Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Pressing Triggers & Possession.

Pressing Duels.

Organization:

Set up as shown.

Instructions:

1. The exercise starts with the first red attacker playing a diagonal pass into a team mate as shown in the diagram, for the purpose of the exercise, the reds must play a minimum of two passes before they can look to finish in the blue goal, the receiving player has to play into the third red player before they attempt going to the goal. Once the ball is being received by the third attacker, they have 10 seconds to score.

2. As soon as the ball is being played in by the first red attacker, the blue players all sprint into the pitch to apply intense pressure on the ball, if they recover or win back possession, they will quickly look to score on opposition goal. They have 10 seconds to regain possession and score.

3. Whenever a goal is scored or the ball goes out of play, the game will be over and a new set of attackers and defenders steps in quickly to repeat the actions.

4. Game last maximum of 20 seconds, if no goal is scored and the ball doesn't go out of play during the play, the play is automatically over.

Coaching points pressing team:

1. Strong mentality to press and win back possession.

2. Sprint to hunt the ball.

3. Angle of approach sprinting to hunt the ball.

4. Look to pressure and cover when defending as a pair.

5. Run through attacker when going 1v1 against attacker.

6. Counter attack to score upon winning back possession.

Coaching points possession team:

1. Speed of play.

2. Weight and accuracy of passes.

3. Movements on and off the ball i.e. movement to create space, movement to receive the ball, movement away from defender(s).

4. Quick passing combinations to switch play.

5. Quick transition from attacking to defending upon losing possession.

Progressions:

1. Play starts from the opposite side to change the entry of the pressing team.

2. Two-round competition.

Small Sided Game

Organization:

Set up as shown.

Instructions:

1. This is a normal small sided 6v6 game.
2. Similar to the possession game earlier, if a team scores and then proceeds to keep the ball and completes 6 passes, they are rewarded with 3 points. 

3. If they don't complete 6 passes after scoring, they still keep their goal to get 1 point.

Problem Solving & Team Discussion:
1. Players to discuss how to solve the different challenges that the game confronts them with.
2. The players play two blocks of four or five minutes to ensure intensity is high, they then get together with their teams discuss how they can be effective once they score and how they are going to defend once they concede.
3. If they’re winning the game, how does this change the way they attack or defend? Do they defend deeper and more compact, or still press high?

Game management in possession:
1. Risk v reward: once you’ve scored 6 passes, allow the team to keep the goal or score again for a second goal.
2. Important for the players to recognize the state of the game. If there is space to exploit, go and score again. If not, they need the composure to handle the ball under pressure.
3. Focus on decision-making to find the spare player and play through, around or over depending on how the defending team is pressing.
4. Focus on the in-possession team’s movement to create space. ‘Open the pitch’ (width), stretch the
games (depth) and have players ‘connecting’ to support the ball.

Game management out of possession: 
1. Once you concede, how does it change the way you defend to stop the opposition making 6 passes?
2. Do you just run after the ball straight away, and try to win the ball off the first pass? Or are you smart to still work together to win the ball?
3. Utilize the defensive strategy that would be used in a normal game: defending compact. Look to force the
ball one way and look for triggers to press, such as: ball in wide area, bad pass or poor touch etc.
4. Defensive strategy once conceded: win the ball back as soon as possible. First player dictates and directs the play. Force the opponents to where you have supporting players and be aggressive to force mistakes. Work together, not individually!