Goal Kick - Over the Attacking Line with Control
We have a few focuses for the week. Our main team focus is building out from the back, especially in regards to goal kicks.
This area may be the most stressful. I promise in the end we will be better for going short and not just kicking long. For those of you with kids on the 09 boys team, you can see how we’ve developed through making them play out of the back and how far ahead we are of the teams who do not.
We are going to try something a bit different, which may cause even more stress in the beginning but will continue to raise their soccer IQ and skills to the next level.
You’ll notice we bring one of our center midfielders (8) into the box making it 5 players in our box and the other center midfielder (10) to play a second striker. This will confuse the other team and they probably won’t change their shape at first. So, the field will look like this:
The opponent central midfielders (8 and 10) will do one of two things: One, they’ll start inching up towards the ball as they will see an overload in our box. Naturally, they’ll want to win the ball back as they will see us in danger:
Two, they will cover our wingers as there is a large space open created from us pushing up four players to the midline.
The center backs will only be able to move to the wings if they bring an extra midfielder to the back line (three of them versus four of us). This will be confusing for them.
Now, notice the large gap in the middle of the field:
I know part of the issue can be kicking it over the heads of the front line into the gap. And what about our opponent's back line anticipating what we’re doing?
The keeper will scan the field to see what the opponent midfielders are doing. Each scenario will be different. When the 8 and 10 on the other team are wide like this, the keeper will pass it to our 6 or 8, who will pass it back to one of our center backs, who will lob it over the front line. A ball rolling backwards gives our defenders momentum to have a harder (and higher) kick if necessary:
The next part is the rotation of the two center forwards. This creates another level of confusion and should leave our 9 open with time:
The 6 and 8 will push up to receive the ball for our third man run and we’re numbers up against our opponent’s back line:
And if we’ve burned the other team a few times with it they may drop off or move into a diamond shape in the back. Either way, this gives us time to play the ball short and find gaps like we’ve practiced throughout the year.
There are many variations to this and will take a bit to practice. All the same, nobody will expect it and there are too many options to defend based on the formation our opponents use.
See you tonight!
Michael Dardanes
Fortress Football Club