developing wing play

a GOOD DRILL FOR OUTLINING TO YOUNG PLAYERS THEir OPTIONS WHEN PLAYING AS A WINGER, DECISION MAKING AND CONFIDENCE CAN BE DEVELOPED IN THIS DRILL THROUGH REPETITION AND EXTENDING OR SUPPORTING PLAYERS BY MAKING AREAS BIGGER OR SMALLER AND INCREASING OR DECREASING THE AMOUNT OF TOUCHES ALLOWED WHEN IN THE WINGERS ZONE.

Set Up

Area: 35x45 with full size goals. Mark out 10 meter zones at each end of the pitch as shown bellow.

Teams: 5 v 5, each team consists of 1 goalkeeper, 2 central players and 2 wingers. Players cannot leave there allocated zones creating 1 v 1 situations on the wings. 

Play from the GK who plays out to his team mates who will then try and get the ball out wide as quickly as possible.

Options for wide players

• Take the player on 1 v 1 (close control, change of direction and acceleration) 
• Look to play a give and go with a central player and pass around defender 
• Look for an early cross
• Take the ball to the end line and look for a cut back

Important: It may be a good idea to slow this drill down and talk through the options open to the winger, run a couple of scenarios and then build up to open play. 

GOAL CAN ONLY BE SCORED BY FINISHING A PASS/CROSS FROM THE WINGER WITH 1 TOUCH. 

Attacking the final third

BELOW IS A PRACTICE TO help your team penetrate through the middle and support the attacker in the final third.

Warm Up

Set up and instruction: Split the group into 3 teams of 4 (yellow, blue and red). Two teams play against 1 team to keep possession. Here the yellow and red combine to keep the ball away from the blue team, if a team looses possession they swap roles with the defending team. 

Scoring: Award points for successful combination play, such as a give and go, overlap, short-short-long. 

Award a point every time a team makes 5 consecutive passes. 

Impose dribbling to commit defenders before passing and combining. 

Coaching points:

• Weight and timing of pass
• Support play off the ball, timing of runs and angle of support 
• Quick speed of play
• Communication

Progressions:

Limit the number of touches to encourage quick play.

Main Drill

Set up and Instruction: 

Split an area of 40x40 into 4 equal areas

The game is 6v6 possession (red v green) with 2 neutral players who play for the team in possession (blue) 

Players can move freely around the whole area, however you can only make a maximum of 3 passes in 1 quarter of the grid.

Play 2 touch and 8 passes = 1 goal. 

Coaching points:

• Look to disguise your pass and run so not to be tracked by a defender
• Look for longer passes to break the pressure and keep possession
• Communication

Conditioned Game

Set up and Instruction: 

Use a 40x40 area, with a center line and 2 goals. Play 4 v 4 with 4 neutrals on the outside

Organize 3 v 1 in each area, with 3 midfielders in 1 area and an attacker in the other. Midfielders must play 2 touch in an attempt to get the ball up the field quickly, the striker has unlimited touches.

Neutral are limited to play 1 touch. 

Goals can be scored from anywhere on the field (not just the striker) 

Rotate teams frequently, winning team stays on.

Coaching points:

• Quick combination and finishing 
• Know when to go for goal and when to keep possession, don't waste chances
• Quick speed of play/decision making 
• Communication

2 v 1 Decision Making in Attack

Age Group: 9-10 years old       Ability Level: Beginner       Gender: Boys

 

Equipment Required: Bibs, balls, cones

Aim of Session: To increase decision making in youth players in 2 v 1 situations. Learn how to use the numbers advantage in attack, when to pass or dribble? Running of the ball? Angle of the pass?

