Why 1v1s matter - and how you train for them

Sir Alex Ferguson once said: "It just comes down to who wins the most 1-on-1s. That will determine who wins the match."

It is fair to say the former Manchester United manager knew a thing or two about victory, as his heaving trophy cabinet shows.

In general, I believe 1v1 training activities have an amazing number of benefits - technical, tactical, physical, and psychological.

We believe in them so much in our club, that the majority of our under-eights’ and under-nines’ curriculum is devoted to 1v1 training. All other age groups - right up to high-school ages - have some kind of 1v1 training block built into their yearly curriculum.

There are a few different 1v1 situations available to us as coaches, which I shall outline shortly. One huge mistake I believe many coaches make is that they train for just one of these moments - the obvious one of the defender facing up to the attacker.

But we need to develop our players’ abilities in all four of these different 1v1 situations:

Defender in front of the attacker

As I mentioned, this is the image a 1v1 usually conjures up - the attacker facing the defender and taking them on.

We tend to have this vision of a winger running at a lone defender on the flank, but this situation happens in all areas of the field.

Key skills to develop: change of speed and direction, moves to beat a player.

Defender behind the attacker

This may surprise some, but I have seen a statistic that stated 75% of 1v1 situations in soccer are of this type. Any player positioned in advance of the ball will potentially find themselves in this situation.

Key skills to develop: checking your shoulder to be aware of the exact distance and angle of a defender; using body feints to trick the defender; opening up your body to receive the ball side on; angle, distance and placement of the first touch.

Defender on the side

This situation usually arises when the attacker, in possession, has positioned his body between the defender and the ball.

In this situation, the attacker needs to not only shield the ball but they also need to find a solution by finding space to dribble away from the defender or pass and retain the ball for the team.

Key skills to develop: maintaining a good body shape (side-on, not with their back to the defender) to shield the ball; bent knees for strength and balance; keeping the ball on the outer foot away from the defender; using the defender’s pressure and momentum against them to spin the opposite way; moves to feint and turn in the opposite direction to create space.

Defender on an angle

This situation occurs either when the attacker has beaten one player and a second covering player is coming over to defend, or when the ball is in space just in front of an attacking player, and a defender is approaching at an angle to pressure or tackle.

Key skills to develop: good first touch into the space just behind the approaching defender, or even back across them, to eliminate them by using their momentum against them.

With 1v1s so important to the outcome of matches, it is vital to improve the skills of players in all positions, develop each more holistically in this area and consider all scenarios in our session planning.