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Defensive posture

If you are teaching young soccer players how to defend, a good defensive body posture is a key element to good individual defending. Often times the players defensive stance determines the success or failure of a defender.

For the purpose of focusing on good soccer defensive body posture, let’s start by defining the role of the closest defensive player to the ball (1st Defender). In general, the 1st Defender must put immediate pressure on the ball carrier to slow the attack and turn the ball carrier away from danger areas on the pitch. This sounds easy; however, only players with good defensive posture and mobility will be successful at defending.

I have put together a series of soccer defending exercises that will help you teach young soccer players good soccer defensive body posture.

Exercise 1

Have players match up in groups of 2’s. The player’s objective is to slap their opponent’s knees. Each time the knee is slapped, the payer slapping gets a point. The first player to 10 wins and the coach should have the players switch partners after each game. The coach should make sure this exercise does not get out of control and should focus on the player’s body movements such as: their stance should be staggered with knees bent on the balls of their feet; chest leaning over toes, low center of gravity; ability to shuffle quickly; and reaction to the other players movements. The players can use their hands to deflect any knee slapping attempts.

Exercise 2

With the players still split up into groups of 2, instruct each group to get a football. With each player facing each other, instruct the player with the ball to be the attacker and the other player will be the defender. Instruct the defender to space themselves approximately 3 yards from the attacker. The attacker will slowly jog forward with the ball in a straight line. It is up to the defender to keep adequate space (approx. 3 yards) between themselves and the attacker. Have the players switch roles. Since they are moving backwards, they should position themselves low to the ground with their knees bent and slightly leaning forward over their toes. The defensive players should focus on their movement and should NOT attempt to win the ball from the attacker.

Exercise 3

This exercise is simply a slight variation of Exercise 2. This exercise is structured exactly as the previous exercise; however, instruct the attacker to slowly dribble the ball in a zigzag pattern. As the ball is taken from one side to the other, have the defensive player stagger their stance as to force the attacker in the opposite direction. In this exercise we will focus on the defenders lateral movement while jogging backwards. It will be important for the defender to have a low center of gravity for quick change of direction along with quick feet movements. Again the player should keep approximately 3 yards between themselves and the attacker.

Exercise 4

Play a game of 1v1. Set up a 15 X 15 yard grid and split the team into 4 groups with 1 group on each corner of the grid. Two groups next to each other (Group A and B) will have the supply of balls. The first player of group A will play a ball to the first player in group C who is on the diagonal corner. Player C becomes the attacker who attempts to attack the cone in which player A came from. Player A becomes the defender and attempts to deny player C from getting to his cone. Play is considered dead when the ball is out of the grid, or the defending player wins possession. Group B will then play to Group D and repeat. Watch for proper defending posture as they step up to pressure the attacker. Remind the defender to keep the attacker away from the goal and force them to take the long route by staying between the offensive player and the goal.

As I said earlier young players must be taught how to position their body low to the ground with knees bent while moving backwards. It’s difficult and awkward to some, but with time their ability to get low to the ground and move backwards with the advancing attacker will help them to stand up to any attacker and deny them space.

by Chris Johnson from Dallas, Texas U.S.A.

Teach your players to take more shots

Soccer players who hesitate to shoot on goal even when it appears that they have a clear shot are obviously holding onto the ball too long. There are many drills that can help forwards and midfielders to take more shots on goal even if it doesn’t look like they have a clear shot. A common misconception that many players have is that they can only take that “perfect shot,” and many will wait for that very rare moment when they have a perfect angle and a perfect touch on the ball. Unfortunately, if all players waited to score until the perfect moment, we’d end up with a lot of scoreless games …

The first drill to get your players shooting more frequently is the Four Goals Square drill. On a half-field area, set up goals on each of the four sides of the square. Divide the players into two equal teams of 4-6 players. Place the ball in play. Whichever team has possession may try to score on any of the four goals, and the opposing team has to defend the shots (no goalkeepers). This drill, taking place in small space, keeps your players focused on the shot rather than keeping the ball away from the opponent. If the players are still having trouble going for the shot, make the playing field smaller.

