Pressure, Cover, Balance!! Defending Exercises

foreign ERS welcome back to another modern soccer coach breakdown today we're going to take a look at Pressure cover balance some defensive principles some way you could introduce it particularly with the new season coming up maybe it's something you bring into preseason so we'll look at some exercises and then some definitions around that before we start if you enjoy it please give it a like and a subscribe and if you want more defensive exercises please head on over to modernsoccercodes.com shop on the link below high intensity press and exercises ebook get your copy below okay Pressure cover balance here we go my definition of Pressure cover balance would be probably best summed up with this image right here so three elements of the game the pressure part of it is the player that's applying immediate pressure to the ball that's quite simple the cover is that immediate surrounding area that second player so if the first player gets beat it's not a major problem you have that cover underneath and then the balance is that third aspect which is more of a team concept unit concept whatever it is that you've got that balance underneath the ball vertically and horizontally to make sure that the team is equipped to delay the player on the ball or even better win the ball and start a transition the other way how can you coach that let's look at three exercises that I would introduce if I was coaching this today okay the first one is a fairly basic exercise but it's quite specific in what we're looking for in terms of the details of Define and what we're looking for in that pressure and cover element maybe not balance but definitely pressure and cover so you've got two teams they're going to go 2v2 four goal game fairly simple setup but you've got a line straight down the middle of the pitch and that line is going to act as a reference point for the covering Defender so when the ball is played into the first player you want the closest Defender to apply pressure again to find what that pressure is and then you want that second player to get the distances and the angles rate of their cover the line in the middle allows them to have that reference point it's not part of any conditions of the game it's just a reference point but both players can use it so if the ball is passed the rules can then switch and then vice versa there's also a transitional element of the game so that if they do win the ball back you can then keep the game moving some pre-season sometimes those competitive exercises are quite important from a physical and from a competitive standpoint but this is a really good exercise to introduce the principles of that pressure element and to Define it and then also introduce the Angles and the distances of the covering Defender from a personal perspective sometimes those 2v2 games can become quite simple again if you're working with 12 13 14 and upwards they're going to master those distances and that idea pretty quickly in my opinion so how do you create a little bit more chaos so that there's more decisions and there's more Randomness in the game which means that players then have to react quicker and get more challenge in those distances in that cover and then and then introduce the balance as well this game here is eight goals nine players three teams of three one team defends all the time which is the blue team so yellow team are trying to score in the two bottom goals three V three again you get the pressure cover bounce concept the area of the grid allows them for a little bit more movement which means the principles can stay again you've got the transitional element as soon as the ball is scored the red team comes on going into another goal and then again The Blue Team have to work and switch again as the yellow team come the other way so they're always attacking another goal which means the defensive team has to switch Focus reorganize themselves and re-establish Pressure cover and balance to the ball as the game continues to go fatigue is going to set in because it's quite physically demanding and that will probably lead to more mistakes which can then allow you to then see how players can solve that in terms of their distances and in terms of their defensive setup and maybe then you step in and help with some more reference points then maybe it's showing them to one side and maybe help it reduce the physical load that can help them solve more problems love this game before we show the last game coaches I really really appreciate you taking the time to watch these YouTube videos we've grown the channel from 5 000 to over 22 000 in the space of a year and that's come from people like yourselves that are switching on and watching the work and supporting it our next goal is to put better quality content out more often and help help lift the standard of what we're putting out a modern soccer coach coaches can help us do that in a number of ways if you haven't subscribed to the Channel please take the time just right now it only takes two quick seconds just go down press subscribe help stray the numbers which helps grow the channel which is still a goal of what we're trying to do and then second of all if you're a regular subscriber and you watch all the videos please head on over to modernsoccercoach.com shop we've got a ton of information over there ebooks webinars if you want to support the work and again you want to help us lift the quality of the gas lift the quality of the content and help us post more frequently it takes a little bit of work your support really really helps thank you so much all right let's talk about the third exercise okay so the last game is an 8v8 game and you can see by the design of the pitch it's a lot wider than it is long so now you're going to divide it into four different areas of four different zones and then similar to the first exercise these will act as reference points but they also are in the conditions of the game so when the ball goes into a wide channel the defending team has five seconds to get every player across to to that side of the pitch once they're across that'll compress the area that'll allow you to put higher pressure on the ball with the lack of vertical space it'll probably challenge the team in possession and maybe force them backwards which will allow you to press goalkeepers press Center back what I also love about this game here is that if you do not pressure the ball the pitch is really wide it can become really really big and challenging to provide cover and balance if there isn't pressure on the ball so again going back to that pressure element always trying to create conditions that can help play players recognize the need for pressure on the ball and then getting that cover in that balance underneath so there you have it coaches just three ideas around session design like I said first of all I would Define it and not just a fine and what pressure cover balances but also getting specific of your system and the distances that you want maybe you're looking for those seven eleven the nine to be really really aggressive when they're applying pressure second of all then you can be more specific with the cover and the balance dependent on the system or play that you're going to play if you're playing with more forwards obviously you can press a little bit higher if you're playing win a four two three one you're a little bit of a mid block or a low block then yes cover and balance become a higher priority because of that system you might not be able to apply pressure on a back four as much as a four three three or three five two can so it all depends again similar I get a lot of questions of what's the size of the grids and and all that good stuff and I can never answer it because it all depends on what you're looking for as a coach and I think that's what we want to keep talking talking about a modern soccer coach we're not going to give you Dimensions because every coach is going to look at it in a different way similar to the way my definition of Pressure cover bounce might be different from another coaches but it's all good as long as it's consistent with how you're talking to your team and how you're designing your sessions on a daily basis we're here to provide ideas we're here to talk about some of these Concepts absolutely love doing it if you have any requests to talk about anything in the next couple of weeks put in the comments below and we'll take a look at it thank you so much I'll see you soon goodbye [Applause] foreign [Applause]

Channel: Modern Soccer Coach

Views: 54,459

Keywords:

Id: ghpE8ajLQMg

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 19 2023