Football Drills

Encouraging 1st time shooting by using the correct technique to take the shot early and finish from close range. Get your knee over the ball and use the pace of the ball to generate the power. By trying to strike the ball too hard, the likelihoood is the accuracy will be poor. Blue 1 plays ball into area and clue 2 moves in to shoot 1st time. Blue 2 goes to replace blue 1 and blue 1 runs around working area to take blue 2s place.

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Set up: Cone off an area 2 areas: Width 44 yards length 20 yards one above the other. At each side of one area have an extra square of 5 yards. Set up a 2 goals, one at the top of the areas and one at the bottom. Red team players: GK, 2 Defenders in the bottom area, 2 Attackers in the top area and 2 wingers, one in each 5 yard square.  Blue team players: GK, 2 Defenders in top area, 2 Attackers in bottom area. Description:  Red team start with the ball. Passes: GK -> Defender (or straight to winger) -> winger Winger crosses to one of the Attacking players who can either pass the ball to the other Attacker or take a shot. If Blue team win the ball then they can go for goal although they don't have the same wide options.  

Player 2 curves their run away from the passer before then cutting back to the ball. Player 2 receives the ball and turns towards goal in 1 fluid motion. Player 2 then delivers a cross for the waiting centre forward.

Player 2 receives the ball from player 1. Player 2 should control and receive the ball on the half turn, turning out towards the touchline. Player 2 then travels with the ball and crosses into the penalty area for the attacking player.

Make a pitch from the edge of one penalty box to the same the other end, full width. Set up a goal with a GK at each end. A group of Attackers start in the centre circle. A group of Defenders start offset to the left of them. The coach feeds the ball in to and Attacker and they run forward to a 1 vs 1 situation with 1 Defender. The Attacker should take on the Defender and attempt to score. Once the Attacker has taken a shot they recover in an arc to receive a ball cross in from the right side. As this is going on, when the GK at the other end has seen the coach pass the first ball then they pass the ball to a player in the fullback position out to the right (F). F passes the ball down the line to a winger (W), who will be the one to cross the ball in after the Attacker has taken their first shot. At the same time the exact same is happening at the other end of the pitch. Players move positions: The Attacker becomes the F for the other side, attacking in the other direction. F follows their pass to become the W, the W joins the line of Attackers. Rotate the Defenders after 5 minutes.  Play different progressions/variations for about 30 minutes in total. Includes breaks for water and feedback to the players

Players on the wing run with the ball down the side of the pitch before crossing for an attacker who has ran into the area, usually at the far post. Attackers begin further back than the wingers and in line with the corner of the penalty area. Once the coach blows his whistle, the attacker must sprint at full speed to reach the area and get on the end of the cross.

Two players begin the drill on the wings with the ball, while to players wait in the centre. The two players on the wing will run in opposite directions (attacking opposite goals). The central players begin their run once the crosser has taken their first touch. After the cross has been delivered players swap roles.

Set up as shown. Player 1 starts with the ball in the middle of the field and plays a 1-2 pass with player 2 before passing out wide to player 3. At this point, players 1 and 2 run towards the penalty area, ready to receive a cross, while one of the defenders goes out wide to put pressure on the crosser. Player 3 will cross the ball into the box where players 1 and 2 will try to beat the defender to it and score.

Set up two lines of players as show in the image, about 30m from the goals. The first player dribbles with the ball at pace and then puts their foot on top of the ball, to leave it dead in front of the other player. The first player continues their run around the cone in front of them and then runs back inside the area. The receiver uses a positive first touch to move into space and then try to finish through one of the wide goals. The first player should have continued their run and now tries to put pressure on the receiver's shot.

Set up 3 gates on each side as shown. The blue team run through the blue gates and the red team run through the red gates. Players run with the ball through all the gates, round the last cone and then bring the ball back. The first player to get back wins a point for their team.

Split your players into three equal sized teams, with two teams starting inside the area and the third spread around the outside of the grid. The team on the outside of the grid are neutral players. When they receive the ball they must pass back to a player on the same team that originally passed to them. The two teams inside the area play a possession game. The challenge for each team is to score 10 (or more) consecutive passes to score a goal.

The red player attacks the blue player in the area between the blue cones. The blue player cannot tackle but can only put red player under pressure.

*AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON* Goalkeeper steps away from cone comes through the gate receives a ball into hands Returns to server then gets a low shot into dive close to body Get into set position initially then step forward into low dive to save before cones in advance of initial gate Notes: Get the step in if required If serve close too the body collapse legs and get hands to the ball in front of the body Dive forward this called 'Attacking the dive'  

Set up as shown with 2 cones (the disatance of which between can be modified depending on ability or challenge you want to set your players). 1 player on each cone and 1 player in the middle, 1 ball between the 3. Players always take 2 touches, the ball is moved from one end, into the middle man and then to the other end before the sequence is repeated from the other side.

There are two triangles in this drill, both using the same top point player (player 5). Players in the top triangle pass in an anti-clockwise direction and players in the lower triangle pass in a clock-wise direction. Both pairs of players must use the middle player as their third passing option.