A second drill that can help the players to go ahead and take the shot is a two touch drill. Again, use a half-field space but only set up two goals, one on each opposite end. Divide your players into two sides of 4-6 players each. Again, the object is to score goals, but each player can only take two touches on the ball before either passing it or taking a shot. If a player takes a shot with only one touch on the ball, that goal counts for two points rather than one. See how your players perform in the Two Touch drill; if they are still having trouble taking a shot, again, make the playing field smaller.

Now teach them how to finish!

While watching my son’s high school team tonight I noticed just how bad a “finishing” team they are. They out-shot their opponents 15-4 but lost the game 1-0. They had several opportunities for easy goals when the keeper muffed his catches but they failed to capitalize on them because they never followed up their shots. In two cases the football rolled across the face of an empty net but the forwards had already turned back up the field when they wrongly assumed the keeper had an easy play on the ball.

In the past when I watched their practices I noticed that they practiced shooting – but not finishing. They always ran good shooting drills and 2v1+keeper passing and shooting drills BUT once they took a shot neither the shooter or his teammate followed up the shots.

I’m a firm believer that no matter no good a shooter you are you have to practice finishing not just shooting. There will be games when the opponent’s keeper is just too good or lucky for you to rely only on your shooting skills – no matter how good a shooter you are.

Here’s a good practice tip that can be used with most shooting drills/games:

Tip #1:

Use a parent or field player in goal and ask them to intentionally muff, drop or parry any shots. Don’t use your regular goalkeepers because you don’t want to ingrain the bad habit of parrying or muffing shots that the keeper should catch. When an attacker shoots they know that the “bad” keeper will drop the shot somewhere in front of the net. It is their responsibility to put that muff into the goal.

Tip #2:
This can be used in any games or practice drills involving a goal. Lazy attackers have a bad tendency of watching their shots when they “know” that the shot is going in. They then miss the opportunity to score when the ball hits the posts or bar or is batted down by the keeper.

So we add this requirement for a goal to count: On any shot that an attacker takes, that attacker has three seconds after shooting to enter the goal and touch the net or the goal is disallowed. This ingrains the habit of going to the goal every time they shoot. Once you start doing this, the defenders will learn to count out loud at every shot. It also teaches the defenders to follow up and clear missed shots!

Tip #3:

Enforce the habit with positive and negative feedback. If disallowing a goal doesn’t encourage them to attack the goal you can add an immediate “punishment” of having the attacker run a short distance (100 – 200 yards) if they don’t follow their shots.

If this is in a practice game or drill such as 4v4, 6v6 or 8v8 that means their team will have to “play down” at least one man for the time it takes for them to run to a cone placed 100 yards away and back.

Positive reinforcement would be giving two points for a goal scored off a “put back” instead of the one point for a normal goal.

Remember: Great shots, no matter how pretty, only count once the ball enters the goal. There are no style points in soccer. That toe poke “put back” from one yard away counts the same number of points as that beautiful 30 yard scorcher that hits the top corner of the net.

Ingrain this habit of attacking the goal early at U8 or U10 and your team will pick up at least one goal a game by following their shots.

Ken Gamble

How to fix common ball control faults

These charts are a useful reminder of how to fix the most common ball control faults.

Soccer agility drills

Use these simple football (soccer) agility drills to improve your balance, body control, foot speed and co-ordination.

Like speed drills, agility drills should not be physically exhausting…

A slow jog or walk between each drill should allow complete recovery. The emphasis must be on quality and form.

Because these soccer agility drills are not physically demanding, you can perform them any time during the week and on any day. One quick tip however…

Many coaches like to get all the intense physical training out of the way before move on to (more enjoyable?) skill practise. The problem is skills need to be performed with near perfect form. Practise does NOT make perfect – it makes permanent. So rehearse getting it right!

With that in mind I would perform soccer agility drills and skill work after the warm up before moving into more enervating, fitness drills. A typical agility session could consist of 3-5 sets of 10 repetitions in total (a repetition being one drill).

