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Pressure passing (2)

Two players are positioned in the grid with the remainder of the group spread evenly around the outside of the grid.

A minimum of 10 footballs are scattered inside the grid. On the coach’s command, the two players within the grid have 2 minutes to make as many passes as they can to the outside players.

After receiving a pass, the servers pass the football back into an open area in the grid.

Players taking part in this football coaching drill must work at full speed and concentrate on quality passing. Outside players should be constantly talking and alert for passes.

Rotate two middle players every two minutes.

Pressure passing

Set up a circle of cones about 10m in diameter (you can use the centre circle).

One player stands in the middle, the rest space themselves out equally around the edge of the circle. The player in the middle receives the ball from a player on the edge, controls it, turns and passes to another player. As soon as he or she passes the ball out, a second ball is played in from the edge of the circle. As soon as this ball is passed out to a player on the edge of the circle the first ball is played in again and so on.

The central player has to run quickly backwards and forwards to provide passes to the rest of the circle.

Swap players after one minute.

Stress the importance of good, crisp and accurate passing. Insist the central player gets their head up and looks at the target.

Vary the game by only allowing two touches, then one touch.

Played properly, this is an intensive and fun football workout.

Keeping possession

This section offers a list of soccer coaching exercises that will help develop your players’ ability to maintain possession of the ball. By combining one or more of the exercises with an appropriate warm up, a suitable practice plan can be assembled.

Exercises

In any of the exercises, you will find that it will be more effective to have the opponents work to win possession of the ball, not just to kick it away. Make the rules such that this is required. Otherwise, you will be chasing cleared balls and players will be standing around.

Pass and Chase – Groups of 6 in circles, each circle with one ball. Player with ball passes the circle to another player, chases pass to pressure passer into one or two touch pass. Play continuously.

Two Balls – Two teams in medium size space (like 30 x 40 yards for U14 boys playing teams of 6) each start with a ball. Each team works to maintain possession of one ball, win possession of other team’s ball. Point for every success, play to 3 or 4 points, move on. For 18 players, use up to 4 balls. Encourages small group play, decision making in support of possession.

Keep Away – Groups of 4, playing 3 v 1 possession with 1 ball in 10 yard grid.

5 v 1 – Play possession, 5 v 1 in free space. Move to 10 yard grid. With 12 players, run two groups at once.

4 + 1 v 1 – Play possession in 10 yard grid. Four passers on outside, one supporting player in grid, one opponent in grid. Player who loses ball takes opponents place. Try for 20 passes without losing possession. With 12 players, run two groups at once. Encourage the passers to work to split the defenders.

7 + 2 v 3 – Play possession in 20 x 10 yard grid. Three opponents and 2 possession players in middle of grid with seven possession players around grid edges. Possession team tries to keep ball in grid and to complete 20 passes without losing possession. Rotate players every few minutes.

Splitting Defenders – Play 8 v 4 in a large space, 30 x 40 yards. Work to keep possession and to complete several short passes in order to draw defenders in, then split defenders or make lofted pass to space away from pressure. Push the pace so it happens quickly. Adjust the numbers to get some success and some difficulty.

Two Zones – Play 4 v 2 for team with ball in each of two zones, like 30 x 40 yard space. Players have to stay in their own zones, can pass with team mates in other zone. Team with ball tries for continuous possession. Add restriction, team must make 5 passes in one half before passing to other half to get point. Defenders get point for every ball one. Change defenders. If it’s too easy for possession team, reduce the space.

Three Zones – Play 4 v 2 for team with ball in their defending half, 2 v 4 against team with ball in their final (attacking) third. Leave a 5 yard empty zone between the two halves. Play to goals without goalies. Two opponents in first zone try to pressure possession team into mistake. Possession team tries to hold ball until its “strikers” in the final third can get away from their four opponents.

Game – Play 6 v 6 to goals. Coach players to keep possession and to switch the point of attack quickly to create a good isolation situation (1v1) to create a shooting opportunity. Can add restriction, like 6 passes before any shot, to encourage possession.

Difficulty Factors

When teaching possession, it is very easy to control the technical and tactical difficulty level of the exercise. These can be selected and used in different combinations to add interest and variety to the practice. At the extreme level, where many of these factors are in place, the purpose of the practice moves away from “Possession” and towards “Speed of Play”, a closely related topic, in much the way that “motor racing” is related to “driving”. Same setup, just different conditions.

