v1 and 4v2

overloads mean

defenders must press

quickly if they are to fashion

chances

3 In the final development,

midfielders can drop

into the central zone

to support and change

overload numbers

pass run without the ball shot

Soccer Coach Weekly 2

SAID LIKE A PROWARM-UP

Go left or go rightSAID LIKE A PROa WARM-UP

Stepping minesHow to set it up:• Scatter a number of cones in the middle of a practice area.

• Set up playing pairs on each side of the cones.

• Opposite pairs are team mates.

Getting started:• One team – with players approaching each other across the cones, must attempt to get across the area.

• The players must side step the other players and use quick feet to avoid touching the cones on their way across.

• The practice works continuously for a set period of time. So once one team has finished, the other team then starts.

• To progress the game, give each player a ball and have them dribble across the area.

Why this works:Good players know that watching the ball when playing football

offers them only half the picture. They must also look up and be aware of other players coming towards them, and that’s what this warm-up provides.

For technique, players should imagine that they are stepping over hot coals, and feet should bounce and shuffle across the area so as to move around the cones.

KEY

ELEM

ENTS • Agility

• Awareness

• Speed

• Dribbling

Stepping mines

Players approach one team at a time and negotiate a

route across the coned area

SAID LIKE A PRO

Here’s a snapshot of life in the lower leagues with Rochdale player/goalkeeper coach David Lucas

WEEKLY

I’m in my first season as a player/coach, but am really enjoying the

challenge. I’m 33, and didn’t expect for something like this to come around so early in my career, so I’m learning as I go.

There was a lot of responsibility to take on board at first. As a player, you just turn up and follow orders really, so sitting up the night before training to prepare for the next day’s activities takes some getting used to.

Obviously when you start coaching, it’s good to look back on all the people who have had a really positive effect on your career. I’ve tried to take knowledge from a range of people, but I believe that personality is arguably the biggest thing when it comes to coaching. There’s nothing worse than working on a daily basis with someone who cannot deliver the passion that the game is built on.

To be a good coach you need to deliver enthusiasm in every breath, as well as being able to relate to players on a personal level – as a leader, but also as a friend.

In terms of the practical stuff, when you are teaching youngsters a lot of it is about technique and trying to point out things that can make them better keepers.

I think as time goes on you find yourself becoming more of a trainer than a coach, because players get older and smarter, and once they’ve got their own experiences behind them it’s an interesting shift. I think all coaches go through that.

In one sense it’s a shame that you’ve got (relatively) less to give - you can jazz keeping goal up all day with fancy training schedules, but at the end of the day it’s is all about catching the ball and getting rid of it. But in another sense it’s very rewarding because

you are becoming a consultant to a player rather than an instructor.

Whatever level the player is at, I try to make my sessions enjoyable first and foremost, because if players don’t enjoy the practice, they aren’t going to take everything on board.

Also, I’ve always felt reacting to mistakes is an important part of a player’s development. In my youth, it would feel like the end of the world for me when I let in a soft goal, but I had good coaches who told me that people make mistakes and that is part and parcel of life. And that I was no use to anyone by going into my shell!

“It’s very rewarding because you are becoming a consultant

to a player rather than an instructor.”

Soccer Coach Weekly 3

TACTICAL TALK

• Only attempt to win the ball if the attacker makes a mistake and you are sure to win it, and

• Be patient.

2. The next closest player to the ball:

Your job is to back up the pressuring defender

• Cover the space behind the pressuring defender

• Adjust your distance based on the speed of the attack, and the skill and speed of the attacker

• Communicate with the pressuring defender, let him or her know that you are there, tell them which way to push the attack, if necessary.

3. The rest of the players on the goal side of the ball:

Your job is to watch the rest of the attackers and stop them getting the ball

• Mark any attackers who could receive the ball

• Watch attackers who are moving or could move into threatening positions

• Cut out any passing lanes

• Talk to each other - point out any unmarked threats or any opponents making runs

• Be ready to assume the role of pressuring or covering defender if the situation changes.

If you work on this simple defensive tactic your team will concede fewer goals, your players will grow in confidence and ultimately you will win more matches!What to tell your players

1. The player closest to the ball:

Your job is to slow the attack, not win the ball

• Slow the attacker down

• Apply just enough pressure to get the attacker’s head down

• Make the attack predictable and push the attack to the least dangerous part of the field (the sidelines are your friends!)