Weave In – Weave Out
1. Place 4 markers out in a straight line approximately 3 yards apart.
2. In between each set of markers place another marker only 3 yards to the left. (see diagram right)
3. Sprint from one marker to the next bending down to touch each one with your hand.
4. The emphasis is on taking quick side steps, rather than turning to face the marker and sprinting forward – that takes more time (which don’t have in a game).
2. Follow the Leader

1. Mark out a large area – 20 yards by 20 yards for example.
2. Pair up with a team mate and have them run randomly within the area.
3. Try to maintain 2 yards distance from them at all times. Your team mate should be changing direction and pace constantly.
3. Box Drill

1. Use 4 cones or markers to mark out a square approximately 5yards by 5yards.
2. Place a cone in the centre of the square. This is your starting position.
3. Give each corner a number and remember it! Have a team mate (or your coach) call numbers at random.
4. Sprint to the corner shouted and return to the middle.

4. Mini Shuttle

1. Place 2 markers 20 yards apart. Place marker in the middle only 3 yards to the side. (see diagram left)
2. Starting from the middle marker sprint to one end (10 yards), turn and immediately sprint to the other end (20 yards) and then back to the start (10 yards).
3. Turn on a different foot at each marker and try to touch the ground with your hand.

5. Super Shuttle

1. Set a series of cones out in a cross formation. (see diagram)
2. Run backwards to the centre cone, side step to the right cone (or your left if you are performing the drill), side step back to the centre cone still facing the same way.
3. At the centre cone turn and sprint forward to the end cone. Now run back to the centre cone, side step to the left, side step back to the centre, then turn and sprint back to the start.
4. Phew! Sounds complicated – it’s not – the diagram explains it quicker than I can!

6. Slalom
1. Place 10 shuttles in a line 5 yards apart.
2. Weave in and out as fast as possible and walk back to the start.
3. This exercise is often performed much more slowly with a ball. The goal here is to develop speed of leg movement so no ball is used.

Use the soccer agility drills above as they are or adapt them to fit your individual or team’s needs.

Shuttle shooting

A simple but effective football (soccer) coaching drill designed to practice shooting technique. It’s a good workout for goalkeepers too!

first published as a FA level 2 session on www.worldclasscoaching.com

>> How to teach the basic shooting technique <<

Organisation

Grid 40 x 10 yards
1 goal set up at the 20 yard mark of the grid
1 goalkeeper and 6 players (3 players either side of the grid) per grid

Key Points

Position of the ball.
Part of the foot in contact with the ball.
Part of the ball that needs to be struck.
Angle of approach.
Check position of goalkeeper
Accuracy
Rebounds

Practice

Initially the blue player passes the ball to the goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper passes the football back to the blue player.
Goalkeeper turns around and repeats the process with the red player.

Progression

Players strike the ball to the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper returns the pass.
Players shoot on goal, whilst the ball is stationary, and goalkeeper attempts to save the ball (rebounds).
Players shoot on goal, whilst the ball is moving, and goalkeeper attempts to save the ball (rebounds).
A player acting as a server is introduced to feed players the ball from different angles (see the illustrations below).

1. Ball moving away from kicker

2. Ball moving towards kicker

3. Ball moving across the kicker

Shooting – teaching the basics

Tip: before teaching the right way to shoot, teach your kids how to kick a football correctly.

There are many different ways to shoot the ball in football. You can shoot with the instep, with the inside of the foot, the outside, and yes, even the toe. You can drive the ball hard, make it curve in or out or chip it.

But the first thing you have to do is to teach your children the basics: ‘from the nose to the toes’:

Head down – eye on the ball.

Tell your children that they have look up to pick out their target and then look back to the football as they actually shoot. This is because it is virtually impossible to strike the ball correctly if you’re not looking at it.

Plant non-striking foot along side the ball.

If you plant your foot behind the ball your kicking foot is coming up as you strike. This will result in a chip shot. As your children progress you may well want to show them how to do this, but to start with we need to practice keeping shots low and straight.

Strike the middle of the ball.

If you kick the ball below the middle the ball will rise, if your child ‘tops’ it the ball will just roll along the ground.

Keep the knee of the kicking leg over the ball.

This technique determines the correct body position. Often, children will be standing too far behind the ball when they shoot. This results in too little power.

Approach the ball slightly from the side.

