Over the holiday period you want to be playing games and keeping your players aware of the techniques and tactics you will want to use during pre-season and be ready when the season starts.
You need to play games, get the basics right and your team will be ready to go.
At my club we will be going into the break with an eye on gearing up for pre-season and all the extra work behind the scenes that goes into putting a team on the pitch.
Keep players up to date with the shape you want your players to keep next season. Team shape – pass from the back is a great game to play that gets players alert to the ball from the back.
If you have younger players make sure their techniques are up to scratch before you go into pre-season with Dribble the ball 5 yards and score. This works for other techniques as well – try my session for Running with the ball.
Finally Beat two and score is a dream practice for players who love to show off their skill and dribbling ability. Players must compete to dribble outside the opponent’s end line and into a second 1v1 situation where a quick change of direction can give them the opportunity to shoot.
This session is about team shape right up the pitch – it is aimed at encouraging your players to bring the ball out from the back and attack while keeping possession so they are playing through the thirds MORE
Simple way to practice an important technique in matchplay something every age group and ability level needs to do. Also a handy session to run as a warm up MORE
Beat two and score is a dream practice for players who love to show off their skill and dribbling ability. Players must compete to dribble outside the opponent’s end line and into a second 1v1 situation where a quick change of direction can give them the opportunity to shoot. MORE
In this game when you say “go”, each dribbler aims to dribble his ball from the big square into one of the smaller squares. The three middle players must try to win the balls from the dribblers. MORE
We had a meeting this week at my club, where we were discussing the changes we face in a few months time. My U10s team goes from 7v7 into 9v9 and that means we are facing offside decisions. So how does a coach go about preparing for that? MORE
As coaches we are all obsessed with keeping possession of the ball... of course we are the best teams all do it and if you've got the ball the opposition can't score. And there is just that other coach called Pep Guardiola who swears by it... MORE
Fast is a word I like to use when my teams are attacking. Do it with speed and watch the opposition shrink away from it. It makes life difficult for your opponents and helps your team to dominate when in possession of the ball. MORE
The season has suddenly taken off again after 4 months of Coronavirus lockdown. I've been coaching for 14 hours for the last two weeks in an attempt to get the players back into some kind of shape for playing matches. It has its benefits but also it has a downside. Two of my players picked up injuries, one an ankle injury and the other had what he called "tired legs". Find out how we got on... MORE
Defending against overloads can happen whether your team is in an organised or disorganised state. You can plan defending when organised much easier than when you are defending disorganised. MORE
I was talking to a coach this week about how to control balls in the air, especially when heading the ball in training is off the menu for most clubs. I imagine that there will be much more of a contest to win the ball with a volley once it has dropped from head height. So how do you coach controlling balls in the air? MORE
