Introducing 1-2-3 Defending

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Introducing 1-2-3 defending


With young players, the hardest, and in my opinion, the most important single aspect to get across is that the closest person to the opponent with the football DOES NOT have the responsibility to win the ball! Once defenders understand this, about 90% of diving in is eliminated and the attackers job becomes much harder.

It also reinforces the next most important concept: that somebody had BETTER be moving to cover the space behind the closest defender! That is the player who will, most often, wind up winning the ball.

You can demonstrate this quite easily by selecting the best defensive soccer player on the team, placing that player isolated out on the pitch, point to a goal for him or her to defend, and then tell them to "get the ball" from you. Then, simply dribble up to the player, push the ball past, into space, and run onto it. If you can get the defender to step towards you, you can do this quite easily. Ask the team why this was so easy. Now ask how you can prevent it from happening.

Somebody should come up with having a teammate behind the pressuring defender.

Now repeat the demonstration with another opponent who has been instructed to cover the space. Also ask the closest (pressuring) defender to not win the ball unless a mistake is made by the attacker. Run it again and you should see a huge improvement.

Closest person to the opponent with the ball (the first defender) applies the PRESSURE

•YOUR JOB IS TO SLOW THE ATTACK, NOT WIN THE BALL
•Slow the attacker down
• Apply just enough pressure to get the attackers head down
•Make the attack predictable and push the attack to the least dangerous part of the field
•Only attempt to win the ball if the attacker makes a mistake and you are sure to win it. BE PATIENT!

Tips for the first defender

How To Defend - The Next Simple Step

Again, once you have the individual (1v1) movement sorted out, move to a slightly more dynamic situation - the first and second defender routine. The kids get it quick. It makes sense to them and they'll bring it to the game.

I watched a junior coach the other week bring a small laptop to training and show the kids what was wanted for a single activity. Not overdone. Clever coach. A quick couple of minutes to display the skill and on to the pitch. Back off to let the kids look at the skill again, comment on what they got right and wrong and back on to the pitch. Worked a treat.The kids are good visual learners and its a medium they are all very familiar with. Not necessary, but very helpful.

How To Defend - Lesson For Junior Players

This is a must do at training. Good basic defencive technicque seems the last to be tought and sadly, not at all in training. This video gives you all you need to know to get the kids started - then have them bring itinto their game.