Starting a new year moving up from 8v8 to 9v9 with a 4th grade girls' team. Season was 7-1 last spring. 3-4 very strong players, 3 very weak, the rest average on a roster of 13. Any thoughts on best formations to run? Where to put weak and strong players?
I would have play, obviously keeper in goal, then 3-4-1 with the two wide midfielders supporting the forward. Remember your only as strong as your weakest player. I wouldn't structure the team on strong and weak players. There 4th grade. Putting a weak player in a position so " there out of the way" won't help improve them.
I always use a 3-3-2 but have seen others with a 3-4-1 or even a 2-4-2 with a diamond in midfield. I would put the weakest player in center midfield. 1. They get a lot of touches on the ball so a chance to improve. 2. Any mistakes or technical breakdowns do not cost you a goal either way. They should have strong defenders to clean up behind them and they do not miss the easy chances if they are up top. It always seems in clsoe games when you put them at forward they miss the one great chance your team creates or if they are in defence they all the opposition thru on their only attack.
What formation have you used while playing 8v8? How many of the players have defensive and attacking natures? How many of them are versatile or can develop some versatility? I'm all for rotating players into different positions, but it's important when introducing new playing format to stick with their "comfortable" or "natural" positions in the beginning at least. What differentiates the players into strong, weak and average - technical ability or something else? Considering their age, I would assume technical ability. In that case none of the weak players should be playing as center midfielder IMO. I would say 3-3-2 is a good formation to start with, but if you have more attacking players then 3-2-3 could also be useful. If you go with 3-3-2, I would use one strong player in the center of the defense, one as center midfielder, and the other two as forwards. If you go with the 3-2-3 instead, I would use two strong players in midfield and one strong player as center forward. Either way, be careful not to become obsessed with teaching formations, rather focus on the girls' individual development. Use a formation that will supplement that individual development and help them transition later to group work. Good luck.
When it comes to coaching for development, I prefer a formation that focuses on a loaded midfield with shared responsibilities. It also includes rotating players between various positions. In this case, it would mean a 2-4-2. Either of the two at the back would have the freedom to take the ball up, while one of the 4 midfielders should be watching and ready to cover back. The 4 mids have the hardest job of transitioning play to offense, supporting the defense and supporting the offense. Play them in a simple single line. The two centers have the freedom to move with the ball - on play and in support of the other. The outside mids need to cover the outside for defense and provide the width for offense. They should generally stay to their side in order to cover for breakouts to the weak side, but also make themselves available for an outlet pass. The forwards should work off of each other, sometimes next to each other and sometimes one dropping back helping to get the ball up. In most cases try to balance strong/weak players near each other, but don't limit your rotations to this. I've seen many many times while coaching that having 'weak' players together actually forces these players to step up to the challenge and become much stronger for the experience. As stated, this formation is demanding on the mids the most, so rotating them will help.
System: Everyone at this age defends and attacks. No field player should be a one way player. 332 will be easiest for kids to understand. 323 would also be easy to understand. The advantage of the 323 is you have natural "triangles" (how I hate that term) that are easy for the kids to spot throughout the system. With the 332 the kids have to move to make good passing lanes between the backs and the midfielders. There is also obvious wide play for players to move up a line. In the 332 its midfielders to forwards. In the 323 its backs to midfielders. On defense the 332 can defend zonally in that shape. Easy to understand. On defense the 323 can either press zonally with the 3 forwards high or else sag the outside forwards and defend in a compact zonal 341. This is a good introduction to team defensive tactics in a modern 433 system. Where to put weak and strong players: For any youth team, players should be rotated through various positions. No one plays just one position. This means not just moving kids through the three lines, but get them time on both sides, right and left. For any team you want to mix the strong and weak players throughout the three lines. You generally want strong players down the spine of the team, at least one in each line. The theory is that putting the strongest players in the center of the field will get them the best chance to be directly involved in the play. From an individual's development viewpoint, you want to give them some time out wide because its more of a 1v1 situation than what you experience centrally. There is more space for dribbling.
The girls are 8 years old. Who cares where they play as long as they are all playing and having fun? The fact that you told us (or even kept track of) their record AS THIRD GRADERS kind of scares me.
Best ideas I could come up with for 9 players would be: 3-3-2 Consolidated throughout, but easily exposed if 1 mid gets caught up. OR 3-4-1 This would allow for more opportunities to have a higher number of players on the attack, leaving less chance for counter attacks. I think the weaker players for the best results would be wide mid, however given more responsibility they may surprise you! For both I would definitely use 1 sweeper, and have the other 2 defenders man mark the strikers.
