Football: line

Hi all, I've just started coaching a soccer team of 4 and 5 year olds and would like to discuss with my fellow coaches any drills which you have found to be safe, fun and valuable to the younger age group. I have my level 1 course under my belt and have difficulty in applying what I've learnt to the small kids. They get bored very quickly and are only interested in playing a match at the end of the session. They have no interest in passing the ball or shooting at goal whilst doing drills. Running with the ball is no problem as they are keeping active and all have a ball at their feet. As soon as they line up or have to share a ball, there are problems. I have a variety of drills which I run through with them, traffic lights, robin hood, alamo, sharks and fishes to name a few with variations of each but I crave more as everywhere I search caters for U6 upwards. I coach an U8 side midweek and have no problem with these lads as they are that bit older and have a greater level of concentration. (not by much mind). So I'm asking for advice from anyone who has coached 4 and 5 YOs and would like to know what has worked for you. PM replies welcome.  Marc

Any drills for teaching young players about offsides and more importantly keeping a good defensive line and moving as a unit

U14 level - Are there any drills for getting the goalie to decide whether to stay on 6 yard line or intercept the through ball

Do you have a basic warm up routine for primary PE lessons?

first season with offsides, any drills i could use to explain to them how it all works??

I run a U11 team that is reasonably successful and plays with confidence and spends a lot of the time on the front foot. However we seem to get caught week after week by the simple long ball over the top and would welcome some tips/drills to help the lads improve this part (it's driving me mad!). Thanks in advance.

hi corner drills please for u10s

I've got a team of young women (12-13 year old) several of whom only played last season for the first time.Our first season last year was pretty good given they're young inexperienced and we rarely had subs. One area that always gets us is fast strikers getting in and behind our defense from quite a way up the field–75% of our goals are conceded that way.So any thoughts on training the team to not allow so many of these goals? TIA!

having issues with defence and midfield moving forward together when attacking any session out there to help . thanks

My team have conceded 18 goals in 3 games and they have all been the same kind of goals. We always try and get the back 3 upto the halfway line when attacking which mean naturally my midfielders are further up the pitch. Here lies the problem, when we lose possession we are simply not quick enough at getting back, a long ball over the top or some quick play we seem to be overloaded and concede quickly, iv tried getting my goalkeeper starting position improved to cut out the long ball but he's not confident doing that. Should I abandon the need to get to the halfway line as quick as possible and maybe drop 15 yards leaving less space behind. In possession we are a good team but out of possession we have become easy to score against. I as a coach need to be more vocal during games and possibly do a bit more in-game coaching as iv always believed it's best to give instruction and challenges before games and at half time. Any advice would be appreciated

Does anyone know any good defending drills not for a team but for an individual it has been hard to find any drills other than the basics of defending and some ones to do with jockeying and body positioning.

Any drills to improve my u11's working the ball out from the keeper when the opponents have retreated to halfway ? We keep making poor passes across goal etc and kicks straight to opposition !

Team keep getting thrashed every week - where to start? Having been the sole coach/manager of a little league team for the past two years, this year I lost all my senior players. I was therefore presented with 10 brand new lads, some of whom have never played competitive football. We are 8 games in and my lads are getting thrashed every week. The main problems are that they cannot get the ball out of their half, positions are usually a mess, finishing and chance creation are non-existent, and they don't apply any pressure or are unable to tackle. The main problems are keeping the ball as a team, getting it in the opponents half and staying there, and creating/finishing chances. I only have 1 and a half hours a week with them. I don't really know what to do, and I'm a little desperate. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks for literally anything.

i currently run a u13 boy footballs team. What would be a good drill to get the players to shut the ball down.Because my defenders seem to stand back and let them shoot thanks dennis

Hello, I am currently coaching an u9's boys team and a majority of them are well behaved and want to play football, but the odd 1or2 tend to mess around at training which distracts the others. I have sat them out in training and spoken to the parents but still this goes on. Do I decide to kick them out of the team altogether or does anyone know the miracle cure to stop this happening?

I have a U12 girls that play8v8 with ofsides.Often times they want to hang on the 18 and wait for the attack. Despite practice. It seems some prior coaches that have coached at the varsity level feel that keeping your back line in a V formation with the center toward the goal is the best. To me having a line pressing will allow the wings and mid to get back and help. Keeping the defense back I think is bad medicine as well as creating space in between the center back and mid fielder. Allows the attack to then pass between defenders and to space. No offside advantage either. What is right. I have been able to get them to play up at least but the v formation seems to cause the advantage to the attacker. Are the higher up coaches wrong or are they trying to implement a tactic that works better with 11v11?

I need some drills to show my team how t keep their head up when dribbling with the ball without the drill being boring for them because when I try the traffic lights drill or something like that they switch off really quickly but I'm also trying to teach them that when someone passes the ball to them they always look what's around them before they get the ball and I want to know if their is any drills I can use

I have a fantastic group of U12's (9 a side), who I encourage to play with the ball on the floor, quick passing football. We are a very attacking minded team, but that is our weakness - we need to remember that we do not have 8 strikers.Does anybody have any drills or tips for making sure that midfielders remember midfield?

Hi, I have taken on my first U11 football team and we are building a squad from scratch for all comers, we have picked up some good players with a few who have hardly ever kicked a ball. I have always promoted everyione is welcome but it seems some of the better players are now making comments that they wont stay if the lesser players continue! What do i do?