FA Level 2

Football Coaching to improve close range finishing # 2.

Football Training to improve close range finishing session # 1.

The best players can pass the ball accurately over long and short distances. There are two simple ways to help your players become better passers, particularly with the frequently used side foot short range pass. 1. Get their head up prior to the pass, so they can see who they want to pass to and "picture the pass" 2. Use the correct side foot passing technique.

We have recently seen Chelsea do an outstanding defensive job on both Liverpool and Atlético Madrid and Crystal Palace, under Tony Pulis have built their impressive run of form on the basis of a solid and organised defence.

I recently presented this as a topic at a Football Coaching Seminar in Porto, Portugal.

In football, one of the biggest dangers is on the turnover of the ball that happens when the attacking team lose the ball and have committed players forward. They are open to a quick counter attack and many goals are scored from this transition of attacking to then having to defend a counter attack. The problem for the defending team is that they are now outnumbered, disorganised and have lots of space behind them, which is difficult to defend. This is the football training subject of a question from one of our coaches:

We hear a lot about possession play. Brendan Rogers at Liverpool has developed and evolved a very successful playing style based upon possession based football - although it does help that you have Suarez in your team at the sharp end of all the possession based play!!

Question: My football coaching philosophy is to keep possession through short passing and good support. But the reality is that my players don't seem capable of doing this and the play keeps breaking down and they are loosing confidence in what I am trying to achieve. Can you help with some coaching sessions that can develop these short passing and support skills and increase my players confidence?