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by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
 

NOTE:  Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the idea that someone would publish them.  I subscribe to the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that posts extremely well thought out replies.  These are some of Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.   I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to publish them here.  If you like what you see or have a question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at garyrue@bellsouth.net There are 50+ more pages of Gary's posts categorized at the Home Page of Exercises of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.

Defending against Breakaways

A breakaway practice suggestion:

Warm-up up with 2 or 3 man passing. Use the inside of the foot, instep and front foot to work on accuracy. The weight of the pass should be gradually increased to the point where accuracy is maintained.

Set up cones, goal width apart. Put one player between the cones (*) to act as a quasi-active goalkeeper (no diving or angle cutting movements), while the other two players (A and B) take shots from 10-18 yards away from opposite sides of the goal mouth (see figure below). The shots should be low and a yard inside the target cone. I would recommend that the players make at least one dribble touch before shooting. Accuracy is key. Switch the players at intervals or the shooter could switch with the GK after each shot.

                   *
 
 
A .               GK                  B
 
 
                   *

Move the GK out from the goal mouth 2-5 yards to cut down the shooters angle (see figure below). Still the GK should not make diving or angle cutting movements (we are still trying to reinforce positive results at this point). Increase the dribbling distance and speed of the shooter. Gradually have the goalkeeper close down the shooter. The shooter must shoot before the GK closes him down. The GK is still not totally active, other than making a foot save.

                   *
 
 
A .            GK                       B
 
 
                   *

Move the team to real goals (if available). Start with a speed dribble and shot to an unattended goal (they must be within a yard of either post). Accuracy is still the focus. Decrease the speed of the player until they are accurate. Watch for over-kicking and over-striding.

Add defensive presence (not pressure) from the side. The player must shoot with the foot opposite the defender. Change the presence to come from behind. Gradually add GK presence (no diving). The GKs can work on their timing of going out to the ball and getting their hands low (they can focus on their technique without worrying about stopping the shot). Increase the pressure from behind enough to make the shooter dribble at full speed. Increase the GK presence and pressure until everything is full speed. Remember to decrease the pressure if the shooter is not able to consistently get the shot off. If the defensive pressure is still too much, then go to timing the attacker (as in the MSL shootout). Make the shooter get the shot off within so many seconds.

For an added shooting variation, send in a second attacker for cleanup of any GK deflections. This can be done with a 2v1 setup. Play the ball behind the defender with the attacker running on to start the breakaway.

Of course the other breakaway weapon for an attacker is the chip over a GK that has come off his line too soon, or not far enough. In later practices, you can run the same progression as above, but work on the chipping technique. The GK will have to come off his line sooner in the progression. I would not work on this technique in the initial practice(s).

Coaching thoughts on breakaways--the GK is most vulnerable on close-in shots when they are low and within 2 feet of either leg. It is often easier for a GK to save shots further away from his body in this situation. The attacker must be trained to recognize this fact. All too often, shots are missed wide because the attacker tries too hard to stay away from a GK that is cutting down the angle. GKs that are moving at the time of the shot are extremely vulnerable, as they are not able to react as well.

Attackers often try to dribble too close, swing their kicking leg too hard on the shot or try to shoot at full speed and maximum leg stride. They must have tight dribble control of the ball by the 18, their stride length must be shorten and they should look for the earliest opportunity to shoot. If the first or second touch on the ball after they get inside the penalty area is not a shot, they probably have waited too long.

Players must learn to play with both feet. Generally, the inside of the foot or front foot are more effective than the instep (big leg swings are often a prelim to instep shots). Toe balls may be very effective on breakaways as the toe ball produces the low hard shot we are looking for. Also, by the very nature of the breakaway, the ball may be too far in front of the body at the moment of truth for the use of any other part of the foot. However, I would never teach this to any player that frequently uses toe ball passing.
--Thanks to: Gary Rue, KY HS and Select

Session: Going to Goal
Clinician: Roman Grill, Youth Coach, FC Bayern Munich
Date: USYS Convention, February 16, 2001

1. Set up - Two full goals with keepers about 40 yards apart.  One attacker with ball on end line, 10 yards from side line on his left.  Another attacker on side line about 10 yards up field.  Play from both ends, one after the other.
   
