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by Gary Rue
garyrue@bellsouth.net
 

NOTE:  Gary did not write these exercises and tips with the idea that someone would publish them.  I subscribe to the Soccer-Coach-L e-mail list and Gary is one of the coaches that posts extremely well thought out replies.  These are some of Gary's posts that I collected for use in coaching my own teams.   I approached Gary and he was gracious enough to allow me to publish them here.  If you like what you see or have a question about one of the exercises you can reach Gary at garyrue@bellsouth.net There are 50+ more pages of Gary's posts categorized at the Home Page of Exercises of the Day by Gary Rue. Click here and enjoy.

Flat Back Four Defense - Communication

       Once the players have some idea of their shift, close down and recover responsibilities, it is time to add communication. Players first need to know who is going to pressure the ball. The entire zone structure is based upon who is on ball. If two players go to ball, dangerous space may be left undefended and other supporting defenders will not know which areas they need to defend.

       The defender (AKA D1) that closes down the ball announce his intentions by saying "D1's ball!" Support defender D2 could also instruct D1 to pressure ball by saying, "D1's ball!" The player's name is added to establish habit. "My ball" or "your ball" can be too ambiguous at times, though it is better than nothing at all. When the ball is moving quickly between players in a fast moving exercise, the players may even drop the name and announce themselves as the man on ball by just saying, "Ball!"

        Note that the words used are not as important as their meaning. If a grunt is understandable in a crisis situation, then it is effective communication. On the other hand, to make words understandable, they must be used over and over in practice and in games.

        Other communication is by the support player to assist the on ball defender in how much pressure to apply, what direction to force the attacker or even some good advice, such as "quick feet" or "no stab."

       "Pressure!" is a term that could tell the on ball defender to apply heavy pressure and stop the dribbler from doing anything positive with the ball. This indicates that support is sufficient to allow the first defender to overcommit a little.

        Other information may be to "close touch," which means take away the touchline dribble or pass. For example, a forward attacker has made a run to the touch and could cause problems if the ball is passed there. "Force wide," "force middle" or even "force to me" can be useful shepherding terms.

       "Keep square" is used to allow the attacker to go left or right, but not allow anything behind the defender. This is most often used when the attacker is in a central zone and within shooting distance. The defense may have flatten out and the only support is the GK.

       Amongst the support defenders, picking up and passing on marks may be the second most important communication behind. Defenders, be it backs or midfielder's should constantly be looking for marks in their "zone." When an attacker is moving into another defender's zone, the information needs to be passed on; e.g., D3 may say "D2, lock on 15" when #15 is making a run into D2's zone, or D3 may say, "D3 has 15" to announce his marking responsibility. Players trained in communication that don't announce their marks are probably not thinking about marking.

       Of course, there is the defense compression talk of "Step!" or "Pull!" Teams don't have to be playing an offside trap to compress, but in the case of a flat back, the flat defenders better work as a unit and not individuals. It does no good for 2 or 3 to step up and one or more to stay behind.

       If the team is running a trap, it is best if one player (center back) be designated to command the unit. A trap is normally run just before a pass forward.

        On the converse compressing the attack is generally when the ball is not able to be passed forward. In this case, several players, preferably the off ball defender (or even GK) can give the order.

       Other communication could be adjusting depth or width of the support defender by the off-ball defender(s). The support defenders could/should tell the on ball defender which direction to take the attacker.

        All of this can be mandated in practice. Coaches generally have a tough time getting the players to talk. The biggest problem, though, may be the players that don't listen.

       Players don't talk for several reasons. One is lack of confidence and understanding. If they don't know what is going on, then what are they going to talk about.

       Players won't talk if they feel as if their communication is not being heard and acted upon. This is especially true between older and younger players. Too many times, players will say, "Why talk, he never listens." Communication is a two way street and the coach needs to be the traffic cop.

Flat Back Four Defense - Implementing

 Now we have reached the point where we start to show how to implement a flat back zone system. The following walk throughs can done before warm-ups or after a heavy conditioning session. These are the first exercises a coach should do when explaining how a zone works.

    


 Four "attackers," each with a ball, are spread out evenly across a field. Four "defenders are 10 yards away and matched up directly across from an attacker (figure 0).

 

      In the first example have one of the wing attackers (A1 in figure 1) dribble forward a couple of yards. The defender across from him (D1) immediately closes down forcing the attacker towards the touchline. The second defender (D2) moves over and up into support position. D3 and D4 slide over.

 

 

 

       Now have A1 move back and A2 move forward. D2 immediately closes down as D1 drops back into support. D3 moves up to support D2 and D4 lines up with D1 and D3. (Figure 2)

 

     The coach keeps switching the "active" attacker. Take it slow and tell the current attacker to move back and instruct the next one to move forward; the defense should adjust quickly. Initially the defenders must understand the "first" position. Adjusting to the movement of the ball will come later. Freeze the players and point out positioning problems.

     After the defenders seem to have a grasp of the proper positioning, remove all balls but one and have the attackers move the ball between themselves, pausing the ball at least 5 seconds so the defenders and coach can assess their positions.

     The coach should now explain how the defensive support roles are not only for the on ball defender, but to be able to "mark" and close down the second attacker. Start keying support positions based on the location of the stationary second attackers.

      Variations of this setup could be to only have three attackers that are spread out and change their lateral positions a little. The defenders would have to decide (and communicate) which one closes down.

      Also, 3 defenders versus 4 attackers can be used as well. Even with three defenders, it is important for the defenders to shift to the ball side. For instance, if the ball is wide, the defender furthest away from the ball may be positioned on the field's vertical center line.

     In a future session add the defensive halfbacks between the stationary attackers and the defenders. The coach at this time may want to implement his base system. For instance, a 3-5-2 system could be set up to assume the shape of a 4-4-2 (and mirror the examples in prior posts) by dropping the off-ball wing half back as a fourth defender.

      Later sessions could use this same setup to outline specific situations that have or may come up in a game. By "walking" the players through these setups, they should have some sense of how to respond on the field.