Concede less, win more: here’s howIf you’re leaking too many goals,

mastering this simple tactic will dramatically reduce the number of goals your team concedes and might even increase the number of games they win!

What’s it all about? With young players, the hardest and most

important single aspect to get across is that the closest person to the opponent with the ball does not have the responsibility to win the ball! Once defenders understand this, about 90% of diving in is eliminated and the attacker’s job becomes much harder.

It also reinforces the next most important concept: that somebody had better be moving to cover the space behind the closest defender! That is the player who will, most often, end up winning the ball.

You can demonstrate this quite easily by selecting the best defensive player on the team, placing that player isolated out on the pitch, point to a goal for him or her to defend, and then tell them to “get the ball” from you.

Then simply dribble up to the player, push the ball past them into space and run onto it. If you can get the defender to step towards you, you will do this quite easily.

Ask the team why this was so easy. Now ask how you can prevent it from happening.

Somebody should come up with the idea of having a team mate behind the pressuring defender.

Now repeat the demonstration with another opponent who has been instructed to cover the space. Also ask the closest (pressuring) defender to not win the ball unless a mistake is made by the attacker. Run it again and you should see a huge improvement.

WEEKLY

A simple method of tightening up even the weakest of backlines

run with the ball run without the ball

run with the ball run without the ball

run with the ball run without the ball

run with the ball run without the ball

1

2

White approaches and knocks the ball past the

defender into space

White again knocks the ball past the first defender,

but a covering defender snuffs out the danger

Now get your team to practise these elements of covering in our small-sided game on page 5

Soccer Coach Weekly is published by Green Star Media Ltd, Meadow View, Tannery Lane, Bramley, Guildford, GU5 0AB, UK. Email: james.evans@coach-soccer.com Tel: +44 (0)1483 892894 Fax: +44 (0)1483 894148 Editor: James Evans Publisher: Kevin Barrow Managing Director: Andrew Griffiths

Customer Service: Duncan Heard Designer: Steve Southern Contributors: David Clarke, Paul Dargan, Chris Galea © Green Star Media Ltd. All rights reserved.

Soccer Coach Weekly 4

This is a great game for angles of defence and changing roles in attack.DAVID CLARKE’S TOUCHLINE TALES

“One-two?”When a player like Bixente Lizarazu talks, you listen. After all, he can lay

claim to one of the most impressive CVs of any French footballer - a World Cup winner with France in 1998 and European Championships winner two years later, he has also clinched numerous honours at club level with German giants Bayern Munich.

I was listening to him talking about his time at Bordeaux playing with Zinedine Zidane. That was where they first built up the understanding they were to use with such devastating effect at international level.

I think you’ll be interested to hear what he had to say:

“I played with Zidane, and Christophe Dugarry too! That’s where our triangular interplay first began, though that period didn’t last for long as Zizou went off to Juventus and Duga to AC Milan.

“But we’d worked on those moves so often that every time we lined up together for France

the magic was still there. It was like I had a luminous presence by my side.

“I’d give them the ball and they’d give it back to me as carefully as if they were handing me a flower. And that isn’t easy!

“Sometimes you’ll pass to a player and you know that he’ll never give you the ball back. As a result you stop making as many runs and the team’s play stagnates.”

It is the final sentence I found most interesting. If an international player stops running off the ball because he feels he won’t get it back, how will a young player react to the same situation?

Last weekend a coach friend of mine asked me to come and watch his team play in a friendly. They’ve been losing heavily and not scoring many goals, and he hadn’t been able to understand why.

I watched his team play and they did everything right - quick passing into the opposition half and good support. But once

they got into the final third whoever got the ball tried to jink and weave their way through alone. This was often despite having players over in good supporting positions.

As the match wore on the team got hit on the break as players began to stop running – and Lizarazu’s words came back to me. They stopped running because they had passed the ball and knew they wouldn’t get it back.

The problem was obvious to me but it wasn’t until I pointed it out to the coach that he got it. Now he needs to run a few weeks of training working on passing and movement in the final third of the pitch. Simple one- or two-touch games will be hugely influential to his team because players will be forced to see what’s around them rather than insisting on going it alone. After all, it is a team game.

SCW SURGERY

Q What’s the best half-time snack for my players? Tony Scott, Blackburn.

