Playing Soccer With Tempo and Pressure
Have you ever noticed how some teams that you come against always seem to be either first to a loose ball or immediately pressurizing your players when they are in possession of the ball? When teams set themselves up this way it requires discipline in terms of roles and responsibilities of the players, a decent level of fitness, energy and co-ordination of efforts. All of this starts on the training ground, from early stage development U8's right through to U18 and beyond. If you start coaching your players from an early age that when they don't have the ball they must always close down opponents, denying time and space, this will stand them in very good stead through their playing years. What players do when your team doesn't have the ball will have a massive impact on the outcome of a game. Last weekend we played in a terrific game of football against a team who finished runners up in the League behind us, and beat us in the League Cup final. Both teams are finely matched, no real outstanding stars amongst the ranks but as a team each are very solid with good players in all positions. Before the game I told my players that the game was going to be won by the team that worked harder on the day, closing down opponents quickly and challenging for the second ball. Although this seems like a very simple instruction and game tactic very few coaches that we play against ask their players to do this. Instead, they make changes in playing personnel, ask the players to work harder and fail to organise their team properly on the pitch. In training this week, work with your players on closing down. Remember, the first defender principle... Whoever is closest to the player on the ball makes an aggressive run towards the player on the ball... slows just before they get to the ball carrier and the holds them up. If they can win the ball, go and win it. If not, keep their head down and minimise passing channels. You can do this with any age of player. If you're working with an older squad (U10+) then you should be working with supporting players around the first defender... concentrate on minimising passing channels, providing cover and recovery runs. My team ran out 3 - 0 winners last weekend, the score line was probably unfair in terms of the balance of the game... but it's another 3 points that we've picked up and our results record is won 3 drawn 0 lost 0. In our team we don't do anything special, we train hard, are well organised and compete... but all of these elements start on the training ground. In the members only area of Junior Soccer Coach I share all of my training thoughts, drills, exercises and team set up with coaches all around the world who are implementing our ideas and winning their leagues too. Our members are just like you... they want their team to play to the best of their collective ability and win more games than they lose. And they're achieving it! If you want to take a look behind the scenes of Junior Soccer Coach, you can come and join us for £1 and have a 14 days 'access all areas' membership; you'll see how you can help your team play with pressure and tempo by watching the hundreds of drills and videos that we have exclusively available in the members area. Join Junior Soccer Coach For Only £1 (approximately US$1.65) Our members get more than just videos and drills, they get personal help and support from our coaching team too. Here is a recent post in the discussion forum from one of our members... ---------------------------------------------------------- "Hi Neil With the help of JSC, my now-U13s team won the second division of their league last year, winning 19 of 22 games. Of course the boys were thrilled and enjoyed winning a trophy for the first time in the 4 years that we've been together. We have been promoted to the first division and have retained essentially the same squad from last year. Not surprisingly, we are struggling with the higher tempo of play (far less time on the ball) but also with the greater physical strength of the teams we are up against this year. I wonder if you could suggest drills or other ways of working on the training pitch to help with this? There is always the tendency in training for players to play within themselves and no matter how many times I urge them to play "at match pace", they inevitably slip into bad habits - too many touches on the ball and dribbling in the wrong areas, for instance. And players are always more inclined to hesitate in the tackle in training. The big difference that we are not coping with is the need for players to attack the ball in both penalty areas, and I am not sure how to condition this. Any suggestions gratefully received!" ---------------------------------------------------------- My response to this question is too long include in this email but you can read it within minutes by getting on the inside with this great offer. Join today, ask us any questions about your team or how to handle certain situations and it will the best £1 (or US$1.80) you've ever spent. Visit the link below to get immediate access... Join Junior Soccer Coach For Only £1 (approximately US$1.65) That's it for this week, good luck in this weekend's game... Best wishes Neil T. www.JuniorSoccerCoach.com Helping You Develop Tomorrow's Soccer Talent, Today!
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