Practice: Pressing and recovering

This game helps defenders learn when to press and when to recover and mark. It forces visual and verbal communication, as well as understanding shape and utilising offside.

Set up

Use the penalty area of your pitch. We’ve used 19 players. You need balls, bibs, cones and a normal sized goal.

How to play it

Use two teams of eight plus a keeper and two target players. Players work 4v4. 

The keeper starts by kicking the ball towards the first row of attackers who stand 10 yards outside the penalty area. The attackers try to score in the goal for a point, and the defenders attempt to stop them and get a point if they win the ball and pass to a target player. If the keeper collects, he distributes quickly by hand to the target player on the side opposite to the one that the ball came from (the coach decides if it deserve a point).

 
Play three five-minute games. Play offside.

Technique

The four defenders want to make play predictable and win the ball back. Help players figure out how to read the cues that tell them when to step out of line and pressure the ball.