Practice: Going on the attack

WHY USE IT

This three-part session develops awareness and speed of attacking in the final third, working on movement off the ball, moving the ball quickly, attacking as a five and quality of end product.

SET-UP

Set-up a playing area using the width of the penalty box, half a pitch and a full-size goal. Place a ‘play line’ halfway between the penalty box and halfway line, and a central line to split the bottom third in half lengthways. Place a mannequin in each of these halves.

Set up with a goalkeeper, four defenders and a defensive midfielder on the out-of-possession team, and two central midfielders, two wing-backs and three forwards on the in-possession team.

HOW TO DO IT

Play starts with one of the two central midfielders. The forward on their side moves to receive a pass in front of the mannequin, sets the ball back for the midfielder to play into space in front of the advancing wing-back on their side of the pitch.

Play then breaks over the ‘play line’ with the three forwards, wing- back back and centre-midfielder all joining the attack against the out-of-possession team. The ball cannot go back across the ‘play line’. Once the play breaks down, it restarts from the centre- midfielder on the other half of the pitch.

COACHING POINTS

Players should work on timing and angle of movement to receive, as well as weight of pass. Players should look to make quick combinations in the final third, with a focus on end product.

ADAPTATIONS

If players are struggling to create goal scoring chances, remove the defensive midfielder so the attacking team has a 5v4 overload.

If the attacking team need an additional challenge, the opposite wing-back not involved in the play could act as a recovering defender for the out-of-possession team, giving them a 6v5 overload and encouraging the attacking team to play quickly before the wing-back can recover into play.