Tactical drills to train the principles of play: possession and positional play, rondos, pressing and transitions, movement off the ball, 1v1 defending, attacking overloads and small-sided games. Ideal for working on your team's game model.
74 drills
74 drills
The most widely used rehearsed corner in the modern game: driven inswinging delivery to the near post, a legal block on the zonal marker, a glancing flick-on and the far-post runners arriving to finish.
Horst Wein's small-sided game that inspired the DFB and FIFA 3v3 formats: 3v3 without keepers on 25x25 yards, each team defending two 3-yard goals set apart on its end line and attacking the two opposite ones. Players learn to look up and switch the point of attack.
Classic form of the Dutch (KNVB) 4v4 method: in 25x20 m you score by dribbling the ball under control and stopping it anywhere on the opposition end line, which forces the defence to protect the full width of the pitch.
2v2 game in a 20x20 m square with mini goals where the defending pair learns the roles of first defender (pressure) and second defender (cover), and how to swap them with every pass.
Full-pitch 11v11 with normal rules but no stoppages: the moment the ball goes out a coach feeds another one in instantly from the touchline and the players must press and transition without rest. The Wednesday exercise of Bielsa's Leeds.
Two facing 6v2 rondos with mini goals on the sides: the defenders score the instant they win the ball, the player who loses it must counter-press immediately and, if a goal is conceded, sprint to defend the other grid. The Klopp-style counter-pressing rondo.
Four stations around the box linked at match tempo: skill move at the mannequin and shot, one-two around the mannequin and shot, dribble to the byline with a pull-back, and pass-overlap-cross attacked by three players.
A line of mannequins acts as the defence: the central player combines with a winger and threads the pass for the opposite winger, who runs diagonally in behind the line and finishes.
Four-station circuit Pep Guardiola ran in his first pre-season at Bayern: wall pass after getting beyond the mannequin, long switch, first-time lay-off, through ball and finish. Every player rotates to the next station.
The classic Dutch square from the Ajax academy: pass to the next corner, wall pass back and a through ball for the teammate already running to the next line. Continuous tempo with one and two touches.
Positional game recorded at a Luis Enrique FC Barcelona training session in 2015: 30x10 m divided into three zones, two players per team in each zone and a neutral player in the central zone. It is all about finding the free man and playing between the lines.
The foundational rondo of the Ajax-Cruyff school: four possession players on the sides of a 10x10 m square against one defender inside. Slide along your own side, pass with the far foot, and whoever loses the ball goes in the middle.
Possession in 25x25 m with two teams of four and three neutrals (two on opposite sidelines and one inside). The team in possession plays 7v4; the team that wins the ball takes over. Structure, support and counter-pressing.
Y-shaped passing sequence: support, lay-off to the third man and a pass into space to finish against the keeper. A pre-season classic for passing, movement and timing.
Activation rondo in 8x8 m squares: four keepers of the ball against one presser who swaps out every time they touch the ball. Ideal to start the session with the ball and rhythm.
Classic four-versus-two rondo in an 8x8 m square with a maximum of two touches. Works circulation speed, constant support and the coordinated pressing of the two defenders.
Wave finishing drill: the attacker plays a wall pass with a target player at the edge of the box and finishes first time past the goalkeeper. Accuracy, timing and finishing.
Diamond passing pattern in which the ball reaches the third man through a support touch and a first-time lay-off. Develops timing, pass weight and support movement.
Central free-kick training from 18-25 m with a mannequin wall at 9.15 m: direct strikes over or around the wall, and a rehearsed routine with a dummy run over the ball and a sideways lay-off for a third player to strike.
Complete organisation of zonal defending at corners: two players on the posts, three headers along the six-yard line, three in a second line, one player disrupting the taker and one or two ready for the counter-attack.
Rehearsed short-corner routine from Atlanta United: short pass to pin the defender who steps out, the central players spin to the back post and a late third attacker overlaps to cross from the byline with a 2v1 advantage.
The Hoff interval protocol moved into the game: 4v4 without keepers on 35x25 m, four 4-minute bouts at 90-95% of maximum heart rate with 3 minutes of active recovery.
Raymond Verheijen's football conditioning game for the final weeks of pre-season: 4v4 to two mini goals on 30x20 m, two sets of six 1-minute repetitions with 2 minutes of rest.
In 27x18 m, two full-size goals side by side at one end and four cones at the other: the coach serves four attackers who must solve a 4v3 while three defenders protect both goals at once.
A rondo is a possession game in a small space with a numerical advantage (4v1, 5v2...). It trains one-touch passing, body orientation, passing lines and counter-pressing in very little space.
From 3v3 up to 7v7. Small-sided games with neutrals let you work on overloads and transitions with groups of 8 to 16 players.