Coming straight at the ball results in ‘toe poking’. Younger children kick with their toes naturally, it seems easier and it’s often hard to get them out of the habit. You need to show them that they can hit the ball just as hard with their instep and their shots will be much more accurate. One way of doing this is to get them to shoot at a cone or pole set up 10 or 20 yards away. You should be able to demonstrate that is much easier to hit the target and knock it over using the instep.

Follow through.

Young children are often reluctant to kick through the ball. They tend to jerk back as they strike the ball and consequently do not get a lot of power on the shot.

Shielding the ball

Warm-up

Do some basic ball control moves, along with your stretches. Introduce rolls, pullbacks, and circle turns, if you have not done so, as these techniques will be used in this session. Then, to fully warm up the players, put the players in pairs so that their arms are linked and they are leaning against one another, and have them try to roll the ball around with their outside foot. Have pairs switch sides periodically, so that they can work with both feet. Have a “sack-race” kind of activity, where the pairs try to walk/hop from one line to another, while controlling the ball with the outside foot. Have one race going forward; one going backward; and two going sideways (left-to-right and right-to-left).

One of the first skills which young players will need is the ability to shield the ball in order to keep a nearby opponent from stealing it. Confidence in the ability to shield the ball is critical to later success as a player – because a player who does not believe that he can hang onto the ball usually will get his head down, get flustered, and just blindly kick the ball away (“hot potato” clearance).
When should you shield the ball?

Common reasons to decide to shield the ball instead of trying to take the defender on by dribbling are that your opponent is bigger/faster or there is so much traffic past him that it doesn’t make sense to keep going ahead (so you need to stop and find one of your team-mates who is facing less traffic) or you are in your defensive third where it is too risky to dribble when you could lose possession.
How do you shield the ball?

By using various techniques to put your body between the opponent and the ball, so that you can gain time to give the ball to a team-mate or take advantage of a mistake by the defender to get past him.

What are the basic rules of shielding?

The first rule of shielding is to avoid turning your back on the incoming defender if at all possible. It is much harder to hang onto the ball if you cannot see what your opponent is doing – so try to keep one shoulder pointed at the defender at all times. About the only time that you want to turn your back on an opponent is when you know that you have back support and you will be able to play the ball back to a team-mate very quickly.

The second rule of shielding is to take control of the situation yourself. If the opponent is coming in hard, it is generally a good idea to be the one to make the first contact.

The third rule of shielding is to be aggressive in holding onto the ball. It is okay in soccer to use your arms, shoulders, body and legs to keep an opponent from getting the ball (you just cannot push with your hands or kick/push with your feet), so don’t be afraid to hold your ground or to use your body to push the opponent away.

Individual Work

There are four basic shielding moves which you will cover in this session. They are the simple step across; the roll; the pull-back; and the circle turn (Note: younger players may have trouble with the circle turn, but it is a good idea to introduce it anyway – and, for older players, it may be possible to add pull-back/taps behind the support leg and the stepover).

Put the players into pairs, and put each pair in a long/narrow grid with one ball (one player on one end and one at the other). The player with the ball will serve the ball to the other player, then act as the defender. This same grid will be used to teach each of these moves. Put the spare ball at one end of the grid.

Step Across

This is the most basic shielding move – but is amazingly useful. The player simply steps over the ball to put either one or both legs between the ball and an incoming opponent.

There is a trick to it, however. In stepping across the ball, the player usually wants to end up being positioned to face the direction where there is the best chance of finding support players (i.e., toward the open field- not the touchline). In general, the only time that you want to turn towards the touchline is when it makes sense to kick the ball off of the opponent’s shin guards to get a throw-in.

Obviously, the direction that the player will end up facing will depend on which foot is used to lead off. Let’s say that the open field is to his left. He will want to step across the ball in the direction of the defender, starting with his right foot – and then lifting his left foot so that it rests on the ball or comes over beside his right foot. Some coaches recommend that the player get in the habit of swinging the lead foot around the face of the ball, instead of stepping directly over the ball, so that the ball is shielded at all times. However, this may be an extra complication for young players (who can get confused with multiple decision), so you can leave this for later if it seems like a good idea.

After learning the basic step across, the player needs to know when/how to use the move. However, give the players some time to experiment on actually doing the move before you get into this.

