How to Pull Defences Apart

There have been countless examples in the closing stages of the European Champions League and already in Euro 2008 of an attacking team crossing the ball to the back post for a player to lay it back into the penalty area to create goal scoring chances, says David Clarke.

Teams must make chances to score goals

Your team is never going to win any games if they don’t score goals. It is one of the main aims of the game of football. And the more chances you make in a match the more goals you are going to score.

From the training ground to the pitch

I was working on this drill in training during the last week and saw the success of it in the match we played on Saturday. My players were knocking the ball across the goal and the player coming in was taking away defenders from the middle of the penalty area so when the ball was knocked back our striker had a great chance to score goals. He scored three.

IF YOU PRACTICE IT YOU WILL SEE THE BENEFIT ON MATCH DAYS.

How to do it

Use three players and a goalkeeper.

1. The right winger crosses to the back post.

2. The player on the back post meets the cross and lays it back into the centre.

3. The attacker has moved into the area and shoots at goal.

Give them some options

1. Tell your players to change it by playing crosses to the near post where the ball can be laid back or flicked on.

2. Get them to vary height and power of crosses depending on where the supporting players are.

3. You can also add defenders to challenge attackers.

Key coaching tips

Work on the timing of runs and the quality of passes.