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9 a side formations and teaching offside

I run an under 11's team and wondered what formation is best for 9v9. Also any good drills for both attacking and defending regards to off sides

Football CoachCoach

3 answers

ANSWERS

Oliver PerkinsCoach, England

From 2 years of experience of coaching 9 a-side football, I`d probably go with;

1 Goalkeeper

3 Defenders

1 Deep-lying Midfielder

2 Wingers

1 Attacking Midfielder

1 Striker

Having 3 defenders at the back should be safe enough, I`ve found, as most have 1 striker, quite a few had 2, but with your deep-lying midfielder, you`ve always got cover at the back if the 3 are struggling. You`ll just need tomake sure your deep-lying midfielder is a good passer, and has good stamina, as he`ll be focusing mainly on distribution after receiving it from his defenders, or the wingers. I found, with our squad, we only needed one striker as the forward we had was brilliant at linking up with the attacking central midfielder, aswell as having the power and pace to make bursting runs through the gaps in defence.

Football CoachCoach

i run u12 team and play 341 in league games but like playing 332 in friendly`s or going 2 at the back and let them work out the rest as the game goes.

Football CoachCoach

The system largely depend on type of players you have, and the team you are playing.

For a new team, that i have never played before, i`ll go for 1-3-1-3-1, with an open options.

Coach Hamisi Ogaya, Kenya