Soccer Defense Drills

While the value of this cannot be questioned you are not truly developing players to their full potential unless they have the ability to play both with and without the ball. Many players have strengths that are primarily defensive and these players should be given the opportunity to succeed during practice with a defensive focus. The three basic components of defending are pressure, cover and balance. Pressure must be accompanied with good one on defensive ability and the ability to win the ball in the tackle or not be beaten off the dribble.

Pressure

Pressure involves pressuring the ball and the ability to defend one on one without being beaten off the dribble. You should coach pressure in stages and progress the session. The best way to teach one on one defensive play is with pairs of players facing each other in a 10 yard box.

• Begin the drill by having the defender pass the ball to the attacker and closing the defender down at speed. The defender should close down quickly but shorten steps upon approach to get in a good defensive position.
• Angle your run on approach to force defender in one direction. A defender will usually want to force an attacker away from the goal, or into defensive cover.
• The defender should adopt a defensive position about a yard in front of the attacker. A defensive position should be on toes with the ability to move backwards and side to side quickly without being beaten. Defend side on and try to force the attacker in one direction.
• Be patient and focus on remaining in good position, avoid rushing into tackles unnecessarily and being beaten. Former United States international Marcelo Balboa advises that a defender should not tackle unless necessary. Balboa said the most important thing during defensive play is to “contain the forward and prevent him from penetrating."

Pressure Action Plan

When using this one on defensive drill work through the stages progressively. For example, give the players 5 minutes to focus purely on closing down. Passing the ball to a stationary attacker and closing down. Coach the angle of run and shortening steps to adopt a good defensive stance. Progress to a game where the attacker dribbles and scores a point by beating the defender and stopping the ball on the end line of the box. Play timed games to add competition, you could even have a tournament between your team. If you wish to practice forcing in a direction play one on one with a defender scoring by dribbling through a 1 yard goal on the left hand side of the box. This emphasizes a defenders need to force the attacker to the right. Repeat the game on the other side.

COVER

Defensive cover is vital to team defending. Cover involves the concept of not only covering for a teammate beaten off the dribble, but also covering the area in behind teammates from through balls. For example in the diagram below the X’s are the defending team. X5 must cover X2 is he is beaten off the dribble, and he must also be aware of a through ball in behind X2 to O9.

Diagram

When covering a teammate a player should sit 3-5 yards behind rather than directly in line. A flat defensive shape means the angle to cover is not there and beating one player can result in an attacker being in behind everybody and through on goal.

COVER ACTION PLAN

Practice cover defending by playing 2 v 2 in a 20 yard box. Begin with the attackers remaining stationary and pass side to side. Coach the defensive players in switching from a pressure to cover position. When pressuring the ball, if your attacker passes the ball you must drop back and recover rather than chasing or watching the ball and being beaten by an easy through run. Play 2 v 2 games with the attacking team scoring by stopping the ball on the line behind the defenders. Focus on cover defenders not letting runners drift goal side.

Balance

Balance is crucial when teams step into game situations. On a bigger field when attacking teams can switch the ball from sideline to sideline it is important for cover defenders to be goal side in position to apply pressure quickly. For example of a team is attacking down the right flank with the right sided defender pressuring the ball. The left back must track the widest opposition runner, and be aware of a sideline to sideline switch.

BALANCE ACTION PLAN

To practice balance effectively you need a large area. 3 v 3 in a 30 yard box will help, or ideally use half of a soccer field and line up your 4 defenders. Send 3 attackers at them with instruction to switch the field at least once. Monitor the position of your defenders and freeze the drill to adjust position if necessary. Add competition by giving the attackers 5 points for a goal, and the defenders a point for every clearance. Loser picks up the cones is a fun motivation for games to add incentive.