It may sound like I am being negative suggesting ways to stop teams passing but study any of the successful teams around the world and you will see the hard work that goes into stopping teams passing through or around midfields and defences.
It is a necessary evil of the way the game is played now to think about how you play against teams that keep the ball and pass and move to create goalscoring chances. Your team’s job is to stop that happening.
You want your players to go hunting for the ball, quickly closing down the opposition. This pressing action makes life extremely uncomfortable for your opponents and forces them to react in a different way – or lose the ball!
They do not have the time and space to pass the ball so easily; invariably they will panic and hurry a pass that may well go astray or, indeed, resort to the long ball up the pitch instead making possession even harder to retain.
Try these sessions with your team to help them cope with teams that pass the ball quickly and stop them overwhelming your team.
Double dare… Use this session to teach players the value of hard working midfielders. They can disrupt even the best passing teams by working in pairs to block any moves through midfield.
Do it yourself… This session helps you coach players to understand that they have to stay close and not let opponents get free or they will give the game away.
In my skills curriculum the under 8 session Block passes by the other side is a great way to develop your players to defend against passing teams. As the title suggests the idea of this game is to stop passes by blocking and cutting off passing routes. Being able to block passes is very important at Under 8 but difficult to work on. This is very good session for social and fun time as well as a good technique work out for this age group.
Also in my curriculum is the under 11 gamed Block passing routes The aim of this game if for one team to keep the ball for as long as possible while the other team blocks passing routes. Players must remember that they have to pass the ball to a team mate within their own zone before passing into the end zone.
Use this session to teach players the value of hard working midfielders. They can disrupt even the best passing teams by working in pairs to block any moves through midfield. MORE
The aim of this game is for one team to keep the ball for as long as possible while the other team blocks passing routes. Players must remember that they have to pass the ball to a team mate within their own zone before passing into the end zone. MORE
Being able to block passes is very important at Under 8 but difficult to work on. This is very good session for social and fun time as well as a good technique work out for this age group. You can use this as a warm up before training or matches MORE
It can be very frustrating when your midfield gets overrun by the opposition – winning the ball in these areas is key to making sure your team is not under siege from a strong opponent. MORE
Who is going to be substitute? It is a problem that affects every single coach or manager in the game at every level. How often do we see on our TV screens close ups of a Premier League player looking unhappy sitting on the bench with a whole studio of experts dumbfounded as to why he is on it. MORE
This training session is a good workout for forwards pressing and forcing mistakes high up the pitch. It also helps to develop link play in the final third. MORE
It is not only spectacular goals that you see from players volleying the ball you also see fantastic goal line clearances and defenders clearing the ball from corners or crosses – but what is a volley?
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When it comes to winning the ball back attackers, who are mainly there to score goals, are as central to the plan as any defensive player on the pitch. It is their job to win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible, gaining possession in dangerous areas where the opposition are most vulnerable. MORE
The goalkeeper is often the player that is the most neglected when it comes to training nights yet is one of the most important players on the pitch. Certainly at lots of clubs players take turns to play in goal – I have no problem with that but if that is the case you need to make sure the players have the basics covered. MORE
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