Teaching Zonal Defending
Progression
Objective: Pressure, cover balance – working in a zone
Setup – 3 vs. 3 – attacking players pass square – defenders work on transitioning between 1st, 2nd, and third defender

Coaching Points
Role of the 1st defender – pressure the ball to deny penetration
Role of the 2nd defender – provide cover
Be in a position to travel and transition into 1st defender
As you transition into the 2nd defender – don’t recover in a straight line – recover on a diagonal line to deny penetrative pass
Recovery run should be in line with the near post
Communication
Choose which way you are going to funnel the player – covering players need to communicated which way to funnel the players

2v2 defend your goal

By Tony Carr


Every season there are matches when your team is under constant pressure due to your players not being on top of their game or that the opposition is stronger than you. The ideal way to practise for this is to coach exercises that can create the situation.

In this session, players are defending as a team against a number of attacking situations:

Defending the dribble

Defending the cross

Defending when outnumbered
As the practice develops from one attack into three attacks in a short period of time, the pressure on the defenders increases. This is replicating situations in a game when your team is under pressure from constant attacks.

The players must be able to work together, concentrate and communicate to be successful.



How to set it up
Use a 30 yards by 50 yards area (only the width of the 18-yard box is used for opposed play).

How to play it
The goalkeeper throws the ball out to the two attackers, immediately a 2v2 game commences. Progress the practice so that after the first ball leaves play, there is a cross from the right and a cross from the left to deal with.

Finally, create a situation so that after the initial attack there is one cross and then an additional player joins the pitch to make a 3v2 situation.

How to advance it
Allow the attacking players to decide which order the different attacks take place. This gives the defenders a chance to adjust to different scenarios.

Play a small-sided game
Encourage players to take pride in their defending and enjoy stopping the attackers.

3v3v3 defend from the front
By Michael Beale
Closing down opposition defenders in their half is a job for your forwards and midfielders to do.

If your attackers work together, they are more likely to win the ball back nearer to the opponent's goal and have a greater chance to score.



How to set it up
Use an area 40 yards by 30 yards with two goals and two goalkeepers.

Split into teams of three. The black team defends one area, the white team defends the other, and the grey team plays as attackers in both areas.

How to play it
The goalkeeper rolls the ball out to the defending white team which must make three passes in a 3v3 situation against the grey attackers before passing to the team in the opposite half of the pitch (black team).

If a successful pass is made to the opposite team then the grey attacking team must advance into the other half of the pitch to pressure the black team who must make the three passes.

If the grey team wins possession they should try and score in the goal they are facing.

Change team roles every three defensive moves, so grey defends the black end, black defends the white end, and white become the pressing team in the middle.

Soccer Tough
This article is provided by Dan Abrahams and is from his new book – Soccer Tough.

Think about your football in a helpful, positive way
How you think about your football on a day to day basis determines how you feel about your football, and how you feel about your football heavily influences how quickly you learn in training and how well you perform on matchday.
I spend many hours every week teaching Premiership footballers how to think effectively after training and before matchday. Here is one technique you can use that I talk about in ‘Soccer Tough’:
I want you to write down your 3 best ever games. Write them in detail just as we’ve discussed before. This will give you something to come back to every day that can help build and maintain a strong soccer image. It will help you take control of the memories you have of your football.
When writing down your 3 best games remember key moments such as the runs you made, the tackles, blocks, passes and headers you won. Add feelings to your story – “I felt strong, confident and powerful” and “I felt like I was unbeatable” – these are exciting images to remember and to reinforce. If your friends or loved ones were watching you what do you think they would have seen? Write their viewpoint down as well.
When you spend time off the pitch reminding yourself of the times you perform at your very best you feed your brain and body confident pictures and images. The footballer who commits to this technique on a daily basis will build self-belief and feel great going into his training session and matches – giving himself an improved chance to learn quicker and play better with more consistency.
Practice with a purpose
Having an abundance of ability in football is nice to have, but however talented you are it is the quality of your training that determines the trajectory of your football. In fact, so important is this that I advise clients to stop using the word training and start calling it practice. And any old practice isn’t enough – it is deliberate practice that is important. As I describe in Soccer Tough:
Deliberate practice isn’t easy and it begins in the brain. It’s not a soccer player doing an hour of training, doing a bit of five-a-side and having fun with mates. It’s mentally and physically taxing. It is a kind of focused, repetitive practice in which you are always monitoring your performance, correcting, experimenting, listening to immediate and constant feedback, and always pushing beyond what you have already achieved.
When you next go and practice make sure you set yourself a goal, preferably a specific area you’d like to improve. Concentrate fully and push yourself out of your comfort zone by attempting the things you don’t find easy on the pitch.
Control the controllables
The biggest killer in football is distraction. Taking your mind away from the game can lead to hazardous consequences. A correct focus of attention in football starts with an understanding of what you can and can’t control. There are plenty of things in football you can’t control and if you play your focus on them you can easily get distracted as you play. As I point out in Soccer tough:
The most obvious ones are the weather and the state of the pitch. It’s fairly evident that you can’t control those aspects. And yet how many soccer players place their focus on them? Many times I’ve walked onto a pitch with the team before a game and heard someone say “I can’t believe how bad the pitch is. How can we play well on this?” Where do you think this soccer player’s performance focus is going to be during the match? Do you think he might be easily distracted?
Similar to the state of the pitch I’ve heard footballers moan about the weather. Last season a player came up to me on Thursday and said he hoped it wasn’t going to be raining during the game on Saturday because he had decided he was rubbish when playing in the rain. I, of course, pointed out that if he wanted a career in professional football in England he was probably going to have to get used to playing in the rain (it rains a lot in England!). Joking aside do you think this player’s thinking going into the game was helpful? His performance focus was inevitably going to be damaged if it rained – something he couldn’t control.
Before the next time you play jot down some the things you can control like your ‘body language’ and ‘how confidently you execute your role’ and try to focus on these. Avoid placing your attention onto the things you can’t control – they will only direct your mind away from what is important during the game.