Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 1-5-1-3-1

General Defensive shape

1) It is vital for the back line to defend the "seams" (spaces between defenders)

2) HMs need to defend most dangerous area (shaded), space between CBs and HMs. There should always be a player in this area!

3) We should double team the player with the ball in the above area, at the very least apply immediate pressure.

4) Shaded areas are HIGH PRESSURE areas (immediately attack the ball)

5) Red line is "line of confrontation" (the furthest distance we trade for time and begin to pressure)

6) Green arrows show where we generally should force their attack

7) Yellow arrows show how the three forward players should defend, add "back pressure" to the ball.

Back line movement

With 5 in the back line, we can afford to send any one of the players. Be careful sending your center back. No matter which player steps forward to pressure or join the attack, the other 4 should shift to fill in the now open space. This would leave us with a very familiar back FOUR. If the player is caught out of position, defend the goal until the player returns (delay the attack). The above graphic is to show movement of the back line. More often than not, we will have a HM to help pressure the ball (green and yellow arrows). The dotted lines are meant to show that these positions will exchange frequently during attacking and defending. The important thing here is to maintain shape! We should only be getting beat with long balls over the top, ranged shots, and crosses. Nothing through the middle!!

Attacking out of back

The big idea of this system is to maintain balance while attacking out of the back. Out of the back, look to get the ball into the wide areas (flanks). Example 1 shows a wall pass to send the LB forward. Example 2 shows an overlap to get the RCB into the flank (the RB would exchange position and hold the back line). Example 3 gives RB the ball from another combination finishing with a cross. In the flanks, the player needs to attack quickly and look to get the ball back inside once pressure increases (or beat an opponent 1v1). Crosses behind the defensive line are valuable here. Our formation in the attack should be an overloaded 4-3-3. Only ONE HM should get involved in attack. We can sharpen this attack further by attacking on one side of the field ONLY depending on the match ups of weaker opponents.