Play through midfield

When teams are playing through the middle of the pitch they should always look to move the ball through the midfield either down the middle or using wide players to advance into the final third.

Why use it

This forces play through them midfield and shows players how playing this way they keep possession and can set up play more easily

Set up

You need balls, bibs, cones and goals. Set up an area 45 x 30 yards with two end zones of 20 yards and a five yard centre zone. We used 14 players in the session

How to do it

You need to split your players into two teams of 6 plus 2 neutral midfielders. Four players on each team play in the defensive zone with two players in the attacking zone making 4v2 in those zones. The two neutral mids play in the 5-yard central zone. Coach plays a ball into the defence of one team and they must keep possession for three passes which allows them to pass to one of the neutral midfielders. They pass into the attackers and two players from the defending zone can join the attack to make it a 4v4.

Technique

Good passing and movement with reaction times important to the session

1. Play starts with a pass from the coach into the defence of one of the teams

2. The team in possession must make 3 passes before they can pass the ball to the two midfielders in the centre zone

3. The midfielders in the centre zone must look to pass into the attackers so they must create space to receive the pass

4. Two players from the defensive zone can join in with the attack making it a 4v4

5. Here the team plays through the middle and uses runners as decoys before a pass own the middle catches the defense out