Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): 04's & 00's 9-19-16 Transition from Defense to Offense

Warm-up Two Player Combination and Peeling Off (25 mins)

Warm-up: Two Player Combination and Peeling Off

A. In the left grid, we use two balls, one at each end line. Inside players starting positions in the middle and at the same time they both peel off to the side and receive a pass, control it with first touch and play it to the opposite end line with second touch and return to the middle of the gird facing a new end line.

B. In the middle grid, use two balls, one at each end line. Again, the two inside players start in the middle and peel off and play an ‘in-back-through’ passing combination with the end line players and play it to the other end line and return to the middle to start again facing the new end line.

C. Progress to playing 2v1 to target in the grid, as shown in diagram below. It’s actually 1v1 inside the grid plus using the end line player as support to make it 2v1. The end line player cannot enter grid and is used for possession support and for playing through balls. Each inside player defends one end line and attacks the other end line and scores by passing the ball to the end line target. Only inside player can score.

All the passing combination and peeling off movement practiced in the warm up variations above should now come in handy to beat the defender in the grid.

In the diagram above, the red attacker combines with his end line player to get behind defender and score by playing to the target at the other end. Now the roles are reversed and the red player defends and the white player is attacking towards the other target. Give the inside players 3-5 seconds to catch their breath and get into new positions to transition going the other way.

1v1 to Cone (10 mins)

1v1 to Cone and one 1v1 to Goal.

This is a game that develops a strong mentality, fitness and 1v1 moves.

- Play 2 min games

- Rock paper scissors to see who starts.

- Game starts by defender passing ball into offensive player and closing them down

- Score by hitting the cone

- Ball is never out, defender always has to be 2 yards away from the ball.

- Winner play winners

Positive Transition (15 mins)

Positive Transition: Winning Ball near the sideline and attacking through centre or switching the field.

Organization: 45 x 45 yards, play 8v7 small sided game. There are two side zones (10x45 yards) which are encouraged for the full-backs and outside mids.

Rules: Game starts with coach or keeper playing ball into #5 and that team looks to play ball into one of their two targets who have to stay inside the central zone. If ball is passed into the side zones, they must complete 2 passes before passing back to the middle.

Blue players first seek to block pass into the target players (centrally), then force ball towards outside zones and regain possession there. As soon as possession is won, outside backs need to provide width and we look to either go forward or switch the play to then go forward.

Scoring: If blue manages to dribble the ball or receive it beyond the red line, 2 points are scored. For the same through the yellow line on the opposite side 1 point is scored. Blue's have 6-8 seconds to achieve this.

*For 00's. Forwards work on finishing and shooting.