Striker anticipates through balls

Playing a ball into a striker in space gives that player the chance to run with the ball and beat a player and smash the ball into the net. Use this session to give your receiving strikers practice in beating players and scoring goals.

Set up

Create an area 40×20 yards split into a middle zone of 20 yards and end zones 10 yards. You need 13 players, bibs, balls, cones and two goals.

How to play it

Create two teams comprising of four attackers, a defender and a goalkeeper and play 4v4 in the middle zone plus a floating player who plays for the team in possession of the ball. All positions are locked into the zones until the ball is passed into the end zone for a striker to run on to. If the pass into the striker is one touch the goal counts double

Technique

This is all about the striker reading the pass making a good first touch to take the ball in his/her stride and at speed attacking the goal and getting a good shot away

1. Goalkeepers start the drill with a pass out to a defender
2. The floating player plays for the team in possession but cannot score

3. To go into the end zone players must be timing their run to receive a pass

4. Attackers must be prepared to go 1v1 against a defender and beat them to get a shot away