1v1 contest to teach turning techniques

This 1v1 activity, focusing on the core skill of turning, is best set up on the end dead-ball line.

I place two mini goals on that end line and mark out an area which can be something like a 16-by-24 rectangle.

An attacker’s job is to receive in the channel in the middle area, turn out with their first touch, drive into a turning box, come back in, and then we’re in a 1v1. 

From a defender’s point of view, it works a little bit on their passing - because you play into that attacker to begin with - and It works on their pressing, because as soon as you pass, you then have to get pressure on the ball.

But it is also understanding factors such as what area of the pitch are you going to show them into? What’s their touch been like and how aggressive can you be? Because if you’ve played a really quick pass in and they’ve managed to take a really good first touch, and are turning at you as you’re arriving, they’re going to do a move past me and score. 

As a defender, I’m thinking, ’What’s my pass like? Okay, that’s a bit of a slow one, which already put me in an advantageous position to get pressure on the ball. Okay, his touch is poor, and it’s put him in the corner. Now I’m in a position where I might be able to go and stop them from turning’. 

You might be able to keep them in that corner and win it - then you’ve got an end goal where you can go and score.

From an attacking point of view, it’s in reverse. What type of pass have they played? What’s your first touch like? Where’s their pressure actually coming from? 

Are you going to use a particular move to try and get out of it - a hook turn, outside cut, or whatever it might be? Or are you going to curl your movement to get into the centre of the pitch, and then try and figure out what move you are going to use to try and get past them?

I would use that session quite a lot for turning techniques, rather than just get to the line, do a turn and come back.

The emphasis isn’t so much on winning. But you still want to have an element of that because, ultimately, football is about winning and losing at different points.

When we have the 1v1 Wednesdays, the boys will run in [to training] and say, ’Have we got 1v1 Wednesday today?’. I’ll say, ’Yeah, we have, and this is going to be the session’.

We then make a little bit of a fuss of the person that wins. That way, when they come in, they say, ’I want to be that one that gets a bit of a high five’, or ’I want to be that 1v1 Wednesday champion’.