A Players get low on carbohydrates very quickly in football matches - just 30

seconds of fast running can reduce carbohydrate (glycogen) concentrations in muscles by 30 per cent. Carbohydrate-poor football players usually run more slowly - sometimes by as much as 50 per cent - during the second half of a match compared to the first.

Dehydration has a similar adverse effect on performance, so you need to make sure your players replace fluids and carbs at half-time.

The easiest way to do this is with a sports drink as they contain key nutrients, as well as sodium and potassium, which the body loses through sweat. These are necessary to keep fluid levels in balance and for muscles to work properly.

But if you don’t want to use sports drinks there’s nothing wrong with plain old water, plus fruit with a high carbohydrate content - particularly bananas, raisins and melon.

Got a question for SCW Surgery?Email it to us at james.evans@coach-soccer.com

Q In the New Year I’m coaching a side of kids new to football. I’ve not got a clue

how to get started. Any advice? Paul Jacobs, New York.

A Well, the basics of football are passing, control, dribbling, shooting and tackling,

so why not keep it really simple and concentrate on one or two of each of those for the first few sessions?

Your kids have obviously got a lot to learn, but it’s a blank canvas, and as long as you present it like that, they won’t feel pressured into thinking they need to produce tremendous things in a short space of time.

Remember too that there’s a learning curve here for you. If your team are going to take part in a competitive league – or even just in a tournament or two – you’ll need to get a quick idea of who is good in what position.

And I think the golden rule is to always end each session with some simple small-sided games, so that kids can play out what they’ve learnt in a match scenario.

Good luck! Having a blank canvas is sometimes a lot easier than joining an established team, so enjoy yourself and I’m sure your players will too.

Q One of my players is returning after a nasty leg break. I’ve heard he’s worried

about getting stuck in again. How can I allay his fears? Ben Dineen, Chatham.

A Well, as you probably expect, you’re going to have to be careful. This won’t

be an easy process for you or the player, because you’re dealing with some very delicate emotions, and one particularly dominant one – fear.

In one sense, take a deep breath and let him play. From what you said, it sounds as if he’s potentially lacking in confidence, but you won’t know properly until he is back out on the pitch. He may surprise you, after all.

What you cannot do is treat him as though he is an invalid. He won’t thank you for over-protecting him and nor will his team mates.

But keep an eye on him, and don’t throw him into any situations he might not welcome. If he is timid, you’re going to have to take action because the surest way to get hurt is to pull out of a tackle.

Build confidence with 1v1 games in training and I’m sure he’ll soon be back to the player he was before this unfortunate injury.

This week’s coach: Thomas Moore Group: 9 to 12-year-oldsThomas is a youth coach and league official from Telford, Shropshire

WEEKLY

Soccer Coach Weekly 5

This fun game uses elements of rugby in order to teach group defending. Encourage the nearest player to pressure the ball, with supporting players placed in and around to ensure attacks are well supported.

How to set it up:• Create a playing area measuring 30x20 yards.

• Along each long edge position three evenly spaced goals, each five yards wide.

• This game is 4v4 with each team attacking one designated direction.

Getting started:• Players have to move forward with the ball in their hands, and score by running through the gates while in possession.

• The players may pass the ball by throwing it to a team mate, and must avoid interceptions by the opposition.

• To tackle an opponent a player must touch him with both hands. When this happens, the tackling player is given the ball.

• A ball that is dropped to the floor can be picked up by any player, who can then go on the attack.

• The first team to score five goals is the winner.

Why this game works:Not all small-sided games need to be played with the ball at

players’ feet. Indeed, in this contest, because the ball is under closer control in players’ hands, it enables them to think more clearly about positioning, pressure and cover.

Players must communicate well, work closely as a team and be willing to run into space when team mates have the ball.

SMALL-SIDED GAME

Rugby football

The players pass the ball

back and forth

Rugby football

SKIL

LS

• Agility

• Positioning

• Support

• Anticipation

The black player tries

to break through

the white team’s

defence...

1

...but he’s tagged by

a defender and loses

possession

The black team

needs to reorganise

its line to stop the

white team scoring

2

3

WEEKLY

This game was taken from Perfect Defending by Michael Beale. Perfect Defending contains 67 easy to coach drills and games to develop marking, tackling and blocking. Get your copy

here: www.coach-soccer.com/defending