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Angle of Approach by Forwards
Pressuring Defensively

Soccer Edition 190

      Welcome to the Soccer Newsletter. Today’s subject deals with forwards knowing when and how to pressure the opponents.

      The idea of when an entire team should step up as a unit has been discussed at http://finesoccer.com/soccer_edition_189.htm  but now the issue is how the angle of approach of the forwards should be done to influence the opposing teams attack 

     Too often, when a back has the ball, the opposing teams forwards run right at the player with the ball in order to put pressure on the back.  The problem with taking this type of an approach is that her teammates have no idea of how to anticipate the next move by the player with the ball. 

     The alternative is for the forward to angle her approach to force the back in one direction or the other.  Frequently this is done to force the backs to the side and confine them to one side.  See the diagram  below to see this type of an angle of approach.


      When the forward takes this type of approach, the back usually thinks he is “winning” by beating the forward down the side but the truth of the matter is that when the forward can force the back in the direction she wants, and she has support on that side, then the forward is winning.  One of the advantages of forcing the backs toward the side is that the sideline is a restriction which basically turns into another teammate for the defensive team so by forcing to the sideline, it creates a virtual double team with only one defensive player.  See diagram above for an example of this approach.

 

 


      Another option is for the forward to take the opposite angle of approach and force the back down the middle of the field.  The reason for forcing play down the middle of the field is when the defensive team thinks their strength is in the middle of the field and feel that they want to force the play to their strength and basically funnel all of the play to what they feel is a numbers up situation.

      Whether the forwards force the play wide or they force the play down the middle of the field, as long as there is a decision made as to what will be done and the rest of the team is on the same page as the forwards in terms of a “game plan” the defensive team will usually be more successful than the teams who simply pressure the ball without much thought.

     Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted to the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

To subscribe to any of the FineSoccer Newsletters please go to http://finesoccer.com/subscrib.htm

Have a great day!

Lawrence

Passing and Moving

FineSoccer Drill 181

      Here is an excellent activity that works on passing, receiving, fitness and movement.

      Groups of 4's with one ball per group,  4 Cones are laid out in a rectangle that is 4 yards wide and 10 yards long.  A player is outside of each corner.  See diagram below

      Player 1 passes to player 2 and then player 1 switches places with 4  Player 2 passes to 4 and then 2 and 3 switch places.  See diagram below

      Next you would do the same thing from the other side.

     The next level would be to do the same thing but now there are two balls so that when 1 is passing to 2, 4 is also passing to 3 and then they switch sides.

     There are numerous variations to this including having the players sit down and then stand back up after each pass.  Also you can have the players pass the ball and then 1 and 4 would meet in the middle of their end, jump up and bump into each other and then continue.

     Other variations would be 1 passing to 2 who then one touches the ball to 3 who then plays it back to 2 who passes to 4 who has switched spots with 1.  These types of variations involve getting the hips turned, timing of passes, communication, passing to the correct feet etc.

     Give this a try and then see if you can make up other variations to challenge your players.

     Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

Have a great day!

Lawrence

Staying Compact Defensively

     Today's subject deals with compressing the field defensively.

     First, the 2004 Full Season Training Sessions are now being offered online. At the request of numerous people the 2004 sessions will show the training of two U16 youth teams at different levels. One is an established U16 girl's team and the other is a new U16 boy's team. These sessions are perfect for the coaches for whom the college sessions were too "advanced" and the 2003 youth training sessions were too simple. Any high school coaches (or coaches of high school aged teams) should find these sessions helpful. To learn more, or to sign up please go to
http://finesoccer.com/full_season.htm

      Many good attacking teams spend much of their time trying to find ways to spread the defense out and create holes in the defense to attack into. Once these holes are created it gives the attacking team numbers up situations in most cases which is what good teams are constantly looking to create.

     Because of this, good defending teams should spend most of their time trying to stay compact thus taking the spaces to attack away from the attacking team.

     The way a good defending team stays compact is to make sure that when one player moves in one direction the rest of the team shifts accordingly. This means that if the ball is on the right side of the field, one of the defenders doesn't go out their on her own but instead, the whole team should shift in that direction. If one defender runs out on her own, there will most likely be space around or behind this one defender for the attackers to go at. If the whole defensive unit shifts accordingly, they don't allow that space to be created (instead, the space is created on the far side but since most players can't accurately and consistently play a ball 60-70 yards in the air it's not dangerous). By having all of the defensive players stay "in touch" with each other as opposed to getting spread out it makes it harder for the attacking team to create dangerous situations.

