Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: 1v1s, beat a player, Belgium, brazil, Chelsea, drills, exercises, hazard, oscar, skill
When Oscar or Eden Hazard are running with the ball watch how often they do a skill which fools the chasing player. They change direction or pace with simple movements like this reverse pass.
It is the speed of the initial reaction which makes all the difference when players lose the ball and the opposition counter-attacks. Running in counter attacking situations often means players are being chased by defenders. I get my players to prepare by playing this game. Not only does it get players to react quickly to a change in possession but it also involves a skill and a technique.
The skill is a reverse pass, followed by pressing the player on the ball – and the technique is both with and without pressure.
How to play it
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Put down two cones 20 yards apart – further/closer depending on the physical fitness of your players.
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You need players at each end of the exercise.
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Play starts at one end with a player running with the ball.
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When he reaches the far end, he passes to the player at that end with a reverse pass – he runs past the first player in the queue and use a backheel pass across the standing leg.
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The receiving player starts running to the opposite end, the player who has made the reverse pass must turn and give chase.
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When players get to the far end, the player with the ball reverse passes to a player at that end then turns and gives chase.
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The original chasing player joins the back of the queue.
Key coaching points
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When running with the ball, players should use the laces for each touch, making sure they run in a straight line.
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Players run as fast as they can, complete the skill and turn to give chase.
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Make sure your players put maximum effort into this exercise so they get all the benefits of fitness and skills.
Change the pass
- If your players are having trouble with the reverse pass across the front of the standing leg get them to try a normal backheel (without crossing the legs). Even this may be hard with some young players, but keep pushing this skill – they will get it with practice.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management | Tags: beach, beckham, hazard, messi, skills, technique, xavi, youtube
David Clarke
If you have one New Year’s Resolution make it that you are going to improve the technique of every player you coach – everything a player does on the pitch is about showing good technique.
Everything has a label – control, dribbling, shooting, first touch – but it all relies on good technique.
Technique is the bedrock of a young player’s success in soccer – there are of course other essentials like agility, balance, control and speed, but technique is the crowning glory.
Technique isn’t just Xavi or Messi’s close control. David Beckham has kept his career going for a second decade because his technique keeps him in demand. He doesn’t play anything like Xavi or Messi but he can do things with a ball they cannot. And vice-versa, you wouldn’t see Beckham involved in short passing, lightening quick moves up the pitch because he could never be Xavi.
So it’s about a player finding out what they are good at and practicing that skill. Repetition of the technique is a key factor in this. The more you can get them to repeat the technique the better they will become.
Watch the technique, even on the beach David Beckham can take accurate free-kicks!
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