Defending outnumbered drill to survive desperate situations

-September 16, 2020

Inexperienced defenders rush to the opposition to recover the ball, which is particularly dangerous during a counterattack. The drill in this post will help your team coordinate defensive efforts when defending outnumbered defenders.

Setup

This drill requires half of an actual football pitch, 2 small goals and 10 cones to mark the field and the central box, as shown in the picture below. You will need 6 attacking players and 3 defenders.

In the picture, red players are defending, and blue players are attacking. Red players can move everywhere on the field, while the blue team is distributed: 3 in their defensive zone, 1 in the central box, and 2 in their attacking half.

Two small goals are provided to create a more competitive situation and motivate the red team to move from defence into attack in an orderly fashion instead of simply kicking the ball out of danger. Furthermore, because the red team can also score, it forces the blue team to pressure the red players to recover the ball.

Instructions

In addition to the usual football rules, follow these basic instructions:

2 teams. 6 attacking players (blue team) and 3 defensive players (red team).
The blue team players can only move in their designated zones: 3 players in their defensive zone, 1 in the central box and 2 in the attacking area.
The red team players can move everywhere on the field, but only 1 player can defend in the central box at a time.
Both teams can score, but the blue team can only score if the player in the central box touches the ball.
Only the two blue players in the attacking zone can shoot at goal.
Any red player can shoot at goal.
The blue team is only allowed 2 touches.
The read team is allowed unlimited touches.

This drill is very demanding on the defending players. Therefore, play this game for 15 minutes and rotate the defenders every 5 minutes.

Takeaways

This exercise focuses on coordinating efforts when outnumbered. However, this game also covers other aspects:

Passing. Blue players are forced to improve their passing technique because of the limitations imposed by the zones and the number of touches.
Teamwork. The red team must coordinate their movements to recover the ball.
Transitioning from defence into attack. Constantly hoofing the ball away to defend will make scoring harder for the defending team. Therefore, the team must move from defence to attack in an orderly manner.
Players positioning. To keep possession of the ball, players must move in a block and stay close to each other. The zones also ensure that players move in a restricted area instead of all over the field without any organisation.
Field awareness. Red players must take care of the central area while they press for the ball. Because they are outnumbered, red players must always be aware of the position of any free blue player to block passing opportunities.
Speed and reaction. Once the ball reaches the blue player in the central box, red players must sprint to stop the attacking blue players from scoring. This requires quick reaction and speed.
Fitness. Red players are constantly on their toes: covering spaces, moving in and out of the central box, running back to their goal, etc. This game is physically demanding for the outnumbered team.

I hope you find this drill useful. If you like this post, please share it with your friends.

Pablo Matamoros

I am a software engineer with 25+ years of experience across diverse industries. I've climbed the corporate leader over the years, which has some benefits but means I moved away from my love for tinkering with technology. So, I build the odd website or application to keep learning and stay in touch with technology. FootballTechniques allows me to combine my programming knowledge with my passion for football.

To find out more about my professional experience, visit PabloMatamoros.com