Football/Soccer Session (Difficult): u14 18 players principle of defence with Depth

Warm Up (15 mins)

warm up 15 min 

start with circle rondo 5 min using centre circle 2 in middle the rest round the circle 1 touch pass if the middle players win the ball or a bad pass made or player takes more than 1 touch them and person to the right go into the middle and middle 2 come out. middle players stay in double for a nut meg 

next 7 min groups of  2 laps of the pitch around cones slow jog the short across the box runs then long stride the length of pitch for 2 laps then onto 1 touch right 2 touch left 3 both hands and 4 up and head and change direction for a few mins then onto figure of 8 runs long stride through the middle of pitch then turn right slow down untill pass the cone then long diagonal stride through the middle of pitch to next cone 4 x figure of 8 runs then 

3 min back in circle for stretches captain in the middle showing what stretch working from bottom ankles etc up to head/neck 

9 v 9 (20 mins)

9 v 9 game 20 mins including offside 

3-3-2 formation 

working on Depth as a principle of defence red team will be the defence team and blue attacking team 

first few minutes let them play 

Coaching points - how is the red teams depth when blue are attacking either too high or too deep 

to high allowing too much space between last man and goalkeeper for attacking team to run in behind 

or 2 deep inviting the attacking team to attack into our final third too freely and get shots off 

are the red team talking shuffling across as a team as the ball is played keeping good shape, 

when to step in 

- defensive team caught to high stop correct the Depth for the situation move the players into the shape the coach feels is right for the scenario correct body shape to try and force attacking team into a safer space for the defenders to have more joy also move the ball and show the ripple affect 

- defensive team caught too deep or as the attack happens the defence keeps going back and back and no one taking charge of the line,  if caught too deep stop and correct the players where they should have been and why and how it helps break down the attack and showing the fine balance between having good depth and too much depth 

- when depth is good and team had success step in to praise 

Personal performance 

i feel i will make sure the players knowledge of depth is well drilled into them as there is a fine margin between good and bad depth (too deep or too high) and try and stop in different areas of the field (when stepping in) and sort out the shape to give a better idea of the depth for the situation even if it takes an extra 30 seconds to minute per stoppage to correct the shape and why because if this works well the team become more defensively sound for stopping the attack which should have less goals scored per game.