Carve Your Way to Goal

Get your wingers to practice playing one-twos with their midfield team-mates so they can carve a way to goal and leave a few defenders behind on match days. Sometimes it’s better than dribbling, says David Clarke.

How to get around a solid defense

When your wingers are hitting a brick wall every time they try to dribble their way to goal, tell them to try playing quick one-twos to get around a solid defense. There is nothing more frustrating for your team if they are constantly losing the ball when your players are trying to dribble around defenders. This way they can beat them without losing the ball.

Use a zonal system

Mark your training pitch into three zones, and have two attackers/passers in the first zone, and put a defender in zone 2 and a defender in zone 3.

How to do it

* One of your attackers dribbles to the second zone where he must play a quick one-two with his supporting team-mate to beat the defender.
* The supporting player passes the ball back into his path.
* The first attacker then dribbles towards the next defender and repeats the same action.
* His team-mate successfully plays the ball back.

How to change the elements

* Tell your players to vary their approach angles and starting positions and you can vary the size of each zone.
* Put in a chasing player to pressure the dribbling player.
* Add another defender that puts pressure on the supporting player so he has to pass quicker.

What to watch out for

* Tell your dribbling player to wait for the defender to come to him.
* Tell him to keep the defender guessing by using faking movements such as step-overs and dropping his shoulder.
* Tell both the dribbler and the supporting player they must use explosive bursts of pace to get into the positions to play and receive the ball.

Key coaching tips

Accurate passing is crucial to beating players using this method; timing of passing is crucial; timing of run is crucial.