Don’t dither

by Tony Carr in Attacking, Practice plans

 PRINT
 Save to My Activities
One significant way you can increase your team’s speed when in possession is to get your
players into the habit of deciding where to pass the ball to before they receive it.
What this session is about
1. Increasing the speed of play.
2. Improving vision.
What to think about
Players need to:
 Know where opponents and their team mates are.
 Make it easy for team mates to control passes.
 Demonstrate good passing and receiving technique – e.g. the non-kicking foot has to
be next to the ball, the passing foot at a right angle to the ball, follow through the ball’s
horizontal mid-line; cushion the ball out of the feet, make an angle for a pass, etc.
Set-up
Warm
Warm up Session Developments Game Situation
Down

10 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes 10

minutes
What you get your players to do
Mark out a circle 10 yards in diameter with your players spaced apart equally around the
edge.
One ball is in play while each player has a ball behind them.
Players take two touches and pass the ball across the circle to each other, but must call out the
name of the person they will pass to before receiving a pass, as shown in the top picture.
Players cannot pass back to the person they received the ball from.
If a player does not call out a name before he receives a pass, or his intended receiver cannot
control the pass easily, he has to leave the circle and perform a skill of his choice, e.g. a turn
with the ball behind him before rejoining the group.
The activity continues in his absence – this keeps other players fully focused.
Players stand around the edge of a circle and call out who they will pass to before receiving
the ball.

Development
Increase the size of the circle to 25 yards in diameter. Repeat the activity but this time players
keep moving within the playing area.
To progress, add a second ball to the playing area.
To progress further, one of the players becomes a passive defender, who presses the player in
possession but does not tackle him. Then add a second passive defender as another
progression if needed.
Now allow players to play one-touch if they want.
Players move around within the circle but still call the next receiver before they have the ball.
However, they face a passive defender.

Game situation
Return to the smaller circle (10-yard diameter) to play a small-sided game. Set up more areas
according to your squad size.
Begin with a 4v1, as shown in the bottom picture, but the defender is now active and tries to
win the ball and knock it out of the circle. An extra defender is added at 30-second intervals
until the teams are 4v4.
If the defenders succeed, the passing team is allowed an unchallenged pass-in to restart.
Play ends after three minutes and the teams switch roles, after a minute’s rest. The winning
team is the one that makes the highest number of successful passes during its two sessions as
the passing team.
Play a game between four passers and four defenders but each defender joins after 30 seconds
of play.

What to call out

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About Tony Carr

Tony Carr is one of the most influential figures in English football. The former West Ham
Academy director has brought through – from the youth team to the first team – players like
Glen Johnson, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and
Jermain Defoe.
View all posts by Tony Carr >
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