Our Soccer Coaching Topic This Week - Playing With A Retreating Defence.

Still top of the league with another win but a far stiffer test this week.

Occassionally, I need to work away on weekends which means that I can't always coach the team, so an assistant steps in and holds the reigns. This week we played one of the top teams in our league and by all accounts from both sides I missed a terrific end to end game that either team could have won.

Luckily we managed to convert one chance and that was enough to settle the game... played 6, won 6. However, one aspect that I've been working on this week in training is getting back into a good defensive shape when we lose the ball.

Some players are totally committed and will just run and run, almost covering every blade of grass on the pitch... but there are some that are a little slower to get back and defend.

When you play a good footballing team, in order shut out your opponents you need to limit their time and space on the ball in key area's of the pitch, deny passing channels... and when the time is right go and win the ball.

In order to do this your team need to be organised and play with a strategy when you lose the ball.

In this video I'll show you how I coach my players in an 11 v 11 game to make sure that we have the right players in the right positions at the right time.

As you can see getting everyone behind the ball and cutting off passing channels is an absolute must if your team is going to deny time and space.

The strikers as well as the midfield and defensive unit must all work together as you can see.

One key point to observe though, is whether your team start to sit too deep or the space between the midfield line and the defensive line gets too close.

The responsibility here should be with the keeper and the central defenders to drive the back four higher up the pitch and to maintain a adequate and reasonable distance between the midfield bank of players.

You can use this defensive strategy at any level of coaching soccer... whether it's mini or senior football.

One thing I've been working on this week is documenting my opponent annihilation plan... each week many of our members email me asking what is it, specifically, that I do with my players that means we compete well in every game.

Well I am about to publish my 10 point plan this week in the members area of Junior Soccer Coach. Contained in this special plan are the 10 key tactics and instructions that we coach our players on and make them collectively a formidable unit.

Look out for it, this week!

That's it for this tip, good luck in this weekend's games...

Best wishes

Neil

www.JuniorSoccerCoach.com Helping to develop tomorrow's soccer talent, today!

PS

If you like what you've seen in the short video clip above, we have put together a special DVD that show's you How To Coach Your Team To Play Against & Beat The 4 4 2 Formation.

It's jam packed with defensive and offensive phases of play... no position is left untouched in this one hour long DVD and it can be yours for free.

You owe it to yourself and your team to equip yourself with the knowledge to beat the most favoured team formation in the world.