Today's featured activity works on possession, penetration and transition.

Start with a 30 x 15 grid with a middle line. IF THE PLAYERS KEEP LOSING THE BALL OUT OF BOUNDS THEN MAKE THE FIELDS 30X25
There are two teams of 4 with each team starting on their own side.


The ball starts with the yellow team and 2 black players go over to defend. This make the game 4 v 2 in one half and 2 players in the other half



Yellow tries to keep possession of the ball and black tries to win the ball and not get split.

Each time the offensive team makes 5 consecutive passes, it counts as 1 point for them.

Each time the offensive team splits the two defenders, it counts as 1 point for the offensive team.

If the defensive team wins the ball and can pass the ball to their teammates in the other half, they get 1 point and they retreat to their side and the game continues in the other direction.



If the ball goes out of bounds, the game restarts with a kick in by the team it didn't go off of.

This game can be played for time (team with the most points after 10 minutes wins) or to a point total (first team to 10 points wins). Either way, it's a quick moving game working on many aspects of the game of soccer.

Working hard to keep possession

By Tony Carr
It's hard work for any team to win the ball back. So it's vital for players to work just as hard to keep possession because that is key to scoring goals and winning the game.

To warm-up, have the players work on passing and receiving skills before moving on to dribbling. Dribbling and passing are two ways of keeping possession, so this will prepare your players for the session ahead.

Set up an area which is a box inside a box. The inside box should be 10 yards by 10 yards, and the outside box 20 yards by 20 yards.

Note: Trying to win the ball back individually can be hard work, so defending players must benefit from taking a rest in the larger box after they have chased the ball down.



How to play it
Four attackers play in the 10 yards by 10 yards box against one defender. The defender must try to put pressure on the attackers and win the ball.

If successful, the defender must pass the ball out to a team mate and then go to take their place. The team mate receiving the pass then dribbles into the small box.

The attacker that lost the ball must now defend and try to win the ball back.

How to develop it
Play four attackers against two defenders in the smaller box. If the two players win the ball, can they pass out to their team mates?

Now the game is 6v4 in the larger box. If the four players win possession, the game re-starts in the smaller box with the players rotating roles.

Tony Carr is the Academy Director of West Ham United in the English Premier League and the editor of the Smart Sessions soccer coaching plans - they come in advanced and core versions.

Today’s featured activity works on possession while progressing.

This is a 3 v 3 plus 1 possession game (numbers can be altered) in a 40 x 20 area with a midfield line. There are actually two “plus 1’s” with one in each half.

When yellow has the ball they maintain possession in the top half of the field.

If black wins the ball they must play the ball, within two passes into the neutral player in the other half of the field.

At that point, all players quickly switch halves (except for neutrals) and play continues

A team gets a point for each 3 consecutive passes within their 1/2 of the field.

This is a great possession game with an emphasis on progressing forward when winning the ball.

Today’s topic deals with 5 v 2 possession and how it applies to a soccer game.
I WANT TO ADD THAT 5V2 TEACHES SHORT AND LONG SUPPORT, SPEED OF PLAY., AND DEFENSIVE TACTICS OR PRESSURE COVER.

Many teams use 5 v 2 as a warm up to their training sessions. It’s simple to set up, works on one and two touch passing and gets everyone involved (a team of 16 with two keepers can have two games of 5 v 2 going and the keepers warming up at the same time.

The two objectives from an offensive standpoint are to keep possession and to try to split the two defenders.

While this is an excellent activity I believe many players struggle seeing how it relates to a real game of soccer.

If you walk the players through some situations where this type of a set up is applicable I believe the players will have a much clearer understanding of how it applies.

As an example, think about a team trying to work the ball out of the back. While some teams will keep knocking the ball around and not go anywhere, others will look for the opportunity to split the defenders to progress the ball to their midfielders.

This is the exact type of spacing and movement used in a 5 v 2 but now that they see how it applies to a game situation it should make it much easier for them to understand the importance and focus on the activity.

It takes a bit longer to show players how things are applicable but the time taken to do so can greatly increase the productivity of the training session.

In and out
Objective: to improve passing, receiving and movement off the ball.

Experience: intermediate.

Set up: create a 40 yards by 30 yards playing area with a five-yards square marked out in each corner.

Divide your players into two teams.

How to play: teams score a point by passing to a team mate who is in one of the boxes.

Coaching notes: to begin with, allow players to wait inside the boxes for a pass. Once they have got the hang of the game tell them that waiting in the boxes is no longer allowed – they must play possession soccer in the grid and only make a run into one of the boxes when a pass is on.

Passes only count if they are controlled inside the box by the receiving player.

Progression: points are only scored if the receiving player can pass out of the box to a team mate.

Penetrating Passes
Penetrating passes in a game environment.

In the diagram below we have a 5 v 5 game with a neutral player in white. The size of the field can vary but something in the 40 x 30 range works well.


This is a typical small sided game but goals count as 3 points. A team can earn 1 point by making any pass that splits 2 defenders.

As an example, in the diagram below the black player makes a pass to a teammate but no defenders are split so no point is won.


In the diagram below a pass is made that successfully splits two defenders so a point is won.


This activity is designed to encourage going to goal and to encourage looking for penetrating passes while not discouraging safe passes.

This game will also encourage the teams work on a nice compact shape defensively which will make it difficult to get scored upon and to get split.

By adding the neutral player, who is always on offense, it gives the attacking team more options