Attacking Patterns

Our focus this week is on attacking patterns. This falls under the spacing category for the club.

There are two main aspects we will identify with attacking patterns. The first is finding where the space is.

In games past, we’ve tried to force the ball down a sideline because we’re either under pressure or afraid to pass backwards. There’s been growth this season already in the boys ability to pass the ball back to the keeper to lure the other team in or to use the keeper as an extra field player (the way the soccer gods intended the keeper to be!).

Instead of forcing a ball down the line into a clump of players, the boys are learning to pick their heads up and identify that as a high risk situation, one that negates our whole philosophy of keeping possession.

Switching the play allows us to find the space we’re looking for and create numerical superiority. 2v1’s, 3v1’s, 4v3’s, all of these help us to pass the opposing lines of defense and create goal scoring opportunities.

Triggers are the second aspect of identification. Here’s an example of a trigger: when our right center back receives the ball on a switch from the left side of the field, our right winger (who is wide in order to stretch the field) begins his sprint forward.

As the ball is passed from the right center back to the right fullback, the right winger has finished the process of “losing his man", checking (sprinting) back towards the right fullback to receive the ball.

This is one example of a trigger, the right wing understanding where the ball will be in the next five seconds (at his feet) and chooses to make a run to lose his man to get open and alleviate some pressure for himself.

Even then, sometimes the winger isn’t open. Sometimes the pivota isn’t either, and the only options the right fullback has are back to the keeper or the right center back. And thus the process of identifying space and performing triggers to create space for a player or his teammates continues.

Rondos, positional play games, attacking patterns (with lots of shooting), and small sided games are all parts of this week’s session.

See you tonight.