     The same thing is true forward and backward. If the attacking team plays a ball backwards and one or two defensive players decide to chase after it, if they don't win the ball there will be huge spaces for the attacking team to work into. However, if the whole team steps up hard they can put pressure on the ball and take away the spaces between them. The only risk now is the long ball over the top but if the keeper is aware, this should be no problem. Again the key is when one player goes they all have to go and if the team isn't in a position to do this than the team needs to stay back as a unit.

     Defensive teams that compress the field defensively and stay compact are very difficult to attack. They key is good communication so that all the players know when to shift up, back or to the side or when they should stay where they are. Also, staying compact sometimes means being patient and daring the opponent to attack with the long ball over the top or to the side.

     Staying compact is a simple concept to write about but much more difficult to execute in a game because the natural tendency defensively is to not be patient and try to do it on your own. If you can get your team to stay compact (whether playing
high pressure or low pressure and whether playing man to man or zonally) you will have a much better defensive team

     Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com  or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

Have a great day!

Lawrence

Bent Runs and Timed Passes

FineSoccer Drill 180

     Here is an activity that works on bent runs, timing of passes, finishing and fitness.

     Start with groups of 3's attacking a goal with 2 defenders and a keeper on a 60 x 40 area (see diagram below)

      The 3 attacking players start spread out and pass the ball - starting with the keeper.  Number 1 receives the ball from her keeper and passes it out wide to number 2.  Number 1 overlaps Number 2.  Number 2 finds number 3 and overlaps her.  When they get to midfield they then attack 3 v 2 to goal.  See diagram below

      This works on timing of the runs, spacing of the players and timing of the passes.  Once they get into a goal scoring opportunity it also works on knowing when to take the chance to shoot, defending etc.  As soon as the first group is done a second group would start in the other direction attacking two defenders on the opposite end

      Next you can get rid of the defenders and keep the groups of threes.  The first group of 3 does the exact same thing but now they really have to do it at speed because once they get a 10 yard head start (approximately) the second group starts running and tries to chase them down so now the defense comes from behind.  If the team scores the defending team has to defend in the opposite direction against a new attacking team.   If the defense stops them then the team that was attacking becomes the defending team against the new attacking team in the opposite direction.  This adds in pressure from behind as well as fitness because defensively if you don't stop an attack you have to make another full field sprint to defend the opposite goal.

      There are many other options you can add into these activities but this should give you some ideas to work with

      Any questions comments or suggestions should be sent to lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

Have a great day!
Lawrence

Providing Better Support

     Today's featured activity is a simple modification of a common activity that works on providing proper support.

      Many teams play 3 v 1 or 4 v 2 or some variation as a way to work on possession and support.  While these can be good activities they sometimes allow players to support in a lazy fashion and still get away with it (for example, in 3 v 1 rather than supporting with a 90-120 degree angle, a player can support with 30-60 degree angles and still sometimes get away with it).  An alternative is to play 3 v extended 1.

      To play 3 v extended 1 (or you can make it easier and play 4 v extended 1) start with a grid of 15 x 15 (the size of the grid can vary based on skill level and other factors).  Start with 3 players on offense trying to keep possession of the ball (this is for 3 v extended 1).  2 players are in the middle playing defense.  The reason they are referred to as extended 1 is they must each be holding part of the same bib the entire time they are defending.  By requiring the two defenders to hold the bib while defending it prevents them from defending using typical principles of defense.
Instead it's more like having 1 bigger player (and thus the term "extended 1").  The width of the "extended 1" forces the offensive players to provide wider support (which really means proper support) and makes them work harder than most players normally do.

      The extended 1 defender makes it very hard to make a splitting pass which is why 3 offensive players is really all you need as opposed to 4.

      Give 3 v extended 1 a chance and let me know what you think.  Any comments, questions or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com or they
can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

       To subscribe to any of the FineSoccer Newsletters please go to http://finesoccer.com/subscrib.htm

Have a great day!
Lawrence

Numbers Up Situations

      Today's subject deals with numbers up situations.

     First, if you haven't done so already please take a moment to participate in the current online survey by going to http://finesoccer.com/survey.htm

     So much of playing successful soccer is dependent on creating and taking advantage of numbers up situations but not enough time seems to be spent on learning how to do this.

