Dave Clarke is head coach and editor of Soccer Coach Weekly, providing thousands of subscribers worldwide with drills, insight and advice covering all aspects of coaching.
in Attacking, Defending, Tactics
Transitions are a vital part of match play - players must react quickly to winning or losing the ball because in these instances games are won or lost. It is vital that as soon as the ball is won or lost teams react instantly. An attacking team that has lost the ball must work hard to immediately win it back and a team that has won the ball must attack at pace. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Email newsletters
Everyone finds it exciting when a player goes through 1 on 1 against the goalkeeper... if it's your attacker you are on the edge thinking this is it a goal, but if your team is defending you are looking for your goalkeeper to smother the shot. Attackers should score but often they will not due to a number of reasons like taking too long to shoot, missing the target, hitting the keeper with a shot and even slipping over. MORE
This session helps teams turn defence into attack as quickly as possible, creating temporary overloads. MORE
in Defending, Small Sided Games
It is important to press defenders and not give them chance to play long passes that can catch an unwary defence out. Coaching players to force the player at the back to play short gives chances for team mates to push on and win possession. MORE
in Email newsletters, Small Sided Games
When you hear mentor's talking about getting your coaching point across to get the best out of your players, one of the ways to ensure all your players are tuning into your coaching is to use small-sided games. In these games you get a much clearer picture of which players are picking up on the coaching points you have been making. MORE
in Defending
When a team wins or loses the ball, they have to react. Here the defenders must react quickly or they will lose a goal. It encourages teams to close the centre of the pitch, in order to force play away from the goal. MORE
in Email newsletters, Fitness and Diet, Warm Ups
I keep fit pretty much all year round due to being outside coaching most of the time. And with the enforced lay off in the UK due to the coronavirus pandemic I've been keeping myself fit in other ways. However, being fit and having muscles ready to play sport is on a different planet. MORE
This is a good session to teach players to shoot or combine to shoot quickly from varied distances under pressure. The more players shoot, the more chance the team has of scoring goals. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Shooting
An individual session to get young players to unleash shots at goal when they are on the run. Good for coordination and balance with some ball control and of course shooting. MORE
This will help your team make killer passes into the final third, with clever play releasing players so they beat the offside trap and go 1v1 on the keeper. It is a great session for attackers to show off timing and technique. MORE
in Defending, Email newsletters
It is not easy coaching in a pandemic. But one thing I know my players like doing is to give them a task to do which involves watching a match on TV. Say it's Charlie who plays left wingback ... he's a Chelsea fan so his task is to watch Ben Chilwell and give good things or bad things that happen when he is defending. The players love it! MORE
Session on heading for older age groups 16+. Please check your local rules on heading during practise. This is all about making the most of high balls in the penalty area to score more goals. MORE
I know that when I get my team back in training one of the first games we will play will be a series of Rondos. They are food and drink to my players and they cannot wait to get back to them. So you can watch this video with your players and discuss all the aspects of Rondos with them MORE
This week I spoke to Alf Galustian the co-founder of Coerver Coaching about coaching the individual in a team. He makes some great points that are vital to think about when you are coaching your players. Is each individual developing to be the best they can be? It's not an easy question to answer. MORE
in Shooting, Small Sided Games
Getting set up to score goals is vital to the success of your team. It needs a simple bit of skill in this game to get players scoring goals. MORE
in Podcasts
Dave clarke asked Alf Galustian this question: "Bayern Munich has removed U9 and U10 teams and their academy will now start at U11. Is this a model other professional clubs should follow?" Find out what he thinks. Also session planning, what are the most important things to consider? We also discuss the current Covid restrictions and how we can help players to practice at home. MORE
in Email newsletters, Set pieces
Perfect set pieces can be a thing of beauty... but they can also spell disaster. Think of how many times you see a free kick sail over the bar or a corner put your team from attacking to defending a counter attack. Dead ball situations are an individual skill from the player taking the set piece but also they encompass a whole team working to take advantage of the situation. MORE
When you play with two up front you need to get them to work together to hunt down the ball and communicate like twins MORE
in Defending, Small Sided Games
When one player on the opposition is running the game make sure your players know how to mark him/her and stop the team taking advantage. MORE
in Podcasts
In this podcast Dave Clarke talks to Keith Boanas about dealing with coaching in the lockdown including keeping fit, the learning curve for coaches as well as players, sessions he has had published in Soccer Coach Weekly and Elite Soccer, his role with the Palace for Life Foundation, what skills a coach should be looking to learn from coach education and life as a published author. MORE
in Email newsletters, Midfield
One of the things I find really useful is to engage my players on a Zoom call and get them to list the attributes they think players need in certain positions. So this week we are working on defensive midfield. What does a player in that position have to do? MORE
in Email newsletters, Fitness and Diet
During lockdown or anytime you find you cannot get your team to training for a period of time you should make sure they are doing things to keep fit. They need things that they will find are fun and things that they will want to do because it is a competition. Without matches they are missing that competitive edge and that will add to their boredom when they cannot get out and play. MORE
in Ball Control and Footwork, Blog
This week during lockdown we’ve set up a league at our club where boys in age groups challenge each other to beat the keepy uppy record – keeping the ball in the air with different parts of the body but mainly the foot. It helps to get them to try to do as many as possible because they want to win the league. MORE
Playing a pass from a deep lying midfielder into attacking players needs accuracy and speed but also it needs the midfielder to anticipate runs and movement MORE
