INSPIRED, CONFIDENT & EFFECTIVE COACHING
The defensive soccer drills and games in this section will help you coach your players to work as a unit at the back. We look at how your players should organise themselves, what are their roles and responsibilities as defenders, and how they should react in different defensive situations.
With work, you should be able to coach your players to control the game at the back and to start great passing moves leading to goals at the other end.
A team needs to be united in defence when under pressure. The focus of the session is defending with two banks of four players. These players work together to reduce space for the opposition to attack and create goalscoring opportunities. MORE
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Drill your defenders to cover each other while one of them deals with an incoming long ball that threatens your goal. Soon they’ll be experts at last-ditch defending. MORE
If you can improve your players’ defending from crosses, fewer goals will be conceded. The session focuses primarily on the four defenders and their ability to block a cross or clear the ball from danger. MORE
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If you find that even the brightest of your young stars is prone to losing possession when on a surging forward run, always make sure that each member of your team understands how important it is to get the ball back as quickly as possible. MORE
Over five weeks this series will show you how to tighten up your defence so you can win more matches. This week we show you how to win the ball and counterattack MORE
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When the ball is lost in attack, this shows forwards that they must immediately try to get the ball back by pressing high up the pitch. MORE
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This activity places players in a game environment where they are set up to win the ball back from the opposition and counterattack quickly to a waiting target. MORE
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This game enables defenders to work on their communication and decision-making, helping them understand when they should press and when they should recover. MORE
A defensive unit that can prevent opponents from making penetrating forward passes will stop goals. Teach your players to do this and their chances of winning games will increase. MORE
Over five weeks this series will show you how to tighten up your defence so you can win more matches. This week we show you how to defend as a team MORE
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The four games in this activity provide players with opportunities to learn individual technique as well as visual cues that can help them decide when and where to provide cover. MORE
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Players learn to react quickly in transition and learn about zonal marking and using visual cues to increase cover in dangerous areas. MORE
When out of possession, your players need to understand how to pressure the opposition and regain the ball. MORE
Over five weeks this series will show you how to tighten up your defence so you can win more matches. This week we show you how to support while pressing for the ball MORE
If your team can master the art of close marking, it can make the opposition’s task of scoring goals extremely tricky and that means your players will have a better chance of winning matches. MORE
Over five weeks this series will show you how to tighten up your defence so you can win more matches. This week we show you how to focus on the art of individual defending MORE
This training session is a great fun way of introducing and explaining the concepts of defensive pressure and support play to young players. MORE
If you want your defenders to learn to come out on top in a one-on-one situation with an opponent, use this activity to teach them what to do and what to look for MORE
When a team is 1-0 up at half-time they need a tactic that will help them score again but has good defensive qualities so the opposition have less chance of equalising MORE
If you want to win matches, you have to be solid at the back. Over five weeks this series will show you how to tighten up your defence and make your team impregnable MORE
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Passing and possession are now seen as key to the way most successful teams play. So how do you go about preparing your team to play against a passing team? MORE
This teaches pressing cues and encourages pressing on the flanks, so when a team is under attack they can keep play on the wings and stop direct attacks. MORE
If you want to improve your team’s defensive performance, use this to teach players when to press and when to hold, so they can control play even if they don’t have possession. MORE
Get defenders to play like Vincent Kompany, whose clever positioning in seemingly irretrievable situations often leads to attacks breaking down. MORE
