In our college society team ( East Africa), We've been tinkering with mainly the 4-2-3-1 formation and the 4-1-3-2 one. I favour the former with having a DM, passer and an AM, but we have problem when we play tough teams as our attacks problems seem to exposed. Our best striker is very small and can be physically outclassed, the AM is great at build up and passing but poor at finishing, and there seems to be little flair or syncing between them. When we win, we win because we never say die, and fight, but I want to bring the attack to play very well together and be fearsome. In practice I need new drills to help them sync and have more chemistry. I usually do a DFs vs Attackers minigame or a 3 DFs vs 3 ATTs game, where all they still struggle to get round our DF. Do you know any drills that can help? Also, We also need to work on our off the ball game, tips?
What is the skill level of these players? Do you/they know the roles of 1st/2nd/3rd attackers play? Need more details before I can really start answering your questions.
Point 1. I am not sure of the cause of the problem without seeing the team play. The problem could be that, against very good teams, your system is too predictable in the attack. That is the disadvantage of using an AM/DM pair instead of 2 box-to-box CMs. Playing physical against the small striker and tightly marking the attacking midfielder to take those two players out of the game are going to be common defensive strategies. Point 2. If this happens, the AM can start playing wider to find more space outside. The striker can also look for more space by either playing withdrawn in the midfield or playing wide like a winger (or mixing both). This assumes that the striker is good on the ball and creative. (If the striker is a poacher inside the box, this won't work as well because it doesn't use his strengths) The idea is that by getting the ball farther from the goal he will have time/space to receive the ball, turn and be going towards the goal at speed by the time the defense is trying to close him down. The striker (or AM for that matter) should take on the defender. If the defender plays physical in this situation (moving at speed), he is much more likely to draw a whistle and eventually a yellow card. Once the yellow card is issued, then the defender will have to cut back the physical play on the striker. Then the striker can start playing higher like normal. This will also make your team more unpredictable. By moving to a different area space will open up for other team members to use. For instance, the AM moving wider, opens up space in the middle for the good striker to move into. The other midfielders' and forward's patterns will change as the space changes. Point 3. The 3v3 is nice. I suggest that you run it as a 3v3 game with small goals for each team (if the defenders have a chance to score against the attackers, the game is more fun). Point 4. a. To your 3v3 game I would add a nuetral player, who only attacks, but cannot score. A pass must first be made to the nuetral player, before a team can score a goal. b. For off the ball movement, I would play 3v3 with no goals. Score is kept by counting the number of completed passes. c. I would also use a finishing drill with large goals to practice moving and shooting in final third. It also introduces more crosses and longer passes than you see in a small sided 3v3 game. Form a field with two large goals, that essentially cuts out the space between the penalty areas. (The goal lines are about 40 yards apart.) Its 4v4 with keepers and full sized goals. On the outside are nuetral players who cannot enter the playing area but can move along the touch line to receive and make crosses and other passes.
1st attacker: player on the ball 2nd attacker: teammate closest to the ball, supports player with the ball and give him an option to pass to. 3rd attacker: a different teammate that is further away from the ball that can make a run to draw defenders or attention of defenders away from the 1st and 2nd attackers Basically each have a role to play in the attack and it's not just an individual trying to break down an organized defense.
You might might also want to look at the 4-3-3. The 4-2-3-1 is good for possessing and defending but in attacking you might want it to switch to the 4-3-3. Depending on the formation my team is playing against we will either switch to a 4-3-3 in attack or a 3-5-2. In the 4-2-3-1 do you play with two holding midfielders or do the 3 central midfielders rotate? x x x x X X x X x x Or do you have the AM and wingers rotate in a figure 8? x x x x x x X X X x These different movements can help your team with not always attacking the same way and can help your play makers not get stuck in the middle.
That's a pretty good description of the third attacker. I like that. It's not always that easy to describe the third attacker's role.