Football with Purpose: Training to Play, Not to Repeat
As we’ve discussed previously, in this section we’ll talk about football training exercises used with the teams I’ve coached, always providing context and reflecting on the reasoning and objectives behind them.
👉 If you want to understand how these drills were created and the ideas that led me to this way of working, click here.
Context
We’re in the 2023/2024 season at Black Leopards FC in South Africa, working with a group of young and talented players. 75% had no professional experience, and 50% were under 22 years old.
In this case, the most experienced players were in the defensive line and midfield. But—shouldn’t the most experienced players still train technical actions?
The objective of the exercise shown below is to improve clearances and ball blocking.
As we mentioned in the previous article, blocking for defenders is the equivalent of goals for strikers. The importance of this individual technical action is extremely high, and it must be trained.
In our case, we used it on the third day after the match, and it’s one of the drills we alternate between more group-oriented exercises. In the language of Tactical Periodization by Professor Vítor Frade, we could call this a porcas e parafusos . It was done with the defenders and central midfielders, while the rest of the players worked on different concepts.
Ball Blocking and Clearing
As shown in the diagram, players work inside the penalty area with the goal of blocking and clearing balls sent in by teammates waiting outside.
The task begins from right to left (or vice versa) and continues without interruption for four balls.
Player Distribution
6 players outside the penalty area:
- Players 1 and 6: With ball in hand
- Players 2 and 5: With ball at their feet
- Players 3 and 4: Without ball, waiting to receive a pass from players 2 and 5
Objectives of players with the ball:
Attempt to score in mini goals, either by hand (players 1 and 6) or by foot (players 3 and 4).
Task Sequence
- Player 1: Throws a bouncing ball toward the first mini goal
→ Active player must clear the ball, directing it toward the side of the field, as far as possible. - Player 2: Passes to player 3, who tries to score in the mini goal
→ Active player quickly moves to block the shot. - Player 5: Passes to player 4, who tries to score in the mini goal
→ Active player quickly moves to block the shot. - Player 6: Throws a bouncing ball toward the last mini goal
→ Active player quickly moves to clear the ball, directing it to the side, as far as possible.
Key Considerations
- The task must be done without pauses between the four balls, so distances should be adjusted based on player level.
- Both legs and both directions should be trained.
- Arm position when approaching the ball must be corrected.
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