To increase the difficulty of a Possession progression –

reduce the space
make the space more soccer – shaped, not open, not square
add players without increasing the space
level the sides to make it more even
eliminate restrictions on opponents…for example with passers outside a grid and defenders inside trying to win the ball, allow the defenders to go outside the grid
increase the number of teams in the exercise – like 3 instead of 2
add psychological pressure by adding a goal – like 10 passes to win
add psychological pressure by adding a penalty for the losers
challenge the team with the ball to keep it against pressure for a set period of time – count down out loud as the time nears
add restrictions – for example – if one player uses two touches, the next may only use one touch
give direction to the exercise – play to goal lines or goals
add goals and shooting – require possession before shooting
increase the number of balls in play to force thinking and vision

Possession warm ups

These warm ups are recommended for this type of session.

Wall Passing – Partners with ball executing wall pass in space.

Wall Passing in Grid – Put the whole team into a 20 yard square, let partners with a ball do wall passes around other pairs.

Takeovers – Partners with ball executing takeovers with overlap and pass.

1-2-3 Touch (from Kerry Miller, Women’s Coach, Charleston Southern in 1993). Partners at 5 yards with ball, one touch passing as hard as possible. Change to two touch passing. Push the pace. Finally, change to three touch passing. First touch to stop ball, second touch push ball forward a couple of steps to attack, third touch pass. Passer must retreat several steps immediately after passing. Partners move up and back together very quickly, very demanding physically on the quads.

Piranha Waters

Equipment: 4 cones to mark boundaries. 20-40 objects of various sizes. Stopwatch

Space: 15×15 yards

Numbers: 2 teams of any number

Objective:

To get your team, one blindfolded member at a time, from one side of the square to the other w/o being “eaten” by a piranha. The square area represents water. Only one blindfolded person is allowed in the water at any one time. You may designate one sighted captain or you can spread the wealth by alternating captains so that everyone has to lead at least once. The captain is the only one who can communicate while he or she tries to guide the blindfolded players, one by one, through the water w/o their being touched by any of the piranhas (objects). If the player does touch one, there is a ten-second penalty. The team that gets all their members across the water fastest is the winner. A coach should be assigned to each team and add any penalty seconds resulting from touching a piranha.

Lesson:

Players learn to keep their eyes on the prize while attempting to transfer the entire group safely to the other side. Sometimes we’re “blind” and lose sight of our goals and sometimes things are clear. When there is clarity, it’s easy to reach the prize. Sometimes there are obstacles and setbacks, but that’s part of what the season is all about: navigating and negotiating through these challenges and setbacks and getting safely and successfully to the other side.

Debriefing:

What was the hardest part of this exercise?
How did it feel to be completely responsible for the success of your teammates?
Who had the toughest job? Why?
What did you notice about yourself and experience when you were blindfolded?
How can we apply these lessons to our session?

Passing, receiving, movement and defending

I use this soccer drill for moving to the ball and I’ll share it (I’m sure some of you have already used it):

4 players, 2 balls, 2 cones.

A. pass<- C D ->pass. B

Players A and B are at the cones with the balls. Players C and D show for the ball and then receive a pass and pass it back. Then, they run across and receive a pass from the other passer (i.e. C starts with A, then goes to B, back to A, etc.) Do this for a bit and then switch. The hard part is making sure C and D don’t run into each other while running to meet the next pass.

Modification: Now, have C be the attacker, D be the defender. Run it the same way, but now C must shield D from the ball to receive the pass. If C stands and waits, they won’t get the ball. After a bit, switch C and D, then switch outside and inside. I usually have the defender start with light pressure – just running with the attacker, but I have them increase it to full pressure before too long.

I’ve found that this seems to get the girls to move to the ball better, especially after you add the defender and they “see” why it is important to meet the ball. It also helps with communication – the player in the middle should be able to communicate to the passer to pass the ball to a particular side/foot (depending on how well the player in the middle can hold off the defender – with my U12s it takes some time.)

Passing into space

Focus: Smart off ball movement in a passing environment, but I have found that it has many other benefits as well.

Age: U10 through U16

Time: 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the variations used.

Equipment: Flat cones to establish the grid. Half as many balls as players.

Players: 6-20 players. This exercise is very flexible, numbers-wise.

