Drills for holding up a ball to allow attacking phase to progress

Drills for holding up a ball to allow attacking phase to progress

does anyone have any drills for players holding up possession to either bring other players into the game or run the clock down?

Cooper CooperCoach, England
ANSWERS
Tom BeanCoach, England

Hi Neal,

This drill is perfect to encourage players to hold up the ball and maintain possession. Get your players into the mentality of winning the ball and looking to offload the ball to runners rather than instantly thinking about beating a man.

This drill will force players to look to be the link rather than to beat a player. Give it a try and focus on the mentality of players to get into the habit of maintaining possession.

I hope this helps!

Keeping Possession

DESCRIPTION
3 teams of 6: red blue and yellow. Set up an area starting at the edge of the penalty box, 44 yards wide and about 20 yards long. 2 teams start in the area with the other team spaced evenly around the edge. Games of 6 vs 6 using the outside players as extras for whichever team has the ball: 3 minute rotation (including the players on the outside) The aim of this is for teams to keep possession of the ball for as long as possible. The players on the outside are 2 touch only. 6 games, so each team plays the others twice.

Keeping Possession

DESCRIPTION
3 teams of 6: red blue and yellow. Set up an area starting at the edge of the penalty box, 44 yards wide and about 20 yards long. 2 teams start in the area with the other team spaced evenly around the edge. Games of 6 vs 6 using the outside players as extras for whichever team has the ball: 3 minute rotation (including the players on the outside) The aim of this is for teams to keep possession of the ball for as long as possible. The players on the outside are 2 touch only. 6 games, so each team plays the others twice.
Alex TurockCoach, United States of America

Rugby Rules

Similar to the answer above, a good way to do this is to set up a small sided possession game (3 v 1 or 3 v 2) in a box just outside the penalty area. Add the rest of each team enough to make 6 v 6, 10 yards behind that box towards midfield. Once the possession game has completed 3 consecutive passes they can try to move the ball to teammates outside their box and go for goal.

The trick is once the ball goes out of the possession box and the attack starts to build, rugby rules go into effect. This means that passes must be made laterally or backwards and players must work to create space to dribble through. It also encourages players to get to the end line no matter where on the end line they can get to because then all passes would be legal.

Login or Join Now for FREE to post your answer

JOIN SPORTPLAN FOR FREE

  • search our library of 500+ football drills
  • create your own professional coaching plans
  • or access our tried and tested plans

TRANSFORM YOUR TEAM'S SEASON WITH PROFESSIONALLY PLANNED SESSIONS

Use our expert plans or build your own using our library of over 700+ drills, and easy-to-use tools.

JOIN NOW

VIEW MORE QUESTIONS

See the whole archive of questions.

QUESTIONS ARCHIVE

SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE

  • search our library of 500+ football drills
  • create professional football coaching plans
  • or access our tried and tested football plans

Sportplan App

Give it a try - it's better in the app

YOUR SESSION IS STARTING SOON... Join the growing community of football coaches plus 500+ drills and pro tools to make coaching easy.
LET'S DO IT