Get your soccer midfielders communicating with your attackers
Getting teams to play a passing game is one of my main targets with the team I am coaching. Players enjoy it, parents enjoy it and you will get a whole heap of good things out of it.
One of the ways to make passing more successful – especially between attackers and midfielders – is to get your players moving into the path of the ball so the passer can see the player and release the ball to him.
When players have to pass in tightly marked areas, it is up to the receiver to move into an area he can be easily reached. This is not as difficult as it sounds!
In the top half of the picture, the white attacker "B" is standing in a position behind two dark-shirted defenders where he cannot receive a pass. He decides on a run across the field but just keeps going. He becomes a difficult target to hit, is covered by the third defender and easy to defend against.
In the bottom example, the white attacker "B" has run into space where he can receive a pass and then check back towards his team mate. This is a much easier pass for attacker "A" to make, it’s a shorter run for attacker "B" and now the white team can easily pass the ball between the two defenders.
With a clever turn, attacker "B" might be able to create a 1v1 or move into an area which threatens the space behind his opponent.
This session originally appeared in Soccer Coach Weekly.
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