After our scrimmage on last Friday I've decided that we will play a 4-4-2 formation. We will play the formation a couple of different ways based on who we have on the field (player's strength's) and how the game is going. We have gone back and forth debating over what formation to go with.
Thanks to the fall and last summer we will always be able to go back to the 3-5-2 and we will use that throughout the year depending on each game but we want to move away from that system for this year.
We've ruled out a 3-4-3 system as of now because many teams will be playing a 4-3-3 and with Bella missing a majority of the winter, I don't think we are athletic enough to play with 3 in back versus the 3 fronts.
We've looked at playing a 4-3-3 ourselves but I did not like it at this point in the year for us and we've decided to go with a 4-4-2 for a couple of reasons at this point.
- It is tough to get width in the 4-3-3 formation without playing with 2 wide forwards and I want to be able to attack at all times with an attacking triangle. The 4-4-2 allows us to keep an attacking mid up higher with our 2 forwards while still maintaining our width.
- We are not good enough possessing the ball yet to consistently get our outside defenders into the attack so I feel we would be less dynamic attacking.
- Attacking with your outside backs leads to a lot of early crosses versus end line crosses in girls soccer and shaping an early cross and finishing an early cross are two very difficult skills.
- Our player personnel suites the 4-4-2 more because like most teams from the midwest, we specialize in midfielders.
With our 4-4-2 we will often leave 3 players up to attack and based on our age group and personnel, the 4-4-2 will be the most flexible formation for us to play.
Moving away from the 3-5-2 this year we need to find some more outside defenders. For the winter we currently have Brownie and LK as our only 2 true defenders. We are going to be trying a number of different players at the outside back position. As of now it looks like Becks will begin to play at left back and I will be rotating a couple of players through right back.
Since we are going with the 4 defenders I want to start working on how we can get our outside defenders involved in our attack because anyone that we do put there will be an attack minded player.
Today's Session
I. Evan's Workout
We will start off today with Evan's work out for the girls. I am still really excited that he is able to work with the girls again. It will be such a huge benefit to us as we prepare for Laguna.
II. Mark Yuiell Footskills
I took the idea for the next activity from a session Mark ran with the current 16's when they were 14 and were learning about spacing and how to play through their wide backs.
I had to modify the session to be run in only a 1/4 of the dome as opposed to an entire half of the field so the spacing is tighter, but the ideas remain the same.
Being able to look back and see what Mark did with his group before and what we've done in the past is the reason why I have started writing in this journal again. It is so helpful with ideas.
Here is an excerpt about what Mark was thinking when he designed his session.
The girls still tend to crowd around the ball at times, not fully comprehending yet that their teammates are usually good enough to pass the ball to them over distance now. As our players get drawn close to their teammate in possession of the ball in games, though the number of options may increase, we are still not very effective as a pass to a close teammate does not break pressure (get us out of pressure) a lot of the time. The idea of focusing a bit on spacing and shape when attacking would be helpful to them as in game situations there can sometimes be a world of difference between a 5 yard pass and a 10 yard one.
Spacing and team shape require that the girls possess some very important skills. First, they need to have the awareness in their surroundings (where opposing players are as well as the location of their own teammates). Second, they need to possess an understanding of the individual benefits of receiving a ball in space versus receiving a ball in pressure as well as the benefits of attacking up the field on opposing teams in less densely populated areas. All this can’t be addressed in a single session and takes time to build the skills in the young players. I planned on addressing some of these issues tonight.
These are some of our biggest issues right now.