Put two players at opposite ends of a small grid. Have one player pass to the other player, then walk towards the receiver to start shutting him down. Have the receiver step across the ball to put himself between the opponent and the ball – and end up with his back foot (the foot farthest from the opponent) resting on top of the ball. Once they have this basic idea down – and have learned the mechanics, it is time for the next step – which is to make actual contact with the opponent.

The basic shielding posture is:

Knees bent and bottom down to lower centre of gravity;
Body in a fencer’s or boxer’s stance (turned sideways with weight balanced on both feet);
Arm/elbow of side which will make contact tucked well in to protect ribs;
Other arm spread out for balance;
Time the step-across so that shoulder aggressively makes contact with opponent (bump him slightly), transferring weight to front foot so that back foot is free to pass/control ball.

Now, return to the grid and allow players to practice making the shoulder-to-shoulder contact (or getting their shoulder into the opponent’s chest, depending on the angle). The idea is to aggressively hold the opponent on one shoulder while you get your head up to find a team-mate to give the ball to. In the warm-up, the players experimented with moving the ball while leaning into the partner, so they should have some ideas of their own which they should be allowed to explore.

Rolls

When in the basic shielding position, the ball is moved around either with the side of the foot or the sole of the free foot. The way to move it with the sole of the foot is by rolling the ball back and forth, periodically putting the foot down to movement of the plant foot.

There is a knack to doing this successfully, which is only gained by practice. Allow the players some time to work on this in the grid – and also suggest to players that they can work on this at home by pushing one shoulder against a wall, and simply rolling the ball back and forth to move in a circular fashion. After some experimentation, play a game where the defender gets 1 point if he can steal the ball or kick it away before the count of 5, while the attacker gets 1 point if he can hold the ball to the count of 5. Increase the holding time to 7 or 9 as you get success.

Pull-Back

The pullback move is used when an opponent is coming in so quickly that it will be hard to step across the ball in time to shield it, so the ball is basically snatched to one side using the sole of the foot. Once the ball is snatched back, the basic shielding posture is used to lean into the opponent – but the player will need to be more braced for the contact, as he likely will not have time to initiate the contact himself.

After illustrating this move, have the receiver move up into the middle of the grid (which will reduce the time needed for the server to get to him), and work on using the pull-back to get ready to shield the ball. Play the same game of points for holding the ball or stealing it.

Circle Turn

There are two types of circle turns – one by using the inside of the foot and one by using the outside of the foot. The latter is the one which is most commonly used – although both can be practiced. In an outside circle turn, the foot used to turn the ball is cocked outwards and somewhat back, and the ball is tapped 3-4 times to allow the player to make a complete circle.

Usually, a circle turn will be used in a pressure situation to spin off of an opponent and explode away on the last tap. Therefore, when practicing circle turns, add an explosion to the last tap so that the ball is pulled with the foot in the new direction. Note that it is fine to do partial circles (and, in games, most “circle” turns actually are about _ of a full circle). The key to using circle turns well is to be able to look up as the taps are being made, so that the ball can be laid off to a team-mate if close support is available – as the ball almost always should be laid off in such situations, since the natural position of the first player will serve to obstruct the opponent. When you observe a player actively obstructing the opponent, however, you need to bring up the difference between just holding your ground (which is legal) and active movement to prevent the opponent from getting to your team-mate with the ball (which is a foul).

Return to the same grid to work on the circle turn. Put the receiver on the back end line (to give him more time to control the ball once received, and allow him to initiate the circle turn as soon as the opponent gets within contact range. Instruct the server to act more like a shadow, just slightly crowding the receiver from the rear as he makes the circle – but not really make an effort to steal the ball. Remember: you are just introducing the idea of this move at this stage. Young players are unlikely to be able to execute this move under full pressure until they have spent more time working on dribbling (especially on explosions), so simply encourage effort.

Small Group Work

Split up every other pair, so that you now have 3 players in a grid. Leave the server at one end, put the receiver in the middle, and put the other player on the far end of the grid (he will serve as the support player). Then, serve the ball into the receiver; allow the defender to close him down; and, as soon as the defender is on him, have the support player start counting slowly to X (which is the amount of time that most of your players could successfully hold off an opponent by shielding). Once the count is reached, the support player then can move in to accept a drop pass and the team then can try to dribble across the opponent’s end line.

