Block The Special One With Clever Tactics

Sometimes your team will play opponents who have one player that is much more talented than the rest. This could be a striker that they rely on to score all their goals, or the player who starts all their moves. So how can you change your tactics to deal with this problem?

Before you play teams that rely on one player you need to work on how to defend against that style of play. Your players have two choices:

1. Be "in the face" of that player anytime he/she receives the ball. That doesn’t always work since the target player often possesses better ball skills and “escapability”.

2. Stop the player before he/she gets started by denying the player the ball.
By using this game - called “Defending the Target man” - your players can practice denying the “special one” the ball. Designate one player as the TARGET PLAYER. This could be one of your players with good fitness and ball skills but a better choice might be an older player. For example, if your team is an U11 team it might be an older sibling of one of your players who could play center midfield.

Put the target player in a different color training bib. Divide into two teams and play keep ball. Assign the target man to one team and one (or two if necessary) defenders on the other team to mark him. It’s important to use the same defenders you would have marking the target man in a game. Their job is to deny the target player the ball and to immediately collapse on the target player if he is able to get the ball. Tell the marking defender(s) that he/she must always be ballside of the target player AND at the same time be able to put his/her hand on the target player (i.e. be within arm’s reach).

Use it in practice games

Give a point to the attacking team every time that they can get the ball to the attacking player. Play for two or three minutes and the goal is for the target man’s team to accumulate a certain number of points in that time period.

After you run the drill once or twice stop and explain to the defending team that they have two ways of winning the game. They can deny the ball to the target player OR they can keep the ball away from the target player’s team.