Soccer Coaching

Following on from the previous blog article, we now look at how to coach a team to defend deep and then counter attack. In this UEFA B coaching topic, the defending team are giving up ground and defending deep, in and around their own penalty area. Typically, this might be an away team who are 0-0 or winning the game.

I recently received a question on a UEFA B coaching topic, one which is very relevant to the way football has evolved tactically. The question was how do you Coach a team to defend a counter attack.

Description: These kinds of football drills are called overload possession, where one team has more players than the other, to encourage the team with more players to create space whilst keeping possession and then create a goal scoring opportunity. If the team with fewer players win the ball, they can score straight away in either goal. These are for use by FA Level 1, 2, and UEFA B coaches.

This is a football coaching drill designed using Coaches Chalkboard on improving dribbling in and around the penalty area. Players will need to create space in which to receive the ball. To receive the ball out of their feet so that they are facing the opposition goal. Get their head up to see what their options are and then look to use dribbling tricks, skills and ball manipulation and to move the ball and their body past opponents. Finally, there needs to be a positive end result after the dribble of a shot or a cross.

This is the complete session on Improving Ball Control, click on the links to access the Coaches Chalkboard sessions and the downloadable PDF.