Defending Sessions

Football coaching a team in a small sided game, with the coaching topic of defend as a team.

Players love playing football. Take any group of players, the first thing they will do is make two goals, select sides and have a game. Football is fun, the concept of using simplified small sided games as an integral aspect of training is to provide players with an opportunity to do what they enjoy doing the most, playing a game.

PURPOSE

This is an example of coaching a UEFA B, Level 3 Small Sided Game, Coach Defend as a Team.

The ability for players to receive the ball, to pass accurately and quickly over short distances and to move to support the player on the ball are basic fundamentals of football.

That’s it then. England’s World Cup is over. The inquests and rumours have started. There is no doubt that England’s overall performance during the World Cup was very, very poor.

We continue to look at ways in which we can coach players to improve their techniques. Dribbling is one of the hardest techniques to master. It requires and understanding of when and where to dribble. Players need to be positive and brave, as the easy option is always to pass to a team mate, rather than take a chance. If the dribble goes wrong, too often the player attempting the dribble is blamed for being too greedy or not passing. As football coaches, we need to provide a positive environment where players are encouraged to dribble. But, we also need to ensure players have a good understanding of the techniques involved in dribbling and to have lots of opportunities to practice these basic techniques. So that when they are in a position to dribble in a game situation and they have all the basic technical tools to succeed.

Good players play with their heads up. They are aware of where the space is on the pitch, where their players are, where the opposition are. They know what they want to do next with the ball, they have pictures in their heads. They play one, sometimes two or three steps ahead of everyone else.