Shell-shock opponents

 

What this session is about

1.  Creating the team’s shell.
2.  Rotating players in the central areas of the pitch.
3.  Creating goalscoring opportunities.

 

What to think about

The team’s shell consists of the goalkeeper, four defenders and one main, central striker. This shell enables the team to always have control of the length of the team – that is the distance from the centre backs to the central striker. The shell also enables the team to have control of the width of the pitch with the two wide defenders being encouraged to stay wide and move up and down the length of the pitch. Now the midfielders and wide attackers can constantly rotate positions in order to unlock the opponent’s defence and create chances to score a goal – knowing the shell will protect them from counter attacks.

 

Set-up

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

 

What you get your players to do

Use two teams, each has four defenders. Both sets of defenders have a ball and must pass the ball from one wide defender to the other. The wide defender now dribbles forward to pass to the opposite wide defender, who starts the build-up process with his fellow defenders.

Set moves:

1) Pass from the left defender (L) to the centre back (1) then to the next centre back (2), and to the right defender (R) who dribbles forward, as shown in the top picture.

2) Left defender passes to centre back 2, who sets back to centre back 1 to pass to the right defender, who dribbles the ball forward.

3) Left defender passes to centre back 1, who passes long to the right defender, who passes back to centre back 2, who passes into space for the right defender to run forward.