Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Uncategorized | Tags: Barcelona, Dave Clarke, Henry, howson, jarvis, jermaine beckford, leeds, Manchester Utd, milijas, passing, tranmere, wolves, xavi
Once your players can pass and move the ball you need to get them to focus on more advanced types of passes. The through ball is a ball passed into space for the target player to run on to – a great attacking weapon. It is a skill players develop over time, theability to put a ball where an attacker can run on to it.
Below is a clip of Xavi at Barcelona playing an amazing through ball to Thierry Henry. It is such a clever ball that the defenders do not see it coming. Watch though how good recovery play from the defender and a brave goalkeeper block Henry’s attempt to score.
You can also see two great goals from the FA Cup games at the weekend. When Leeds shocked Manchester United the goal came from a perfect through ball by Jonny Howson of Leeds who played the ball into space behind the Manchester defenders. Jermaine Beckford was quickest to the ball and he beat the goalkeeper with his shot.
The second goal was in the Tranmere v Wolves game when Wolves’ Nenad Milijas played a ball through the heart of the Tranmere defence to Matt Jarvis who fired home from just inside the box.
Watch all three goals below.
You can get your players to practice playing the through ball using coned off zones at either end of the pitch with an attacker and a 3v3 in the centre where players have to compete for the ball then pass it through to the attackers.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: goals, skills, swivel, turn, van persie
Sometimes you need to get your attackers to turn and head for goal.
You need practice to get a good first touch
If you want a player who can take a pass and turn with confidence knowing that his initial touch on the ball will be good enough it involves a lot of practice.
This is what I do with my players. Using the diagram above, the striker receives the ball, turns to his left (particularly if he is right footed) and then moves to the first cone and sprints with the ball to the second cone. You need to get players A and B serving the ball in so he gets used to the ball coming from different angles.
- A and B – 10 metres apart – serve to the striker.
- He comes forward collects and turns to his left.
- Then sprints between two cones – 5 metres away.
- The two cones should be no more than 2 metres apart.
How to advance it
Keep the dimensions the same but tell your striker to turn to his right, using either the outside of his right foot, or even better his left foot – his weaker foot – to control turn and sprint through the two cones.
What you want to see is a sharp turn – not wide – so that players are under pressure to take good control of the ball. The ball should be close to the feet of your striker all the time he is turning.
Shame Robin van Persie has been injured. He has the turns the skills and the shots that are ideal to show young players what they can aim for.
Watch this video of him in action turning, running and scoring.