     Defensively, numbers up situations are easy to understand. Most teams, if the opponent has 2 forwards will keep at least 3 players back to mark them (giving them one more defender than the opponent has attackers). If the opponent has 3 forwards most teams will keep 4 players back. By doing this not only can the defenders mark all of the attackers but they can also provide support as well. If an attacker has the ball and is isolated 1 v 1 on a defender out wide, many teams will then send a second defender over to provide coverage (or support) which then creates a 1 v 2 situation in favor of the defense which is the numbers up situation the defense wants.

     Offensively, good teams constantly probe for the opportunity to create a 2 v 1 or 3 v 2 numbers up situation. By doing this, they have the advantage instead of the defense.

     How does the offensive team create a numbers up situation if the defensive team is trying to do the same thing? Using the example above where an attacker with the ball is isolated 1 v 1 with a defender, before the defending team can send a second player to provide support, if the attacking team can have a back overlap around the player with the ball, the numbers go from 1 v 1 to 2 v 1 which is the numbers up situation the attacking team is looking for.

     Since the defending team is always looking to have at least one more defender than the other team has attackers the key is for the attacking team to stay spread out to create these opportunities for numbers up for the attacking team. If the attacking team has the ball wide on their left side and the defending team has numbers up there
so that there are 2 attackers and 3 defenders on that side, if the attacking team can switch the point of attack by playing the ball quickly to their right side chances are the attacking team can create a numbers up situation (or at the very least an even numbers situation) on that side. The reason for this is that since both teams have
the same number of players on the field, if the attacking team is attacking as a unit (instead of just with 2 or 3 players) there is no way for the defending team to have numbers up on both sides of the field at the same time.

     The more a defending team can stay compact (meaning all of their players playing close together usually through the middle of the field but constantly shifting) the easier it is for them to work together and keep numbers up in the dangerous parts of the field. As soon as they get spread out (players chasing from side to side) they lose their numbers advantage. The more an attacking team can spread out (and get the defense to spread out with them) the greater their chances for numbers up situations. Many times, the team that wins this battle between the defense trying to stay compact and the attack trying to spread out will be the team to win the game.

      The next time you get to watch a high level game, watch the battle for numbers closely and see how the real game of soccer is won (and lost).

      Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com  or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at  http://finesoccer.net
 

Possession with an Intent to Penetrate

      FineSoccer Drill 178

      Here is an activity that works on possession but more importantly, possession with the intent to penetrate.

      One of the mistakes that teams (and coaches) get caught up in is the idea that possession of the ball will win games. While possession will sometimes help win games, at some point there must be progression with the ball and then penetration in order to get to goal and score.

      Start with an area of 40 yards wide by 60 yards long (the size of the area can vary based on the numbers available for the activity). Break the field into three grids with the center grid being 30 x 40 and the two end grids being 15 x 30. Have one player in each of the two end grids and the rest of the players in the center in two teams. See diagram below for set up



      The ball starts in the middle and the teams in the middle are playing a possession game. They must make 5 passes (or 3 depending on the level of the players) to each other and then pass it to one of the servers in the end zones. To use the diagram above as an example if the X's have the ball and they make 5 passes and then can pass the ball to the S up top they get a point. S then passes back to the X's and they must make 5 passes and then have to pass the ball to the S down on the bottom to get a point. No one other than the S's are allowed in the end zones. If the O's win the ball then they do the same thing.

      By adding the S's in the end zone it forces the players to think both in terms of keeping possession but also to work in a specific direction (just like they should be doing in a real game). Too often we, as coaches, forget the idea of a direction and get caught up solely on keeping the ball. If the players in the middle are having a problem with getting the 5 passes either lower the number or consider putting one or two players as neutrals in the middle. The neutral players are always on offense which puts the team with the ball in a numbers up situation to make it easier for them.

      Once the players get good at this, add a defender in each end zone to mark the S. This forces the S's to work off the ball to get into a good position to win the ball. If the S's are having too hard a time, consider adding a second S in each zone so that there would now be 2 S's and one D (see diagram below)



      A variation would be to have the set up as below with two S's and one D and in order to get a point the team must make 5 passes in the middle, then find an S who then finds the other S which will work on the possession, penetration and working together upfront.

      From here you could either add a second defender (or even a third) and then progress up to adding goals and keepers.

      There are numerous variations you can have with this basic set up but the big point is to not obsess about possession at the expense of penetration

      If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this activity please feel free to post them on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

Have a great day!
Lawrence

 
 

We would like to thank Lawrence Fine and FineSoccer.com for allowing us to publish this article on the NASL website.  Please visit http://www.FineSoccer.com and sign up for Lawrence's free coaching newsletters and articles.

 
   

Created: 12/20/99
Last Updated: 06/02/04


Since February 24, 1999
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