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Tackling Drills and Games

These soccer tackling drills will show you the best methods of coaching your players to win back the ball. After all, you can’t score goals if you don’t have the ball.

Tackling is a core soccer skill and the slide tackle, block tackle and poke tackle are all here. We look at the techniques involved to make sure your players tackle legally and safely. We also have games and drills to help you coach tackling more effectively.

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Warm-Up: Defending in our half

A three-part session focusing on defensive principles and developing defensive techniques.

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El Chaos

Adapted from a Barcelona academy drill, competitive 1v1s with points, and forfeits, at stake.

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Practice 1: Setting the traps

Coach the techniques, principles and tactics of defending as a unit to win the ball in wide areas.

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Practice: Stopping the attacker

A simple and continuous game to improve players in 1v1 situations and develop their tackling

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Practice 1: Delay for support

A session to develop defenders’ ability to delay their opponents until help arrives. Use this session as a standalone activity, or combin...

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Practice 2: Delay for support

A session to develop defenders’ ability to delay their opponents until help arrives. Use this session as a standalone activity, or combin...

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Practice 3: Delay for support

A session to develop defenders’ ability to delay their opponents until help arrives. Use this session as a standalone activity, or combin...

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Magical spiders - practice

A fun, fast and loud game to develop players’ basic skills armoury.

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Support the defender - practice 1

Three-part session on defensive judgement, support, and confidence to retain the ball. By STEPH FAIRBAIRN

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Support the defender - practice 2

Three-part session on defensive judgement, support, and confidence to retain the ball. By STEPH FAIRBAIRN

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Create cool defenders

A fun game that will encourage your defenders to be calm on the ball and confident in their passing. Having a defender cool enough to keep ...

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Ball watching

This session helps defenders to use an overload to their advantage when attackers run centrally at them – they must press their opponents ...

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Secure the box

This session helps defenders understand the importance of marking tightly in the penalty area and not losing their man.

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Defender takes control

If you want your defence tight you’ll need to coach your players to force opponents wide leaving attackers unable to dribble into the area.

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Mertersacker's ball

Run this session to get your defenders clearing the ball like Arsenal academy director Per Mertesacker used to do in the Premier League, ...

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Small-sided game: Tackle and counter attack

This activity places players in a game environment where they are set up to win the ball back from the opposition and counterattack quickly ...

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Practice: Pressing and recovering

This game enables defenders to work on their communication and decision-making, helping them understand when they should press and when ...

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Practice: Stop attackers turning

If you want your defenders to learn to come out on top in a one-on-one situation with an opponent, use this activity to teach them what to ...

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Stop the attack

Get defenders to play like Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk, whose clever positioning in seemingly irretrievable situations often ...

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Defending in midfield

Use this game to teach your players to be strong midfielders who can win the battles in midfield and get the ball into attackers, stopping ...

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Danger man

If your opponents boast a player capable of winning the game with a moment of solo genius, then use this activity to coach your team to ...

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Practice: Delay the play 1v1

By pitting individual defenders against two attackers, this session teaches a lone defender to be patient and delay play until they either ...

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Midfield surge

This session gives the attacking team a deadline to win the ball and score goals. It also puts the pressure on the defenders to keep hold ...

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Rondo win the ball

This uses all the elements of pre-season training: passing, communication, movement, control, and with the progression comes a tactical ...

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Tackling Drills and Games

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Coaches' Testimonials

Gerald Kearney, Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club

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Rick Shields, Springboro, USA

Tony Green, Pierrefonds Titans, Quebec, Canada

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