footy4kids recommends:

1v1 practices and build up/finishing drills

two excellent no-charge downloads from http://www.academysoccercoach.com

Extract from 1v1 practices:

Coaches often accelerate into small games of 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 etc without spending adequate time on the basic attacking and defending principles.

1v1 practice games are vital to any coach as this situation occurs naturally in any game. players must feel
comfortable dealing with these situations and finding a solution whether they are in attack or defence.

The practices in this journal are designed to be unpredictable, forcing the players to make quick choices / decisions in order to come out on top.

Insights that I would give my players are:

In attack –
• “Try to slow the defender down and then accelerate”
• “All you need is half a yard”
• “Take the defender away from where you want to go, this will give you the space to attack”
• (For example a right footed player would take a defender to the left, before accelerating quickly into the space created on the right)

In defence -
• “Close the space”
• “Show away from danger or towards a team-mate”
• “Force the opponent to play backwards or sideways”
• “Be patient and stay on your feet”
• “If you delay the attacker for 3-5 seconds then you will have given your team mates enough time to recover and support you”

download 1v1 practices (30 pages of illustrated drills and games)

Extract from build up and finishing drills

Scoring goals is the ultimate aim of football. To score goals in a real match, players have to show a number of qualities including skill, imagination, creativity, awareness etc. Therefore training practices must develop these skills.

The finishing practices in this package were created with the goal to inspire players whilst giving them different problems to solve. The players have to play under pressure, they have to react to different types of service and have choices to make on different techniques to use and whether to shoot early or combine with a team-mate.

All the practices run quickly with sharp movements, there are no long queues waiting to shoot, and every player has a role and function to complete in order for the practices to run smoothly.

download 30 build up and finishing drills

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