Space: 20×20 to 30×30 area.

Set up: Grid of flat cones. I like them about 5-10 yards apart, depending on the age and skill of the players. If I want to work 1st touch, I make them about 5 yards. Make the grid at least 3 squares wide and 4 squares deep. 4×4 or 4×5 is perfect.

c c c c c

Pair up the players, each pair with a ball. If you have an extra player, make one group of 3.

Basic Pass & Move:

Explain that you want them to pass the ball to their mate in another square, and then sprint to receive it in a different square. Look for instant movement after a pass.

Variations:

You can vary this basic exercise enormously by putting certain restrictions on the play, such as 2- touch, ball cannot stop, passes must be to an adjacent square, passes cannot be to an adjacent square, 1-touch, player cannot enter a square that has another player exits it, player must run through the square that the pass came from, and into a new square to receive, receive and dribble into an adjacent square, etc.

If the players become too crowded in the central portion of the field (or any other portion), occasionally freeze play and have them look around at where available space is. If it still doesn’t help, restrict runs into unoccupied squares. If it still doesn’t help, freeze play occasionally and have any players who are co-occupying squares do push-up, sit-ups, or some other consequence.

Each of these variations work on a different aspect of the game.

Coaching points: Communicate. Anticipate. Make a predictable run. Find room to work.

Touch:

This is a great exercise to work on smart 1st touch. Explain that you want the players to receive the ball and with their first touch, play the ball into another square. Then pass it to their mate who must do the same thing. Once again, I like to have the players move after passing to a different (preferably unpopulated) square.

Variations:

Many of the same variations described above can be used with the touch exercise as well. Just make sure that you focus on the touch and not the other aspects, since this is a demanding exercises. It can be made very difficult by restricting touches to 2, with the 1st touch required to go to a different square.

Coaching points: Anticipate. Plan. Open body to the pass and prepare receiving surface before the ball gets there. Get in line with the trajectory of the ball. Communicate to your mate.

Variations provided by Gary Rue:

– all passes must be to grids at angles to the passing grid. In other words, no square or vertical passes.

– all passes must be to grids that do not touch the passing grid.

– one touch passes can be made to grids that touch; if the passer takes a second touch the receiver must move to a grid that doesn’t touch.

– first pass is to touching square, next pass is touching square, third pass is to non-touching square (i.e., short-short-long)

– 3 man passing, alternating touching square pass with non-touching square passes.

This is a physically demanding exercise and I use it as a strong warm up for passing-focused training sessions. If you do not see the work rate, they are either not making their runs properly, or are dribbling too much.

Seven passing and shooting games

These seven drills were designed for youth soccer players in the 12- to 14-year range but they can be easily adjusted to suit younger children.

Drill 1

Setup – Players form pairs; partners stand 10 to 20 yards apart, with one football between them.

Sequence – Partners kick safe passes back and forth. The receiver signals for the pass by moving up slightly, then drops back again after passing it back.

Suggestions
Players can use lines marked on the field for orientation and to correct themselves if their passes aren’t straight.

Drill 2

Setup – Set up four cones in a row, at 1-yard intervals (three goals). Two players stand on opposite sides of the center goal with one ball between them.

Sequence – A passes the ball through the goal to B, who dribbles it to the right and passes it back to A through the outside goal. A dribbles the ball back to the middle and passes through it to B again. B dribbles the ball to the left and passes it back to A through the other outside goal. A takes the ball back to the middle, and B takes it to the outside again. A and B switch roles after several repetitions.

Drill 3

Setup – Two players at opposite corners of a square, 10 to 20 yards apart. Each one has a ball.

Sequence – This exercise improves timing and a player’s feel for the speed of the ball. Both players pass simultaneously. Each one passes straight down one side of the square, then runs to receive the other player’s pass.

Suggestions
At the beginning, players should stop the ball each time so that their passes are truly straight (otherwise, players tend to pass diagonally at first).

Drill 4

Setup – Two players (A and B) stand about 20 yards apart. Each one has a ball. A small goal (about 1 yard wide) stands in front of each player. A third player (C) stands in the middle.

Sequence – C runs a short distance toward A, receives a pass through the goal and one-touches it back. C turns around and repeats the same sequence with B. After several rounds, one of the outside players switches positions with C.

