Break out
Test a range of attacking skills with this drill that requires your players to escape from a central area and keep their cool to beat the goalkeeper. MORE
Dribble with confidence
in Practice plans, Soccer dribbling drills
Get your players to feel more comfortable when dribbling the ball, which will help their attacking play and improve their confidence. MORE
Gate control
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
Players should be in the habit of using their first touch as a means of setting up the next pass (or shot or cross or dribble) and not just as a way of getting the ball under control. MORE
Three zone attack
This session improves your team’s attacking play through a series of small-sided games. These take place on a pitch divided into three playing zones, allowing you to set different conditions for the players to create goal scoring chances. MORE
The skill channel
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
Find your team’s Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo with this session. It will improve your players’ dribbling ability in order to attack and run past defenders in 1v1 situations. “The skill channel” develops changes in speed and direction, plus using an individual skill to beat the defender. MORE
4 Games, 1 Pitch
Set the pitch up at the start of the session and you won’t need to touch another cone until you pack up. The initial setup allows the session to progress smoothly from warm-up through to game. MORE
Back me up, buddy
Teamwork is vital when the opposition has the ball and that means any player defending in a 1v1 situation should have a buddy behind him providing cover. MORE
Create space to receive a pass
By creating space before receiving a pass, a player will avoid immediate pressure, and so give themselves time to make good decisions with the ball and execute them. MORE
4v4 games tournament
in Practice plans, Soccer dribbling drills
Now turn the game into a competition between all four teams at once. The teams must keep a tally of their goals for and against as they move from game to game. The team with the best total result is the winner. MORE
Three team triangle games
in Practice plans, Soccer dribbling drills
This training session is designed to encourage your players to play with the freedom that they might have in a school playground where they are in control of the environment. MORE
Space race
If players want to receive a pass, rather than standing around waiting for a team mate to play one in their direction, they have to create space for themselves – in tight spots that means shaking off close markers. MORE
Possession, progression
This activity works on maintaining possession of the ball, but also on recognising the need to be progressive when your team has the ball. MORE
Sprint to it
in Fitness and Diet, Practice plans
Increasing the sprinting speed of your team will have them reaching the ball faster than their opponents all over the field and can change the outcome of a match. MORE
Look around you
Assessing what’s happening on the pitch before receiving the ball will give your players the time to make the right decisions. MORE
Time and space
Improving your centre forwards movement off the ball in order to create space in the opponent’s defence. MORE
Check in, check out
A couple of sudden darting movements are all your players need to shake off a defender and create enough space to receive a pass. This session will help your players create chaos for the opposition. MORE
Always on the look-out
Even when not in possession, good footballers play with their head up to be aware of what’s going on around them. This means when the ball comes their way they can make well-informed and quick decisions and are more likely to make good use of the ball. MORE
Shut down and break
Your defenders should not think their job is over once they’ve won the ball. If the opposition has attacked in numbers, it could be the ideal time to launch a counter attack. Use this session to encourage your defenders to identify and create attacking opportunities. MORE
The all-action circuit
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
This circuit is designed to comprehensively improve your players’ techniques. The exercise starts with close control ball skills before evolving into recreating gamelike situations. The all-action nature of the circuit ensures your players are working at match speed. MORE
Eye spy
Good footballers keep their heads up as much as possible – even when not in possession – to take constant “pictures” of what’s going on around them. This allows them to make good, quick decisions when the ball comes their way, and stay one step ahead of the opposition. MORE
Cristiano Ronaldo “chop”
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
Frequently used by the brilliant Portuguese international winger, adding this technique to a player’s skill-set will give them more ways of dribbling past an opponent and therefore improve your team’s ability to disrupt even the most well-organised defences. MORE
Ronaldinho elastic
in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans
Named after the Brazilian international who played for Barcelona and AC Milan , this trick is a superb way of making a defender think you’re going one way but actually going the other. It makes a fantastic addition to any player’s skill-set. MORE
Side orders
Force the opposition sideways into the wide areas when they are in possession to keep the main threat away from goal with this session. MORE
Supporting a team mate in possession
Last week we looked at getting your players to support forward passes. This week’s session builds on this by offering them options for combining to beat the defenders such as the overlap worked on in issue 56. MORE
