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LOGINSoccer drill for defending in threes
Stop a well-drilled attack from the opposition by coaching your defenders to defend as a group, not just as individuals.
Stop a well-drilled attack from the opposition by coaching your defenders to defend as a group, not just as individuals. Use this soccer drill to coach these skills. When teams are defending with three at the back, your soccer (football) players need to know how to use pressure, support and depth to maximise their effectiveness. What you are looking for is your defenders to get into the right ’shape’ depending on the location of the ball when the opposition attacks.
Soccer drill set up
- For this soccer (football) drill, set up an area 20x20 yards with a 10x20 yards end-zone.
- You need three cones and three mannequins or poles.
How to run the soccer (football) drill
The defending team completes the defending technique task. The soccer coach calls to the players the defensive shape they should take up:
- Left – the left defender pressures and shows inside, the central defender supports to stop a forward pass and the furthest defender gives support to the central player and provides depth.
- Centre – the central defender pressures the ball while the two wide defenders take up supporting positions behind and to either side to stop the forward pass.
- Right – the right defender pressures and shows inside, the central defender supports to stop a forward pass and the furthest defender gives support to the central player and provides depth.
- The soccer coach passes a ball to the attacking team at the opposite end.
- Immediately, the defenders must run on to the pitch and use the group defending technique to stop the opponents from scoring in their target goal.
- After each soccer drill session, the roles are reversed.
To get more fun and easy-to-coach defending drills to use in your soccer coaching sessions, click here to order a copy of Perfect Defending, by Michael Beale, Chelsea FC academy coach.
Dave Clarke
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