Coaching a midfield is about making sure each of your midfielders understands their role and responsibilities. With good coaching and organisation your midfield should be able to support the defence and take the ball up the pitch, combining with the forwards to create and score goals. They need to have vision to see where to pass, and the skill and speed to execute their tactics.
These soccer drills and small-sided games look at a number of different midfield scenarios and suggest methods and coaching games to play to boost your midfield players’ skills.
This session places an emphasis on midfield units staying compact and being hard to penetrate when out of possession. It identifies specific defensive roles for midfield players making them more compact and difficult to penentrate MORE
One thing that will help you control the pace of games and give you a winning edge is to have an effective midfield. This useful session will help your players learn how to pass the ball through midfield on the move MORE
in Midfield, Small Sided Games
Set up Pitch size: 40 x 30 yards, divided into three narrow strips Each zone has a target goal at each end Two teams of four players Rules Three players on each team go into their own 1v1 zone. One player from each team is the “playmaker” (P in the diagrams). Possession starts with the... MORE
in Midfield, Small Sided Games
Set up Pitch size: 30 x 20 yards (minimum) up to 40 x 25 yards (maximum) Two keepers Two teams of four players One team play with all four players on the pitch The other team play with two players on the pitch and two wide players off the pitch This set up gives the... MORE
Matches are often won or lost in the centre of midfield, so the better your team is able to maintain possession of the ball here, the better placed it will be able to attack the opposition and create chances. MORE
Create a 30 yards by 15 yards playing area with a line across the middle. Increase this to 60 yards by 40 yards for the game. What you get MORE
Players such as Xavi or Frank Lampard seem to have more time and space than their opponents because of their awareness of what’s happening around them. This session improves your players’ midfield ability by creating a “picture” in their minds before receiving the ball. MORE
This is a session your players will love as it encourages them to develop the skills used by two of England’s best midfielders, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. MORE
This session is designed to improve your midfielders’ defensive responsibilities by stopping forward passes and reacting to make recovery runs or track opponent’s forward runs. MORE
Developing your team’s ability to use three players in midfield will reap great benefits. The games in this session develop attacking combination play, defensive teamwork and the positioning of your midfielders. MORE
Small-sided games are recognised throughout grassroots and professional coaching as one of the best methods to coach soccer skills and tactics. MORE
Soccer Warm-Ups Made Simple offers 58 great training and matchday activities to help your players prepare for matchday. MORE
New to coaching? EasiCoach is an age-specific, easy to follow coaching curriculum for beginner coaches. This edition covers U13 and U14. MORE
