Football/Soccer Session (Moderate): Staying Compact in Defense/recovery/balance in transition

Vertical Transition

Initially I will utilize this session using only the green and orange lines on field 2.

set up on field 1 with the yellow red and blue

during water break after session on field 1 have two injured guys line the orange and green on top of the others.

first players must pay attention to the halfway line and the orange and green lines.

if defending and the ball is on the other half of the field in the zone nearest the goal, all defenders must be in that grid and the next one over. defenders can ONLY be in the zone where the ball is and the next grid over, nearest to the goal they are protecting. Attackers CAN be offside in zones 1 and 4.

Success Criteria

this should get the players stepping as a group to defend but also dropping into subsequent space to ensure their defense exhibits a balance between compactness and depth. meant for U14 and up, but this same exercise I have used with my u9 and u10 teams by reducing the number of grids to 3 rather than 4.

when the ball is transferred it may be helpful (both to assist players as well as develop a rhythm) to count aloud 1,2,3. and any players still in the wrong areas of the field will cost the team points

The Real Test

Now put the two drills together and really force the players to show you who is picking up on defensive/transitional cues.

If there are players constantly chasing are they putting themselves into good defensive positions.

if the ball is switched often can we start to make the correction to press higher and force play short and to the middle

do 7 and 11 show an effort to prevent wide play due to only 3 in midfield?

funnell play inwards towards our 3.

Can we minimize/reduce/address, through compactness and attacking/midfield/defensive lines that work together towards a common goal, the category 2 and 3 passes that are played past/around/over us?

are these defensive lines seperate, despite heavy transition

Psychological:

if we make a mistake, can we take advantage of our next touch by keeping it simple and playing a category 1 pass.