Football/Soccer Session (Academy Sessions): Specific/SSG - Defending Breaking Lines

Pro-Club: FAW Coach Ed

Daniel Neville

Profile Summary

Name:	Daniel Neville
City:	Cardiff
Country:	United Kingdom
Membership:	Adult Member
Sport:	Football/Soccer

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Description

This session is based around defending the lines and not allowing the opposition from getting close to the goal in order to score. This session will look for defenders to stay narrow and compact to make it difficult for the opposition to create space and penetrate through central areas, stopping any split passes from going through and to also protect the space in behind the defence

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): 11v11 Framing

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Learning Objectives

	Technical The attacking team will need to have strong technical detail in order to challenge the defence by breaking lines via pass or dribble
	Tactical The defensive team will need to remain disciplined and in shape in order to stay narrow and compact, as well as not leaving too much space in behind as per the session objectives
	Physical As the session is performed on a fairly large area size, the players endurance will be tested in order for them to cover ground when necessary
	Psychological The introduction of a scenario in the SSG as well as other limits and challenges imposed in the practice should gear the players up psychologically
	Social The use of team meetings throughout the practice as well as the organisation of the back 4 of the defensive team in particular being key points of the session, ticks the social box

11v11 Framing

11v11 Framing

11 v 11 Formations -

Red (Defending Team) - 4-1-2-1-2 (DM, 2CM, AM)

Blue (AttackingTeam) - 3-4-3

This session will be performed with an U14 Welsh Academy League team, and will need 18 players overall.

This session will look at defending the lines.

Session Objectives -

- Stopping split passes

- Protecting the space in behind

- Staying narrow and compact

Rationale -

Michalczyk (2020) states that a successful breaking lines pass will lead to a higher probability of a goal being scored, which is why it's important to defensively stop this from happening

Scott (2017) argues that attacking with breaking lines passes/dribbles leads to more effective and convictive attacks as there is a clear directional aim of where the play is headed

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): 9v9 Specific

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9v9 Specific (15 mins)

9v9 Specific

Organisation -

Red Team - 2 ST's taken out, creating a GK + 4-1-2-1

Blue Team - 2 Wide CB's have been taken out, creating a GK + 1-4-3

Setup -

There will be a playing area with one large goal on one end as normal, with 2 mini goals and a goalkeeper with a ball pit on the other

As well as this, there will be a marked out central line that will stretch the width of the pitch and splits the final third off

Every player is free to roam wherever they please, (apart from the blue GK being ordered to stay within the semi-circle in the centre), however players will be given information regarding their tactical roles and to stay within these confines where and when possible

The goalkeeper will initially start on the blue team, however they will transition into an outlet if the red team wins possession of the ball back

Flow -

The ball will always start from the goalkeeper in the middle, who will play into any blue player

The blue team's main aim is to create a line-splitting pass or dribble in order to approach on the final third and then subsequently finish when inside of this area

The red team's main aim is to not allow the ball to be played into the final third by pass or dribble

Once the ball has been played into a blue player, the red team will look to step up high and press the ball in order to win it back before the line has been broken

However, the red team must also be careful that they do not leave too much space in behind for the opposition to exploit

The red team will also want to remain compact and narrow, and only press in wide areas where there is a 1v1 situation in order to not overcommit too many defenders

If the blue team splits the line, then they will then be given 8 seconds in order to score in the final third, in the same way that the red team will be given 8 seconds to score upon retrieval of possession

Progressions/Regressions-

1) GK may now pose the problem of a direct line-splitting pass from the off which the defensive team must react to in order to defend properly and not get split

2) The blue team formation will be changed in order to pose a new challenge to the red team by having the 2 W's in the front 3, play more central in order to overload the opposition

1) The line to be broken may be retreated in order to make it easier to defend for the red team

Blocks -

Walkthrough 1 - 1 Min - Explanation of the practice and outlining of key session principles

Block 1 - 4 Mins - Play w/ intervention included on one of the session objectives that may have been neglected

Walkthrough 2 - 1 Min - Formation of the attacking team will be changed (prog. 2) in order to give the red team a what if scenario on how to defend

Block 2 - 3 Mins - Play w/ the formation change and diagnosing how the red team reacts to it

Team Meeting - 1 Min - The teams will discuss what they've done well so far and what needs to be improved in order to achieve more success

Block 3 - 5 Mins - Pro/regression dependent on whether they have adapted well to the previous change

Coaching Roles -

Lead - Explanations and Walkthroughs, Concurrent Information

Asst. - Bullseye, Concurrent

Football/Soccer Session Plan Drill (Colour): 9v9 SSG

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9v9 SSG (10 mins)

9v9 SSG

Organisation -

Red Team - 2 ST's taken out, creating a GK + 4-1-2-1

Blue Team - 2 Wide CB's have been taken out, creating a GK + 1-4-3

Set Up -

There will be 2 goals on either side of the pitch

The pitch will be split up into thirds

The back four and goalkeeper for the red team, as well as the front 3 for the blue team will be locked in the defensive final third

This will only allow the DM for the reds to operate in the defensive or middle third, as well as the 2 futher CM's and AM for the reds being allowed to go into any third

Outside of the front 3 for the blue team, any other player for them will be allowed to roam into any third

The ball will always restart from the blue goalkeeper, who will have balls in their goal only

Flow -

The ball will start from the attacking goalkeeper, who will play into an attacking player

The main aim for the attacking team is to break the lines in order to get into the final third, before subsequently scoring

The main aim for the defending team is to not allow the ball to break lines, especially the defensive third line

The blue team will have 8 seconds to score once they have broken the final line

The red team will need to win the ball back within 10 seconds of the initial front line being broken in order to gain a goal

If the possession is retrieved by the reds, they will have 8 seconds to score and the ball will then be recycled from the goalkeeper for the next repetition

Blocks -

Walkthrough - 1 Mins - Brief explanation of what is expected from both teams, as well as a refocus and reminder on what the intended session outcomes are for the defensive team

Block 1 - 4 Mins - Teams will play with a focus on gaining success for their teams

Team Meeting - 1 Min - Teams will engage in a team meeting with eachother and consider what they've done well so far and where they need to improve upon, as well as either coach implying what they'd like to focus on based off observation

Block 2 - 4 Mins - A scenario is introduced informing the teams that the red team are 3-1 up with 4 minutes to play

Coaching Roles and Interventions -

Lead - Explanations and Walkthroughs, Concurrent Information

Asst. - Bullseye, Concurrent

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