Recovering Midfielder

Background

One of my favourite ever players is Steven Gerrard. The completer midfielder. We all remember how he dragged his teams to win matches they seemed destined to lose. The long range shots, the charging runs forward. But what stood out for me when I first saw him was his ability and desire to chase back and break up an attack. Watch at the 15s how he is 15 yards away from the attacker and sprints back and wins the ball.

This is quite easy to encourage our kids to do when they are playing 5 aside. The smaller pitch blurs the lines between defence and attack zones. It is more difficult to create space and overloading opportunities. Just a bit of gentle exhortation is enough to see players rushing back to defend.

With the larger pitches that come into effect from u9s, it is common to see the kids become more static and remaining in their zones. A striker remains in the attacking third, midfielder in the middle third and defence in the defensive third (in fact this is, as expected, a little more fluid). How do we train our kids to recover and help break up an attack? Below is a drill we use. It can be adapted depending on the age of the kids, size of the group and overload opportunities. I like it because it ensures a short window of an overloaded attack (2v1), meaning the defender needs to delay long enough for the midfielder to get back. It is important to win the ball and start an attack, rather than simply clearing it. This can lead to an overload in the other direction in an actual game

NOTE: While Gerrard is awesome, the key lesson from that video is his desire to get back and win the ball. Gerrard loved a sliding tackle. I encourage my kids to stay on their feet and avoid the sliding tackle. Delay and positioning are more important.

3v2 Recovering Midfielder

Objective

Players will develop their understanding of:

• Delaying an attack

• Midfield recovering to support defence

• Use the body to win the ball and not the feet

• Work as a pair to close down the attack

• Transition from defence to attack

Setup

1. Use half a 7 aside pitch

2. 2 x sets of bibs

3. At least 6 balls (avoid downtime where kids are waiting for a ball)

4. 9 outfield players and one goalkeeper (goalkeeper optional if short on players)

5. Split the players into two teams - attack (blue) and defence (green)

6. Attack are split into three groups

7. Defence split into 2 groups

How to play

1. The attacker in Zone A starts with the ball

2. The first midfielder rushes to close them down

3. The attackers in Zone B prepare to receive the ball (movement and positioning)

4. The first defender positions themselves in a way to delay the attack

5. Once Zone A attacker passes the ball, the midfielder recovers to support the defender. Zone A attacker does not join the attack

6. Attackers try to score a goal ; Defending team try to play the ball into Zone A - controlled pass or dribble, not a clearance

7. Attackers rotate anti-clockwise

8. Midfielder and Defender swap and go to the back of the queue

9. After a few rounds, swap attacking and defending teams

Scoring

1. Attacking team score a point by scoring a goal

2. Defending team score a point by moving the ball from Zone B to Zone A in a controlled manner. Either a pass or dribble

Learning Opportunities

• Encourage the defenders to delay the attack long enough for their teammate to recover for support

• Encourage defenders to cut off passing opportunities for quick transition

• Encourage defenders to move the ball forward quickly once they win it back