Soccer drill to build attacking patterns

Whatever age group you are coaching - at 7-a-side or 11-a-side - breaking away with a three-man attacking move will always cause havoc in the opposition defence. For a quick, skillful way to goal, try the following attacking soccer drill.

Watching it in the English Premier League

Watching Liverpool versus Chelsea I was impressed in the first half with the way Liverpool’s front three players - Babbel, Crouch and Kuyt - broke away at speed and used the ball that Steven Gerrard played through to them with pace and quick passing.

Each time it led to a shot on goal, usually from Crouch who was in the centre of the three. Crouch often touched the ball two or three times in the move. It was a shame for the Liverpool fans that his shots were more often than not just off target. Any young player watching that game would have been given plenty of food for thought, so at my next coaching session I set up a soccer drill to get the players practising these same skills.

attack drill set up with 3 lines of players who have to make runs and passes to goal

Go in threes for attack drill

Organise three lines of players around 40 yards from a goal which is defended by your goalkeeper.
Tell your players to make runs and passes attacking towards the goal.
They must take a shot after four passes.

What to look for during the drill

Get your players to play this soccer drill at match pace.
Tell them the aim of the drill is to pass and move as quickly as they can to get to the goal.
They should be using sharp bursts of speed and calling out names so they can run onto passes.
Shoot one or two-touch.

Extend the soccer drill

Add two defenders to apply pressure to the three attackers. Begin with passive defenders and move to active defenders to challenge the players to play with more speed and quality.

Key soccer coaching tip: Speed and ball control are the important elements in this soccer drill.

Click here for an attacking soccer drill.

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