Prevention, not cure! - Stop the danger from developing!
Working on these defensive principles this session starts with a simple headering drill, before adding an accuracy element to the exercise - getting players to direct their John-Terry-like clearances to a team-mate higher up the field. Following on from this we get competitive, working with two teams players will have to compete for the ball in the air.
By cutting out the high ball service to the front men not only will you stem the flow of dangerous balls to their front players but you will also frustrate your opponent, forcing them to change their game plan. If the opposition do decide to play with the ball on the ground you can then work on defensive cover, if one player goes to meet the ball one of their team-mates should fill the gap and provide a second line of defence in case the first defender gets beaten by their man.
in more ways than one
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in more ways than one
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Roughly a fifth of Premier League goals come from set pieces, and the gap between teams who plan their routines and teams who do not has never been wider. Here is how the modern set-piece specialists design attacking corners, free kicks, and throw-ins - and how you can apply their ideas at any level.
The next frontier in football coaching is not physical, it is mental. Cognitive load training - the deliberate use of perception, decision-making and dual-task demands inside football drills - is reshaping how the best academies develop players. Here is what it means and how to use it.
If the last decade taught us about pressing, this one is teaching us about what stands behind it. Rest defence is the shape your team holds while attacking, and it is the difference between dominating a game and getting picked off on the counter.
