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Looks like 3Four3 now has a “possession with a purpose” this year.
My son’s club team uses something very similar to this and i believe it has helped them tremendously in terms of maintaining team shape, ball distribution, etc., support, finding the center mid, etc.
I didn’t really like the S-drill and used something else that I found and posted here about many months ago. (Also posted here).
The team really took to it and improved greatly. Also, it basically taught the same things but much easier to execute.
There are many many many things you can add to this dirll including “shoulder peek, receiving across your body, passing across the body, losing your man (taking space before receiving a pass), keep the ball rolling (not bouncing), etc….
The 4-v-0 and 4-v-1 Rondos were good. We used those at the beginning of the season and focused more on team shape and attacking patterns later in the season.
The youtube drill linked above was done every day was a warmup. By the end of the season they looked remarkable. At the beginning of the season they also looked remarkably BAD! It made me realize that most kids that are in U16 (and probably above) never are trained in the basics on how to pass and receive a ball properly.
I’m now coaching a different team (U16) and they are equally horrible at doing this drill and none of the kids on the team know anything about the concept of receiving the ball across the body.
I’ve adjusted the drill somewhat for this team and we’re really only doing the first 2 phases at the moment.
For me, this drill (with the focus I’m using) is astoundingly wonderful for teaching first touch, good passing/receiving, etc. and after 2 weeks, the kids are impressively better and they all seem to actually enjoy the drill.
I use it with the following as coaching points during the drill:
1. doing shoulder check to see who is near/behind them
2. moving to lose their defender at the right time
3. positioning themselves early to be able to receive the ball across their body, with the proper foot, to facilitate playing it forward (this was the key point in this video, that I emphasized in my training sessions)
4. passing the ball so it can be received properly to play it forward by a teammate
5. indication (with hand gesture or otherwise) to show where they want the ball passed by a teammate
6. verbal communication
7. combination plays to play forward
8. passing the ball on the ground (rolling, not bouncing)-
This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by
frank starsinic.
…. every loss of posession is a big deal and must be avoided”
is EXACTLY what is not the focus of a 1-2, but needs to be. I remember telling one player, “stop one-touching the ball. control it and pass it. make it precise” and it worked from that day on. Obviously there are times when the pressure or timing requires a quick 1-2 but usually……..not.
The player on my team with the least technical ability scored as many goals as the player with the most technical ability, yet he played outside defender almost 100% of the time.
The player with the most technical skills had the same skills he did when he was 9 years old and never increased his team play. He relies on what he had and doesn’t work to improve. He was a cancer on offense as he would rarely pass and breaking him of his bad habits was near impossible.
The player with the least technical ability did exactly what was asked of him. He back-pedaled, he went to the touch line, he exploited width and stayed open. He took advantage of opportunities and scored when the moment was there. He wasn’t very fast or skilled but did everything asked of him.
I would say that “COACHABLE” should be very high on the list, if you’re wanting to do possession soccer.
My son came to my soccer game this weekend and noticed the same thing in our adult game that I noticed in his games.
Players execute give-and-go without emphasis on the “go” pass and the pass results in a turn-over as often as it is received by a teammate.
My theory here is that the second pass can be executed by receiving the ball across the body and 2-touching it to the teammate in a much more precise manner.
I think “we” have developed the notion that if the second pass doesn’t make it…. “well, that was a difficult play anyway. nice try. unlucky!!”
as opposed to… “don’t rush the second pass. make it perfect. make it beautiful.”
Specifically what they are doing wrong is being much too causal with the follow-up pass and they need to break that habit.
They all have the skills to make the proper pass but instead of a poised precise pass made with timing and pace, they flick at the ball or make some fancy one-touch pass that usually fails.
As soon as I brought up this the error was corrected almost immediately.
However, that concept needed to be drilled in repeatedly for most of the players as the majority of them do not learn to adjust/break bad habits right away. It requires constant badgering to get them to “stop being cute” with the ball, and get it properly into space. Not just once. Not just twice. But constantly at every practice.
There are a few players that not only understood but never need to be reminded. Unfortunately that is not/was not the norm on my team.