   The attacker on the end line passes to the attacker on the side line then takes his place.  The side line attacker touches the ball into the field, takes another touch and then shoots at the keeper from about 20 yards out. Start out with easy shots to get everyone warmed up then increase power.
   
   Coach Grill was very insistent that everything be done just right.  The receiver must face his body into the field when waiting for the ball.  The pass must be accurate and properly weighted.  The receiver takes the ball into the field with his right foot, touches it again with his left, then shoots with his right.
   
2. Same setup.  Now pass the ball into space like a through ball.  Chase the ball down, then take one touch to control the ball and shoot on the next touch.  The key is to be composed when shooting.
   
3. Same setup again.  Now pass the ball by using a throw-in.  This gives the receiver a bouncing ball to deal with.  Take 1 touch to settle the ball then shoot left or right of the keeper.
   
4. Switch setup to other side of field to work on the left foot.  Perform as in exercise 1.  The boys did not look so good on this side.  Coach Grill had to keep stressing the first touch and to keep the ball close.
   
5. Try exercise 2 from this left side.
   
6. 1 v 1.  Same field setup as exercise 1 but add a defender rushing at the receiver from the center of the field.  Go 1 v 1 to goal.
   
7. Same, but move defender closer to challenge sooner.  The defender must sprint over as soon as the player on the end line passes.
   
8. This was like exercise 2.  The through ball was hit between the attacker and the defender.  They went 1v1 to get a shot on goal.  Remember that all these exercises were done from both ends one after the other so that there weren't too many players standing in line waiting.
   
9. 2 v 2.  Full goals about 40 yards apart.  Line of players on each goal post (4 lines).  One attacker passes long diagonal ball in the air to a defender.  The defender lays the ball back with his first touch and then both attackers and both defenders come out to play 2v2 to goal.
   
   The defenders must sprint out with one pressuring the ball and the other providing cover.  The defenders need to talk to each other to sort things out.  Coach Grill had to show them how to switch properly when the ball was passed between the attackers.  The long pass was a real problem for these
   players.
   
10. 4 v 4 tournament.  Three teams of four players.  Two minute games with the winner staying on.  Always restart play from the keepers hands regardless of how the ball went out of play.  Keep a supply of balls in each goal.  Encourage the players to keep a diamond shape and aggressively attack
    the goal.

Session: Situational Play
Clinician: Sue Ryan
Date: USYS Convention, February 17, 2001

From the program guide: "This session will involve game situations and their effect on the players' tactical play and decision-making.  Areas to be discussed will include gamesmanship, protecting a lead and going for the win.  Small-sided games will be utilized to encourage players to become leaders, take risks, play as part of a group and react to the demands of the game.  Players will be asked to adjust to various situations and will be challenged as individuals and as groups."


Coach Ryan stated that this session was more about philosophies and concepts rather than specific drills.  The first four warm-up exercises are very non-traditional, using a "guided discovery" approach.  She reminded us that in the warm-up for a passing practice we like to incorporate some passing. Since in this practice she wants to work on thinking she wanted some thinking exercises for the warm-up.  The main idea of the session is to put the players in an environment and let them think it through.

1. Set up - 4 cones form a 10 yd square, 7 balls in the center, 2 players on each cone.  For each round one player at each cone works while the other rests.
   On a signal, each team tries to collect 3 balls at its cone.  They can get them from the middle or steal them from the other teams.  The first team to get 3 balls at their cone wins.
   
   Watch and see how they work things out.  Look for the decision to steal from others instead of always going to the middle.  You may need to encourage them to think.  For example, if one team already has 2 balls someone ought
   to be thinking about stealing one.
   
2. Split group into 2 teams.  Tell them they have to arrange themselves in birth order without talking.  Watch who the organizers are.  These are your potential captains.
   
