Midfield maestro

 

What this session is about

1.  Playing with composure.
2.  Playing through midfield.
3.  Keeping possession of the ball.

 

What to think about

•  Teams must be able to keep possession of the ball to gain rhythm in their play.
•  When keeping possession, it is important all players want the ball and are making movements in order to receive a pass or to create space for their team mates.
•  Teams must not miss out their midfield by playing longer passes to the forwards. This style of play is too predictable and therefore easy for opponents to defend. Encourage your players to be confident and play quick, short passes through the centre of the pitch in order to instigate attacks.

 

Set-up

Use a 25-yard square with a 20-yard square inside it for the session. Retain the 25-yard square for the development. For the game situation, use an area 50 yards long by 40 yards wide.

Warm up	Session	Development	Game Situation	Warm Down
5 minutes	15 minutes	15 minutes	20 minutes	5 minutes

 

What you get your players to do

Use two teams, ideally a 5v3 situation. Three defenders and one attacker go inside the smaller area. On the outside of this area, four attackers play inside the five-yard channel.

These four attackers are limited to this channel but defenders can go anywhere within both areas to tackle the attackers.

Attackers try to play passes to each other to keep possession. They should try to play the ball through the central attacker as much as possible because he has more options and it is easier to keep the ball.

The central player should be changed every two minutes.