Hi everyone any advise is greatly appreciated. I coach a U12 girls team, that has very good skills and knows the game well. We do very well in our games mainly because we are very fast and we tend to play the long ball more than I would care to see except my front line beats most opponents to the ball and scores. This past weekend we played a team that was what I call shear beauty. These girls talked well, passed extremely well and created more oppertunities vs taking advantage of some. which was a joy to watch. Even if I was the opposing team. With all that said, my question is my girls practise allot of 4 vs 4 and pass well,they talk but I can't seem to slow there pace down enough and what ends up happening is just all out run and kick situations. (very sloppy play). I know they are capable of this because they did it in the first 5 minutes of our last match, then it was like watching a pinball machine out there. I talked to them and they new what I meant but it still happens. I believe they have gotten into a bad habbit. Is there any way to break this. I would rather loose every match, yet play good fundemental soccer and see the girls enjoy what good things can happen when they settle down and play smart instead of so sloppy. Also I play a 3 - 4 - 3 - goalie line up. Is there a better way or different config. that I could try. Sorry its so long and winded. Any advice???? Love the forum, Coach Rich
a modest proposal Coach, I may suggest continuing with the 4 v 4, but with an emphasis on possession rather than scoring. The players may then have to slow down and focus on eachother more than pushing up to the goal. As for systems, it sounds like they'rve got the running ability to play 4-4-2 with lots of overlapping. I could see you transitioning from chasing down long balls to running just as hard on overlaps, playing to space in teh corner and serving to slashing runs to the posts. I bet the players would like it too. Good luck and have fun.
Coach R, You'd probably have gotten a lot more responses to this in the coaches forum, but... Well, I've got a team that is U-13 and has been with me for 3 seasons now and I can assure you that if you're consistent the ideas of passing, ball control and possession will sink in. I can also assure you it will take a long time. Finally started to see it really work in my team this fall after over a year of concentrating on it. As for what you can do...always concentrate on passing. We play a lot of keep-away with no goals where 2 sides (usually 4 on 4 or 5 on 5) will play with 10 passes without a change of possession equals a goal. You can play games where a team is not allowed to shoot on goal until all players have had at least one toach on goal...or no goal counts unless the offensive team has made a combination play (give and go, wall pass, dummy) in the build up to the goal. One other aspect you'll want to concentrate on is that to play a possession style, the players need to feel confident when they have the ball. A lot of the time a long ball is played because they feel the need to get rid of the ball. So have the players do a lot of ball work to feel comfortable dribbling and to be comfortable taking a player on 1 v 1 with the ball - allowing a player the time to make a smart play with the ball.
Possession Style Coach Rich - The prescription is a ton of keepway in a smallish space. Get them used to making plays under pressure, with the priority being to complete as many consecutive passes as possible. Don't let 'em panic ... better to hold onto the ball too long than to get rid of the ball without a plan. Our U11s (the most attractive team around, if I say so myself) spend 30 to 45 minutes of each 2 hour practice on keepaway.