After 3 tries, swap out roles. Then, play a game of 2v1 – encouraging the inside player to hold the ball and wait for support unless the defender makes a clear goof which will allow him to get by.

Large Group

Station a line of players at the midline, and a line of players on both sides of the goal. When you serve a ball into the middle, the first players on the goal line can start for the ball. The midline player starts after the count of 3 and acts as a support player for whichever goal line player wins possession. The player who wins possession may try to score himself, or can hold the ball and lay the ball off for the incomer (going 2v1). Defender scores by dispossession, and attackers score by getting a goal. You will want this game to move quickly, so use two goals if you have more than 9 players, as you don’t want more than 2-3 in line. Have players move to a different station after their turn.

Scrimmage

You can play a regular scrimmage, or can continue to play with lopsided teams (creating various restrictions to provide for arrival of late support). Regardless of your decision, praise all efforts to shield the ball and look for support. Encourage team-mates to talk to one another, and to call for the ball if available. Remind them that, when under heavy pressure, players may be afraid to look up – so they will need to YELL and get close to offer any meaningful help.

The principles of soccer defence

Basic principles of team defence in soccer:

Most of the defending team collapses into the space in front of opponent’s point of attack.

The 1st defender guides the ball carrier into thickest part of defence or away from the middle.

Covering defenders cut off “through” spaces.

Together, first and second defenders squeeze the attack into a tight, difficult space.

Principles of individual defence:

Delay Then Pressure

• Player nearest the ball is “the 1st Defender”:

• Get the ball carrier’s head down by putting him under close enough pressure to make him worry about controlling the ball and so he cannot look for passing options, but not close enough to be beaten;

The player(s) not nearest to the ball get into position to intercept all short or desired passing options; (they provide cover)

• Leave open most difficult and longest passing options as long as there is good pressure and cover on the ball carrier and his nearest passing options.

The first defender should not run straight at the ball carrier, but should come in at an angle that would force the ball carrier to pass back or to attack toward our covering defenders or toward a touchline. This makes the opponent’s attack predictable and easy to read by covering defenders.

When the attacker has been contained, but still maintains possession of the ball, the defender would do well to force the attacker to move to the side or even backwards. By forcing laterally, the supporting defenders can gain time to recover. Once recovered, the supporting defenders can enhance their positions as they have more time to adjust. An attacker that is allowed to go forward, causes the whole team to adjust their vertical defensive positions.

If the defender can force the attacker to go backwards, the defender must try to maintain close pressure to keep the attacker from opening up space.

The supporting defence should use this opportunity to push forward as well, compressing the attack away from it’s own goal. If the on ball pressure is not there, then the supporting defence would do well not to compress as the attacker will have time and space to find and take advantage of the defensive weak spots.

The 1st defender, in applying pressure to the attacking ball-handler, should:

Delay

• Staggered stance, alternating front and back foot, feet shoulder width apart, legs bent, body bent, on your toes (don’t get flat-footed).

• Feints and stabs but do not commit until ball-carrier makes a mistake.

• Concentrate on player, not the ball, look at ball carrier’s hips, not his feet or upper body.

• With peripheral vision, see the space between the ball and ball carrier. If the ball gets away from feet:

Deny

• Deny the shot;

• Deny penetration by denying “through” spaces which ball carrier desires to penetrate.

• Close distance between self and ball carrier. Get close enough to force ball carrier to alter course of attack and to force his head down to concentrate on not losing possession of the ball.

• Choose angle of approach to guide ball carrier away from dangerous space.

• Block any attempted shot.

Destroy

• Win possession by stepping between ball carrier and ball if ball gets away from his feet.

• Tackle also if the ball carrier allows ball to be between his own feet. Tackles should be fully committed through centre of ball carrier’s position.

• The 2nd defenders, (those next nearest to the ball), are those who are marking up to close passing options. They must cover the space behind their teammate who is pressuring the ball; and if numbers are up than extra defender might decide to risk double teaming the ball carrier to win the ball.

• The 3rd defender provides Balance – the 3rd and other defenders cover deep and attacking spaces which may be used by the opponent to switch their point of attack, for example, by playing to the opposite wing.