26 Oct 2016

Game of Defending 1 v 1 FREE E book

A small sided game can be a number of different themed practices, some of which do not include goals, but should be directional. To simplify things, I mainly coach in a small sided game, with goals and goalkeepers. In this small sided game to improve 1 v 1 Defending I have started by conditioning the teams to play man to man marking to provide situations where the defending team have lots of opportunities to defend in 1 v 1 situations.

Try and think about the size of the pitch to use, taking into account the age and ability of the players and the topic you want to coach within the game. So for example if I was coaching a group of 13 year old boys, of reasonable ability to improve 1 v 1 Defending in a Small Sided Game, with the condition of man to man marking, I would be looking at a pitch size of 30 – 35 yards long x 20 – 25 yards wide, with initially target players for the attacking team to pass into so that the ball is quickly returned to the attacking team, therefore testing the defending teams ability to recover defending positions quickly.

I would then look to progress to a small sided game, still with the man to man marking condition, but now with relevant sized goals to the pitch size. I would play 2 goalkeepers and 4 – 7 outfield players in each team.

Game of Defending 1 v 1 FREE E book

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