How do your players react when they are in possession of the ball? Do they just kick it in the general direction of a team mate or are they reacting and scanning the pitch looking for the next best pass?
Possession is so important it is worth spending as much time as you can on getting players reacting to having the ball and making decisions to keep it. They must be switched on and you must get them to look for supporting runs and make the runs themselves.
Without the ball players must work hard to win it back – this is key to creating a reaction in or out of possession. Check out the simple list of key coaching interventions. Players must be made aware of the checklist that they can think about during a possession based practice.
Key coaching interventions
Coach suggestions
“I want you to look at your team-mate before you pass it”
“How can your pass help your team mate to do the next thing?”
Watch a passing combination
“Did you see how he passed the ball to John so he could move onto the ball?”
Challenge
“Recognize when to and when not to risk possession”
Here are three of the best sessions to help you:
Possession or score encourages strikers to have rapid shots at goal and to link up in the middle of the park with one-twos and one-touch passing. Defenders can switch play when in possession and spread out to keep the ball from attackers.
One of the key moments in a possession game is being able to use the ball and create goal scoring chances. It is easy to just keep the ball and neglect the principles of attack. In Possession in overloads players get lots of chances to create, and score, goals
In 3v2 transitions the attacking team has an overload but can the defending team use their players to create their own overload and win the ball back so they can score? It is one of my favourite sessions to get a reaction from my players.
The attacking team has an overload but can the defending team use their players to create their own overload and win the ball back so they can score? MORE
This session encourages strikers to have rapid shots at goal and to link up in the middle of the park with one-twos and one-touch passing. Defenders can switch play when in possession and spread out to keep the ball from attackers. MORE
It is a very difficult time to be coaching our players around the world. So to help you I have created the Coaching Classroom where you can download lessons to give to your players online. Here I have focused on Compactness and Penetration MORE
I was out walking on the local golf course where I live this week and in the distance I saw a child running from what seemed miles away at top speed. As the child got closer I realised that it was someone dribbling a ball. Of course on the fairways it was like being at Wembley on a well cared for football pitch! It was great to see a child enjoying dribbling a ball, chipping over the bunkers and swerving around the patches of heather that catch out an unwary golfer. MORE
At the United Soccer Coaches Digital Convention yesterday I was in the presentation by Dan Abrahams on performance of your team with well being in mind. He explored three environmental approaches and combines them to help you establish a healthy and safe coaching environment for players of all ages and levels. MORE
I'm usually high up in the sky on my way to the United Soccer Coaches convention in America at this time of the year – last year I was at the convention in Baltimore and there was loads of coaching education on offer. Yet it is still exciting to be entering the United Soccer Coaches Digital Convention 2021 on my computer in the home office. MORE
Use this session to train your players to hit a team-mate with pinpoint accuracy. Good long passing from side to side or to an advancing player is important to the development of young players. MORE
Turning with the ball has always been a skill that draws names from the great players through the ages – think of the Cruff turn or Zidane spin turn. It used to make me wonder how players like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane or Johan Cruyff could turn their opponents inside out, game after game – I now know it needs practice and from a young age. MORE
