What this session is about

1.  Improving the strikers’ movement.
2.  Creating space to receive a pass.
3.  Creating chances to score a goal.

What to think about

Strikers are often “man marked” by the opponent’s central defender.

So a top striker must make the opponent’s job of marking very hard.

The striker can do this by constantly moving and changing his position on the field in relation to the position of the ball.

The opposing defender must not only mark the striker, he must also keep an eye on the ball.

This is something that the striker must use to his advantage and never be in a position where the defender is able to see both the ball and the striker at the same time.

This is called “playing on the blind side of the defender”.

Set-up

What you get your players to do

Set up the flags/mannequins to act as defenders, as shown in the top picture.

The first player passes to the wide player, who dribbles forward with the ball. Meanwhile the striker runs along the defensive line of flags/mannequins.

When the timing is right, the striker darts into the space behind the defence to receive a through pass so he can run on to the ball and shoot at goal.

Use offside in this practice to improve the players’ timing of the run and when to pass the ball.