Crossing & Finishing (Bob Lilley)

Here's a staple crossing and finishing game that Bob runs often (with a bunch of different tweaks):

It's pretty simple, but it creates a lot of game realistic crossing and finishing situations. The GK plays the Target who lays the ball off to a teammate who plays it wide (this is all free). The Wing receives the ball and crosses it. Three players attack (the Target and two other players) and two players defend (play is now live). The Target always stays but never defends. The other two players attack, defend, then rotate out for two new players. The ball is live until it goes in the goal or out of bounds or the defensive team wins it and plays their Target to go the other way. 

Possession Game (Bob Lilley)

This is a really simple possession game we play often:

Today, we played it where the players on the outside come inside when they receive the ball. There's no scoring (we don't often have scoring in possession games), but the goal is to keep the ball. The big emphasis are passing and moving, creating angles and getting the ball out of areas. We play it two-touch. 

"Fun" Warmup Progression

Here's what Bob did for warmups today: 

In a 20 x 20 box, with half the group (9 players per group) working at a time (the other half was stretching on the outside) ...

1. Tag

2. Tag while dribbling the ball (one ball per player) 

3.  One touch passing with two balls; you can't play the same ball two times in a row (play one ball then go find the other one)

4. Two touch rondo with two balls (7 v 2) 

French National Team Warmup

Below is a warmup I saw the French National Team doing:

I've used it a few times with the pro team and I really like it. I've added some dynamic stretching and rondo's with guys in the same setup.

Here's the video: https://twitter.com/keepitonthedeck/status/959734820581593088?lang=en.

Four Box Passing

Below is an passing exercise I haven't done, but I want to play with a little:

2 v 0 Finishing

Below is a finishing exercise I did with the pro team this morning (Dave Brandt often did a version of this at Navy):

Two Box Passing

Below is a passing exercise I did with the pro team this morning:

Passing Square

Here is a passing warmup I did with the pro team a few days ago:

Navy Men's Soccer (Dave Brandt): Style of Play

Some clips illustrating Navy men's soccer's style of play under Dave Brandt:

Joleon Lescott’s Defensive Masterclass

Below is a good video of Joleon Lescott demonstrating how to step / drop the back line (0:50 - 1:12):

Old Practice Plans

Below are sample practice plans I created for a coaching seminar in 2013:

Attacking Moves 1

Attacking Moves 2

Cutting

Passing & Receiving

Ball Striking

Curriculum: Future Stars Development League

Below is the curriculum I created in 2013 for a youth development league:

And here is a video demonstrating the eight skills featured in the curriculum:

US3 Homework: Ball Striking & Finishing

Below are videos I created in 2012 to help players improve their ball striking and finishing:

Ball Striking

Inside of the Foot Finishing

Shooting on the Dribble

Crossing & Finishing

US3 Homework: Passing

Below are videos I created in 2012 to help players improve their passing:

1 & 2 Touch Passing

Receiving Across Your Body

Turning

Driven Balls

US3 Homework: Dribbling

Below are videos I created in 2012 to help players improve their dribbling:

Cuts 

Attacking Moves

Vs

Shake & Bake

Training Load

Below is a chart our staff came up with to talk about training load in practice and formulate a plan for the weeks ahead:

*RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion; it describes the physical intensity of a practice session.