3. Partners with 1 ball.  Lines about 20 yards apart.
   Coach Ryan casually asked them if they knew how to juggle. (This was a trick.)  The players were all lined up behind one of the lines and she told them the winner would be the first pair to get both players and the ball over the other line in the air.
   
   Most of the pairs tried to juggle it over because of the trick question. She had to remind them of the objective to "get both players and the ball over the line."  Finally, one pair saw the light and simply picked up the ball and ran over the other line.  These are the clever schemers that we all claim to want on our teams.  Exercises like this help to develop them.
   
4. Set-up:  Two goals with lines about 20 yards out.  Two teams, one behind each line, all the players with balls.  The instructions are to score as many goals as possible in 1 minute with all shots coming from behind the line.
   
   She encourages the teams to develop their own solutions and gave them time between rounds to talk about it.  This develops the leaders on the team. The best solution was to put half the team in goal and simply pass the ball back and forth as partners.  This eliminated all the running and fetching
   balls out of the back of the net.  It took a couple rounds and some prodding to get to this solution.
   
5. Now that the warm-up was completed Coach Ryan began to play some game situations.  She said that you should be able to go to a game and, without asking, be able to figure out who was ahead and how much time was left simply by the way the teams were playing.  This first game was used to get
   the team to focus early and late in each half.
   
   Play regular game with the group split into two teams, exact numbers don't matter.  Play two halves.  If a team scores in the first or last minute of each half it counts for two points.  The rest of the time the goal counts for one point.  Announce the time to make it a little easier.  There should be a real change in intensity at the start and end.  Coach Ryan said that this whole area of pacing the game is poorly understood in the USA.  We need to work on pacing, protecting a lead, killing time, etc. in our practices if we expect to see it during games.
   
6. A regular scrimmage with two teams, blue and gray.  The blue team scores by keeping the ball for one minute.  The gray team scores by shooting into the goal.  This exercise trains a team to protect a lead.
   
   She wants to see the blue team keep the ball wide and secure.  Don't go through the middle of the field.  Switch sides by going back to the keeper or sweeper.
   
7. Play with the rule that the first team to score wins.  This trains the "golden goal" situation used in some tournaments.  Observe the mentalities of the different players.  Do they attack all out or worry more about giving up the goal?
   
8. Start a regular scrimmage with the condition that the blue team is up a goal but down a player.  Obviously the gray team is in the opposite boat.
   You could accomplish this by starting the scrimmage with a penalty kick for one team if you wanted to make the situation more realistic.  Observe how the different teams respond to their situation.  Coach the behavior you want to see in a real game but always let the team try to work it out first.
   
   One of the keys to playing one goal up is to not put the ball into the keepers hands.  If you shoot be sure to aim high so that if you miss the ball goes into the parking lot not to the keeper who can launch a quick counter attack.
   
9. Start 2 v 2 with keepers.  Every time you score your team gets another player.  If it takes too long to score you can play without keepers.
   
   Try to get the players to recognize the game situation they are in and develop solutions to the problem.  For example, a team down 2 - 3 needs to play quite direct in order to have a chance to score.
   
10. Finish with a normal scrimmage.  Watch for adjustments during the game to see if they understood the earlier parts of the practice.

Defensive Commandments 
As soon as possession is lost.

 

• Thou shalt get behind the ball - recovery into a defensive position is the first priority.
• Thou shalt pressure ball but not get beaten by the attacker with ball - slow down or stop the attacker with ball and force into a more predictable and controllable situation.
• Thou shalt support the player pressuring ball or other supporting defenders - depending upon defensive positioning in relation to ball and teammates; spacing is critical.
• Thou shalt not allow any through balls to get behind the defense by taking away passing angles--this is the key to off-ball defending.
• Thou shalt identify and mark ball side the most dangerously positioned off-ball attackers. 
• Thou shalt look to apply double-team pressure to the ball when available.
• Thou shalt compress the attackers away from the goal when possible by moving towards ball while still maintaining defensive depth behind ball.
  
  Later!
  Gary Rue