III. Technical Functional Training – Wide Backs
Set Up
- 4 Groups of 4 players
- Two groups work on the right side of the field, two groups work on the left side of the field
- There is an attacking group on each side with a center midfielder, outside back, outside mid, and target forward
- There is a defending group on each side with three dummy defenders and one goalie
- Balls start with the center mid
Procedure
- Blue group starts with the ball at the blue mids feet, working up the right side of the field
- Red players play low pressure, dummy defense against the blue team
- Blue mid begins the sequence by dribbling forward with the red mid applying pressure on one side or the other
- Blue mid turns away from pressure and looks for support
- Blue wide defender recognizes the need to maintain possession and moves back quickly, away from the red defender to provide support
- Blue outside mid recognizes that we are going to keep possession of the ball and moves back to provide an outlet for the outside defender when she receives the pass
- Blue mid plays to blue wide back
- The outside mids movement will create a better passing lane to the forward for the outside defender
- Blue wide back receives the ball across their body with the inside of their right foot, playing the ball out wide to their right (clear your feet!) in order to set up a pass up field on their second touch
- Blue wide back plays a driven ball to their target player who, with one or two touches, plays back to the blue outside mid who has moved up the line
- Blue forward turns away and makes her run towards the far post after laying the ball off to the outside mid
- The outside mid takes a couple of touches towards the middle of the field and fires a shot
- The forward looks for a rebound to complete the sequence
- Yellow then begins the same sequence up the left side of the field
- Midfield defenders should apply contact pressure though not trying to win the ball
- Wide back defenders do not move
- Target player defenders apply contact pressure to the back of the target player and make then work to get good touches and pass backs to the supporting midfield player
Make It Competitive
- Which group can execute the sequence the sharpest/quickest/with the most technique?
Coaching Points
- Midfields need to clear their feet with their turn so that they can play a pass quickly to the supporting wide defender
- Wide defenders must back away from their marking defenders quickly once they recognize that their midfielder is looking to play backwards
- Wide defenders need to recognize where the open space is (out wide) and touch the ball in that direction – this also helps create a passing channel wide of the marking defender in order for the wide back to play forward
- Target players make their body big, shielding off the marking defender
- Balls played into the targets should be low and driven over the distance
- Balls played back from the targets to the mids should be on the ground
Variation
Same set up with the following variation to get the wide to continue her run forward
- After the wide back plays the ball to the target forward she will continue her run up the line
- The outside mid will cut inside to receive the pass to create space for the outside defender
- The defender can choose to shoot or attack the end line and deliver a cross
If the pattern goes well I will release the defender who is playing against the forward and allow her to choose who to defend after the lay off and the game will become live.
IV. 3 Grid Game
To build off of the movement from the backs in a game format
Set Up
- Attacking team has 4 defenders, 2 center midfielders, 2 forwards
- Defending team has 1 forward, 3 midfielders, 2 defenders, 1 goalie
- 3 Grids, with the middle grid being the smallest
- 2 cones are set up for an offside line to allow the forwards space to make runs
Procedure
- Blue defenders move the ball against the 1 red forward until they can make a pass forward
- Once they play the ball into the final third, the game is live and players can go anywhere
- If the red team wins the ball they can score from anywhere into the open goal
Make It Competitive
- +1 for a ball into the forwards that the attacking team makes
- +1 for a completed pass after the ball has been played into the forwards
- +1 for a shot on goal
- +2 for a goal
Defending Team Points
- +1 point for an intercepted pass by the midfielders. We want to continue to work on our defensive shape so we will give points for doing a good job.
- +2 points for a goal into the open net
- After 10 balls switch roles
Coaching Points
- We just worked on finding the forwards with a driven ball so we want to encourage that pass
- The blue defenders need to constantly be moving to keep the ball in their 4v1 and understand that they are not moving the ball to beat the 1 red forward, but that they are moving the ball to pull the red midfielders out of position and create a passing lane into the forwards
- Forwards and mids need to time their runs and check to at appropriate times
- Forwards and mids need to work together
- When the Blue team loses the ball they need to apply immediate pressure to deny the quick ball forward into the goal for the red team.
- As the pressure is being applied 1-2 blue defenders need to drop off to head/clear any long balls towards the goal
V. Scrimmage
If anyone is still reading this I forgot how long it takes to create an in depth session on this. The planning of the activities, drawing them in AI, and then putting everything together on here. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it when I can look back and find a good session.