4-3-1. Then teach attacking wing play. Put your best holder of the ball up top and have the outside guys run the wings. I like to put the weak players in the middle of the field, this way, they learn. You have to be in the mix to learn. Build the attack from the back and it makes it easier to attack.
This would be a fine suggestion for older kids, but for kids this young you don't want to teach positional play or team tactics. You want to teach basic ball skills so that by the time they are 12 they have mastered the ball. Then they can learn attacking wing play. Youth development is about investing in ball skill development for better players in the future.
I would go with a 3-3-2, and have at least one strong player on defense at all times. I tend to start with a "strong" lineup, then sub in developing players (like my son ), let them start the second half, then sub back in a stronger lineup. I would be careful not to put weaker players at defense if they are afraid of the ball. My son (same age) though not too strong or coordinated is not afraid of the ball, and he can do a decent job as a wing defender but is completely lost at midfield. For the weaker players, you want to help them enjoy soccer, even if they only can do well at striker. For the stronger players, you can talk to them about switching positions and learning different aspects of play. At the age of 9 or 10, the players should start understanding covering for each other and moving around the field as the situation warrants. I would therefore work on communication and teamwork, which will help all the players regardless of ability. It's amazing how many high level teams don't do this enough, but it can really help teams of all levels and make soccer much more enjoyable as a team sport instead of "she made a mistake and we lost".
Hi, I used 3-4-1 in our first season at 9v9, but have swapped to a 4-3-1, using to wing-backs, as most teams at 9v9 don't use wingers, the wing-backs can push on so the formation is more like 2-5-1 when attacking. I find this with keepiing posession in midfield, also hit helps with the progression to 11 a-side as the back 4 are already playing as a 4.
I've used 3-2-3 for the majority of this season with good results. But I think we'll incorporate 3-3-2 and 2-3-3, next season. But at various points, for tactical reasons, we switched to a 3-4-1 in game when the midfield was being overrun and 1-4-3 when we were trailing late trying to get a goal back. To answer your question on where to put weak players: At the forward wings... they're poor play won't cost you goals. But for my "real" answer: you need to rotate all players through all positions. Wins and losses be damned.
Generally that is my thinking too, but this really depends on your system of play. For new players regardless of athletic skill, any flank position will be less confusing than a central position. Simply because the boundaries don't move during the match and the ball and other players will be generally coming from limited directions. In the center nothing is constant and the action is 360 degrees around you.
Depends on your kids and, not to be underrated, the field size. I've tried a few things including a double diamond but I've generally found the more common 332 works best. Unless you have 2 stud centerbacks (and at this age you should be rotating kids a bit anyway) it's hard to teach to positioning needed to play with 2 defenders. The attacking formation matters a bit less than HOW they play: spread out, share the ball, attack in #s, etc. Make sure you teach your back line to move up the pitch when in possession. A lot of new youth coaches sit their defenders back in front of the goal the whole time. This makes for crapp soccer, and a good opposing coach with some tactical flexibility will pick you apart (been there. done that.). And whatever you do good luck and be positive with your kids.
I don't like those 3 in the back formation because if you are aging up from 7v7 or 8v8, the chances are that you don’t have and you’ve never played with 3 centerbacks. 4–3–1 allows your fullbacks and halfbacks to play essentially the same style. For drills, 4v4+3 and this pass & move drill (https://soccer.coachaide.com/shared/play/4145a73a-a34e-4440-b864-dd49bb701a2b) have greatly helped my U10 team to stay in shape and use the wings.
Function vs formation- doesn't matter what you play, as long as the kids understand what their role and responsibility is. That is true from 4v4 all the way to 11v11. I have found that 3.2.3 works well if you are going to play a 4-3-3 as 11v11. 3-3-2 works well if you are going to play a 4-4-2. But again, it all depends on what you expect from each position. Think Real Madrid with their outside backs, who are really more of outside mids.
Also developing a long-term view of formations is essential. Our 11v11 teams play 4-2-3-1. So at 7v7, the whole club plays 2-3-1—you essentially just add the back 4 in for 11v11. 9v9 would be 3-4-1
My son's u11 and u12 teams (he's now a u13, so playing 11v11) used a 4-3-1, but the coach drilled into them that the fullbacks needed to be getting up the lines and into the attack. It provided a lot of defensive stability that tended to keep game scores low (they were almost never blown out, which kept them in games mentally -- lots of 2-1 and 3-2 nailbiters, wins and losses). It also gave the primary fullbacks, including my son, a good understanding of how and when to be part of the attack (overlapping runs, playing like a traditional winger looking to get in crosses, when to take the ball and cut into the other team's box, ...). When the coach rolled it out, I wasn't wild about it. In practice, it was good for both development and staying competitive.