Coaching diaries #1: Combination play

In this session we are going to go into more depth about combination play in the final third. On many occasions is previous games, the team has been relying on balls over the defensive line, which is not a bad thing, it is just good to have another method to penetrate a defense in your arsenal when you do not find success in one method. In the situations where the team has tried to create with the ball on the ground, there has been little success due to decision making — either a pass to the wrong person, or at the wrong time, or taking too much time to make a decision. All of the above result in us losing the ball in crucial areas where we could have created a dangerous chance.

This session is going to focus on a very specific type of combination which can be used to penetrate the defense, and will go in depth in a few variations within that combination. It revolves around the front three in a 4–3–3 formation where all three attackers start wide but then one drops into space and gives a killer pass to one of his teammates — Mainly the central player giving the ball to a wide player.

The main focus is going to be on the movement of the front three, passing and receiving and if all goes well we will give a few pointers on finishing.

The session starts with a warmup routine consisting of anaerobic movements combined with static/dynamic stretching. This is how all the sessions start for us in order to prevent injuries from happening.

After that we go into more ball involving warmups:

At the beginning we allow the players to get used to the environment, to give them time to speak to each other, catch up on school etc. It is a time where there is little involvement from the coaching staff. That goes for ~4mins when we start increasing intensity of the rondo by focusing on power/accuracy of passes and body shape when receiving.

Once the rondo is done it is time to go into the second practice involving 1v1s.

This practice achieves two things. First it gives the players an opportunity to develop their technical skills in the form of dribbling. It is also easing them in and preparing them for the next practices where, in theory, there should be a lot of dribbling and 1v1s once the combination play is executed properly. The practice is set up in a way to encourage competitiveness by having multiple 1.5min intervals where there is a winner and a loser. Ultimitely, the better performing players will move up the gates, facing more competition and being challenged more.

In this practice detail is still kept to a minimum unless there is something which the coaching staff decides requires intervention.

Following the technical part of the session is the pattern of the combination play.

This setup replicates the scenario where the midfielder has time on the ball and is facing the goal. Front three are in their default positions and are ready to perform this combination to penetrate the defense. It is emphasised that the combination has to be performed quick not only due to the demands of an actual football game but it also allows players to get more repetition in.

For consistency, we are going to start with combinations only on one side of the pitch and then switch to the other side.

During this exercise, emphasis is given on passing and receiving. Passing needs to be firm and accurate, aiming for the back foot of the receiver in order to ease the continuation of play. Receivers first work on starting position — away from defenders, on the blindside, in order to get additional time before they get a reaction from the defense. Then they need to time their run so that they get to the location of the pass whent he ball is there — not too early, not too late. They have to receive facing the way in which they are passing and then perform a pass.

And here is where there are a few variations of the play.

The wide player can choose one of 3 runs depending on the body shape of the defender. If the defender has a square body shape and needs to turn more than 90 degrees in order to track back then it is appropriate to perform a killer pass coupled with either run A or B. The run needs to start from out wide to allow the wide player to get pace before reaching the ball. B has the benefit of making the run mostly on the blindside of the defender but has a higher risk of being caught offside.

If the defender has a body shape which anticipates a killer pass. Then the wide player can stay where he is and get a pass to his feet. Then he has the time to make a couple of touches until the defender turns onto him which will give him the advantage in the 1v1.

Once the pattern is executed successfully multiple times we will progress it from unopposed to opposed by having defenders instead of cones. This will allow the front three to do multiple attempts on this pattern by making runs from both sides.

The session will then go into a conditioned game where there will be 2 zones in front of each box. The players will be encouraged to perform the pattern in a game scenario and will be rewarded if they do so successfully by getting 3 goals instead of 1.

Lastly the session is going to finish with an unconditioned game.

Once the game is finished we will go into a warm down and complete the session.