
Defend the lines
in Defending, Other, Small Sided Games
Anticipate the ball being played through the lines and intercept passes by blocking passing routes. Players will also need to be able to tackle and win the ball MORE
Teach your players the art of intercepting or “stealing” the ball – like Real Madrid centre back Ricardo Carvalho or Manchester United’s midfielder Michael Carrick – with this session.
All players need to:
Defenders must:
Warm up | Session | Developments | Game Situation | Warm Down |
---|---|---|---|---|
10 minutes | 15 minutes | 15 minutes | 15 minutes | 5 minutes |
Mark out a square area and use five players, as shown in the top picture.
Play 4v1 keepaway. Award a point to the attackers for completing five passes. The defender earns a point for knocking the ball out of play or forcing the attackers to kick it out, and two points for stealing the ball.
Play two-touch and switch defenders after each minute of play.
One player tries to intercept the ball from a team of four.
Mark out a bigger area and play 2v2 plus one neutral player. The neutral player always plays for the team that is not in possession of the ball, so it is 2v3.
Any of the defensive players can win possession, but if the neutral player happens to be the one who wins the ball, he must pass to the team he’s won possession for before immediately switching teams.
He then begins trying to intercept the ball again with his new team mates.
Play two-touch to begin with, then three-touch. This helps encourages lots of passing followed by more realistic play.
Two players try to keep possession against two others plus a neutral player.
Set up the area, as shown in the bottom picture, and play a five-a-side game.
Condition the number of touches a player can have, including the goalkeepers, to two to encourage lots of passing and, therefore, opportunities to intercept the ball.
Progress to three-touch, and then play a game with no limit on the number of touches allowed. The team that scores most goals wins.
In a five-a-side game, play two-touch so there are lots of chances for interceptions to take place.