Drill 5

Setup – Players B and C stand in front of a goal with goalkeeper, each one at a cone. The other players stand directly in front of the goal, about 30 yards away. Each one has a ball.

Sequence – The first player in the group (A) passes to B, then moves up to a central cone and shows for a pass. B kicks a square pass to A and overlaps. A passes the ball to C and runs to B’s cone. C passes the ball to B at the end of the overlapping run, and B shoots. After shooting, B moves to C’s cone, and C retrieves the ball.

Suggestions
Players can’t pass until their receivers move up and show for the ball. Pass the ball right to your receiver’s feet.

Drill 6

Setup – Place two cones in front of a goal with goalkeeper, one 16 yards to the left and the other about 22 yards to the right. One player stands at each cone (B and C). The other players stand directly in front of the goal, about 30 yards away. Each one has a ball.

Sequence – The first player in the group (A) plays one wall pass with the player at the near cone (B), then another with the player at the far cone (C), and finally shoots. B and C move up and show for their passes. After a few rounds, B and C switch positions with other players.

Variation
Place the near cone on the right and the far cone on the left, so that the shots come from the other side.

Drill 7

Setup – Place two small goals in front of a goal with goalkeeper, somewhat off to the right. The first small goal is parallel to the penalty box line, about 20 yards away from the goal. The second is perpendicular to the first and 17 yards away from the goal. Players with balls stand about two yards away from the first small goal.

Sequence – Each player passes through the first small goal, runs around it, and then passes directly through the second. Then the player runs around it and shoots directly.

Suggestions
Focus on developing a feel for the ball and well-timed passes. Rearrange the goals after a while, to train both feet.

Passing and shooting

One of the keys elements of finishing in soccer is accuracy. Power is nice, but it’s a distant second in priority. In the past, I have always stressed the need for shooting with the instep. Though, I don’t want to downgrade the importance of this technique, I am starting to believe it is more meaningful to emphasize first and foremost accuracy by “passing” the ball into the goal. Power can be trained later after the player understands a slow roller into the goal is worth more than a rocket shot not on frame.

Warm up — Set up two lines (of 1 to 2 players), six to eight yards apart (goal post width); these two lines are directly across from two other lines of players; the distance between the sets of two lines are ten to fifteen yards (coach should adjust to player age and ability).

A2 C2 A1 C1 B1 D1 B2 D2

A1 passes straight across to B1 and follows the pass to the B line; B1 receives, makes an angled pass to C1 and follows pass to C line; C1 receives, makes a straight ahead pass to D1 and follows pass to D line; D1 makes an angled pass to A2, etc.

Warm-up Progression

Ask players to pass with specified foot
Restrict number of touches to control ball before making next pass
Switch to an instep pass, if accuracy can be maintained
At some point, have the team envision that each line is a goal post; the straight ahead passes are to the near post, the angled passes are to the far post
Ask the players to pass to the inside foot of the receiving player (i.e., inside the post)

Warm-up Coaching Points:

Ensure the inside of the foot is used to pass (as this normally is the most accurate type of pass for a player)
Play should be continuous, have extra balls ready between groups A & C and groups B & D. Bad passes can be chased down by the passer while the next player puts a new ball back into play
Make sure receptions are toward the target

Shooting Drill:

Setup — Structure the drill exactly like the warm-up, except with a goal between groups A and C. When A passes to B, B finishes with an angled pass to the far post; when C passes to D, D finishes with an angled pass to his/her far post.

Drill Progression:

Change drill so that A passes across to D who finishes (to the near post) with a straight on pass; C passes across to D who finishes with a straight on pass
Restrict number of touches before shot
Use instep (if accuracy can be maintained)
Add a GK; initially position the GK away from the post the players will be shooting; that is, the GK should be shaded toward the side that makes the initial pass
Let the GK be active and allow the attacker to finish to the appropriate post and appropriate part of foot

Drill Coaching Points:

Stress accuracy, not power, constantly
The position of body and support foot should be towards the finishing point
Have player look up to side of goal they are finishing; when GK added, player should look to near post, if not covered shoot there, else go to far post (do not look at or try to find the GK)
Make sure player is looking at the ball at the point when the shot is taken
Team and coaches should reinforce every made goal with some kind of positive exaltation; save the loudest for the accurate goal as the power shot will get its fair share of “oohs” and “aaahs.”