How to coach your players to defend deep in a 7v7
Coaching Football Defenders In A 7v7, Part 3 — Defending Deep
Teams defend deep to restrict space for the opposition. People may argue that’s coaching players to be negative however, we see it as recognising times to drop off and defend deep.
When your team is out of possession, get all the players into the defensive half before the opposition have a shot. If successfully done, the opposition must make five passes before having a shot.
This condition encourages teams when out of possession to drop off and get bodies behind the ball to restrict space. Also, it allows teams in possession to break down compact defences. On a defending front, it recognises; who marks who, closing down space, who covers, how can you look to attack?
The condition we provided is to encourage learning and we add that you can take these concepts and break them down further. For example, you could overload an attack to work a defensive unit that is out of balance. You can watch Defending Out Of Balance 1 Vs. 2: Skills Practice here and combine the two sessions to progress the concept.
Assuming that the conditions were implemented on full pitch dimensions, the channels and thirds will provide reference points that are transferable to a game scenario. Remove the conditions and we would hope that the players will show evidence of their learning.