What I’m wondering about (if the DCM does not drop to “sweeper” position) is if the defense becomes part of the attack and the opponents have two strikers standing on the 50 yard line, they are left completely unmarked waiting for a quick transition and long boot over the top where they would get a break-away. How is that situation handled/considered ?
I don’t have any answers for you but my team also had a hard time with team shape, marking and transition. I’ll try to be as brief as possible in my response.
1. we switched from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 which is similar in many regards. This helped create a better overall shape in preventing large gaps between lines.
2. The 3 center midfielders (2 defensive center mids and the attacking center mid) were required to DROP and MARK someone in the center of the field.
3. The outside defenders had to drop and get into flat-back formation and be ready to compress/shift.
4. Playing 4-2-3-1 also helped prevent our defense from regaining possession and immediately passing the ball up the center where it would get picked off by an opponent.
I found that giving kids new to this style of soccer need “jobs” that they can picture and execute without too much thought.
I still do a lot of coaching from the sidelines but with the new RULES, the commands are shorter and easier to understand. Mostly… “MARK” on defense and “SUPPORT” and “TOUCHLINE” on offense.
I’m not surprised that you’ve heard nothing back.
I was criticized before here for suggesting that the 3four3 owners took our membership fees and have provided little else since.
I’m hoping they re-join the forums here, with the same enthusiasm they used to get our membership fees, and start providing input to some of the questions, especially when they are left for so long without any feedback, whatsoever.
I’m a patient person, but it seems a but humorous that we have paid for membership in a forum with contributions almost exclusively from other members looking for help, and very little from those telling us they have all the answers.
I think your question is a good one.
Organizing the back line – Well, we play a 4-2-3-1 currently and I try to get them to do the following:
When the other team gets the ball they drop in to defensive shape (compact line of 4, vs. offensive shape)
They are to move up if the ball is dropped or opponent is facing backward. They are to back-pedal when the ball is moving toward them, sprint back if they anticipate a long ball. At all times keeping an eye on each other to maintain good shape. Normal defensive movement (which they don’t do unless reminded rather loudly).
We work on pressure/cover drills, 1v1 drills, and offense/defense type drills as well.
They are supposed to delay and direct the opponents to the outside.
Anyone in the 18-yard box is supposed to be marked.
Center Mids are supposed to mark immediately when we are put on defense.
Currently we are focusing on 1v1 drills, 1v2 drills, marking as required and….. hoping for the best 🙂
When we do 1v1 drills, as expected, they do very well and make it very difficult for an opponent to get around them and score.
Add more defenders and more offenders and they are awful….. so far.
Most of the teams we play love to “send it” and basically do through-balls to runners as their only offensive strategy.
You may want to refer to this:
http://prezi.com/iyh3n-gb8mzl/roles-responsibilities-in-a-4-3-3-system-of-play/
The part of the S-Drill where the players take a few yards of space can easily be worked into this drill as well. As soon as an end player receives the ball, the center player back-pedals toward the edge of the circle to receive the pass across their body. The same can be applied to the give-and-go phase as well as the other phases.
Many of my players still try to cheat to avoid having to look over their shoulder. Their willingness to refuse to learn and cheat themselves is insane but the reality of the situation. Still looking for something that makes them do it, such as the ghost player concept, without ruining the flow of the drill.
I did the ghost player bit in the drill this week but it was hard for the players to cycle properly so I played that part myself and did exactly what you say.
I also had the kids peek over their shoulder before receiving the ball and yell out the kids name behind them.
Of course some of them were more interested in short-cutting the concept and just noticing who was behind them in line as they moved up to that position in the drill and then yelling out the kids name so they didn’t have to peek at all. I hate that crap with a passion.
To prevent that, I also tried having the kid behind hold up fingers and the player in the center had to peek and say the number of fingers he saw.
The issue with that is that some of the kids at this age don’t pay much attnetion and are more interested in talking with friends instead of remembering to hold up fingers. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…..
I”m happy with the progress. It has been very noticeable.
Comparing it with the S-Shape drill, the passes are more difficult to make, IMO and a bit more challenging. I like both drills.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by
