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Coaching Football – Defending Principles

On this page you can watch a football coaching video on defending principles: Access an animated 3D football coaching drill on defending principles: Print out a chalkboard youth football coaching session and a download a PDF, all designed to help football coaches improve their skill of coaching football players in defending principles.

Please take the time to access this football coaching information on defending principles and to watch the Tour Videos to fully appreciate what a membership to Grassrootscoaching.com offers.

Football Coaching – Defending Principles 

When coaching football, a coach should look to establish the principles of defending when the team lose possession.

The coach should be looking for a reaction from their players when the ball is lost. In this key transition period, the players should quickly look to get compact as a team, to get a defensive shape; to get players behind the ball, to compact centrally to deny space in central areas; to quickly get as many players behind the ball as possible and to finally and most importantly to defend their goal.

When coaching football, applying this basic defensive principle will enable your players to have a solid defensive platform from which they can then make defensive decisions, such as making attacking play predictable, by deflecting play away from the goal; whether to apply pressure, what kind of pressure, the cover and balance of supporting defending players and communication between the defensive players.

Football coaches should also look to help players to understand the different defensive needs depending on how many defensive players are matched against attacking players, when and how to pressure and cover and the need to recognise when the attacking team have a numerical advantage and the different roles of the defenders when this happens. Players will also need their football coach to help them to understand how to make it difficult for players to turn with the ball, to deal with high balls and crosses, the need to move and adjust defensively as individuals and as a team when the attackers move the ball and how to react defensively when the goal is under a direct threat.

The following are considered the key technical football coaching factors to improve defending when organised and matched up numerically:

Tips for coaching football players to improve basic defending principles

  • Football Coaching Tip 1 – Pressure on the ball. Decisions on how tight the pressure player gets to the ball. This will depend on how far away the attacker is when they receive the ball and what danger they pose to the defenders goal and what support and cover the pressure defender has from their team mates.
  • Football Coaching Tip 2 – Pressure player to show inside to cover player or down the line away from the goal. Generally, the further the player on the ball is away from the defenders goal, play should be forced inside, into traffic and the covering players. If the attacker receives the ball wide and in a more attacking, advanced position, play can be forced down the line and away from the danger of the attacker cutting inside to shoot.
  • Football Coaching Tip 3 – The angles and distances of cover. The cover player and balance players will need to communicate and provide a good angle and distance of cover and balance
  • Football Coaching Tip 4 – Communication between defenders. It is vitally important that defenders provide clear and good information to each other
  • Football Coaching Tip 5 – Defenders to switch or pivot if the ball is switched between attackers.  Players will need to understand how their roles change if the ball is switched between attackers
  • Football Coaching Tip 6 – Defend the goal. Tighten up pressure and cover the closer the attackers get to the goal. The closer to goal the ball is, the more the need for tighter pressure on the ball. The shot becomes the priority 
  • Football Coaching Tip 7 – Decisions on when and how to pressure shooting opportunities. The angle and speed of approach from a defender to an opponent who is in a position to shoot is very important for players to understand. It is important that where possible the initial line of pressure is for the defender to take a pressure line where they get between the ball and the goal to effect the shot
  • Football Coaching Tip 8 – Goalkeeper. To play an active role in the defensive unit, with good positioning and communication.

Watch videos

Watch the video to understand and structure drills on coaching youth football players on defending principles.

football coaching | Defending Principles videos

See animated drill

This is a 3D animated football coaching drill taken from the Defending area of the site. The title is Small sided games – "Delay and Recovery when defending"

Coaching Football | Defending Principles, animated drills

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