Football: Passing through area

Get your team thinking on the pitch, rather than playing as individuals. Give them the opportunity to develop their basic principles with small sided games in this skill session.

Split your players into three equal sized teams, with two teams starting inside the area and the third spread around the outside of the grid.

The team on the outside of the grid are neutral players. When they receive the ball they must pass back to a player on the same team that originally passed to them.

The two teams inside the area play a possession game. The challenge for each team is to score 10 (or more) consecutive passes to score a goal.

Set out a triangle with 3 cones all 1 meter apart.

Player 1 passes the ball to player 2 through the area of the triangle.

Player 2 has to control the ball and touch it to the side before playing a return pass.

Players must make sure that when they make a return pass that it is never played through the same side of the triangle that they have just received the ball through.

Four players are placed in a grid next to another four players.

As soon as the ball is given to one group of four a player from the opposite four must enter the grid too win the ball back.

Once the ball is won the defender plays the ball back into their own grid and the roles are reversed.

Four players are placed in a grid with two defender. The four attacking players aim is to keep possesion as long as possible.

The player who makes the mistake must swap over and become the defender.