High pressure

This session aims to improve your team’s ability to pressure opponents by using the forwards as the first line of defence.

What this session is about

1.  Forwards forming the first line of defence.
2.  Working in groups to pressure.
3.  Winning the ball near to the opponent’s goal.

What to think about

The aim of defending is to keep your opponent as far away from your goal as possible. Therefore your forward players should be your first line of defence.

However, the rest of the team must react to this pressure and push forward to get closer to the forwards and compact the pitch.

In doing so your team has more chance of winning the ball near to the opponent’s goal and therefore in a good position to score.

Set-up

•  30 x 30yd area for the session expanding to a 45 x 30yd area for the development and game.

Warm up	Session	Developments	Game Situation	Warm Down
10 minutes	10-15 minutes	15 minutes	10-15 minutes	10 minutes

What you get your players to do

The forwards work in groups of three and must run to stop the defenders passing the ball out of defence and into the mini goals.

Defenders can work in teams of three or four, depending on the numbers available.

The three attackers press high to win the ball.

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Development

Now the pitch is split into three zones, when defending all of the team must compact the pitch by using high pressure and pushing up into the first two zones.

The midfield and defence compact the pitch.

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Game situation

The defending team plays the game with no goalkeeper. Therefore the team must pressure the player on the ball very quickly in order to stop a long pass / shot going into their empty net.

All players on the team must concentrate and react to compact the space on the pitch and pressure the opponents into giving possession away.

The goalkeeper is removed so high pressure is vital.

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What to call out

•  “Pressure quickly”
•  “Stop forward passes”
•  “Can you win possession close to the goal?”