Overview: 2 v 1 situations happen all the time during soccer games. Decision making in these situations is vital to exploit the other teams defense and capitalize on the numbers advantage by scoring a goal. Coaching points:

Player off the ball:

1. Get wide to stretch the defender 

2. Be in a position where the player on the ball can see you

3. Move away to create a 1 v 1 for the player on the ball

4. Communicate

Player on the ball:

1. Decision making! Pass or dribble?

2. Fake to pass then dribble/vice versa

3. If you choose to pass stay open for the return

 

These concepts will be introduced gradually throughout the practice so not to overload the player with information and so they are given adequate time to work on each step, then hopefully with practice they will perform all of the above together to successfully go past there opponent in a 2 v 1 situation

Set Up

For this practice set up an area of 15x15 (may alter depending on age/ability of players), in the diagram I have 4 areas set up. In each area, on one side there are two goals at each side of the end zone - outlined by orange cones and on the other side there are small goals in the middle of the square. I have already set up my larger goals outside the practice area so I can introduce these at the end for the practice game.

Warm Up - Dribbling and Support Play

Instruction: Using two of the areas on the set up diagram (30x30square) have players in the square dribbling with the ball, working on close control, turns etc. On the outside have 2 or three defenders without a ball. On the coaches command the defenders must enter the box and try and steal the soccer balls and kick them out the square. This is good 1v1 practice. However when your ball is eliminated from the square you must quickly help a teammate out by supporting them and their ball (2 v 1) The exercise continues until the defenders get all the balls out the square. Change defenders each time.

Coaching Points: If your ball is kicked out the square react quickly to help a teammate. Call to let them know you are open. Pass and move, decision making.. pass or dribble?

Drill 1 - 2 Attackers v 1 Defender 

Instruction: Blue players act as defenders first. A blue player makes a good pass to one of the 2 red players lined up and quickly shuts the player down. The two red players must combined to go past the defender and finish with the ball under control over the blue players end zone (orange line in diagram). Give players a lot of shots to practice and switch players roles so everyone acts as attacking player with the ball, attacking player without the ball and defender.

Coaching Points: The attacker players will need to perform one of three things to go past a defender 2 v 1. A penetrating pass, a penetrating dribble, or a penetrating run.

• Penetrating pass - The off the ball attacker is open and a defense splitting pass will put him through

• Penetrating dribble - The on the ball player is 1 v 1 and can dribble the ball past the defender

• Penetrating run - Off the ball player has made a great run off the ball to take the defender away and leave space for the player on the ball to go through

Drill 2 - 2 Attackers v 1 Defender Progression 

Instruction: Using the same set up as before we now make things more challenging and give the players more to think about to increase decisions making. When the attacking players receive the ball they no longer must get over the orange line, but must get the ball through the mini goals at the opposing players end. This will encourage the attackers to get wide so to stretch the defense. Introducing the offside rule at this point is a good progression. It is a simple set up to show young players if the ball is passed when the second attacker is closer to the goal than the defender he is off course offside. Focus on the defender - instead of just clearing the ball, when he wins the ball can he start an attack? Simulate this by making the drill flow more - If the defender wins the ball, whoever he dispossessed must retreat out the game and another blue player must quickly come in and support to reverse the 2 v 1 in the other direction.

Coaching Points: Every couple of drills stop the drill and ask the players was that a penetrating run, pass or dribble? To aid there understanding and show the effectiveness of these methods. Communicate! If you are open for the ball signal using your hand to show were you are going to run. Speaking to each other is also great communication but introduce hand signals so not to give your move away to the other team.

Drill 3 - Introduce GK

Instruction: Another progression is to introduce the GK (use as many goals as possible to ensure maximum participation). A before the defender plays in the attackers who 2 v 1 try and score a goal.

Coaching Points: Get wide, decision making (penetrating pass/dribble or run?), do not be offside and communicate. It is also very important to stress that the attackers must use this numbers advantage while it exists, do not give the defenders time to get back and re-group then the 2 v 1 opportunity is gone. Score quickly, at the coaches discretion set time limits.

Conditioned Game

Instruction: Play a small sided games so 2 v 1 situations occur frequently. The condition on the following game is if you loose possession you as an individual must run around an outside marker before returning to the game. This means a defensive player will be out of the game for 6-7 seconds leaving the attackers with a numbers advantage.

Coaching Points: Quick decisions, exploit numbers advantage.

Posted 3 minutes ago by David Baird