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0:01 well welcome back coaches uh welcome back to part two of defensive roles and responsibilities in part one which you need to go watch I'm sure is we talked
0:11 about the keeper center backs and the wide seven and 11 today we're going to talk about the nine which has defensive responsibilities and the eight perhaps the most complicated position on the
0:21 field so we're going to get into that but before we do I'm going to ask once again if you could share this with your fellow coaches hit the like button and
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0:45 info we're just trying to make sure that our kids get the best soccer education we can and you can help with that thanks so let's now get into the eight and the
0:54 nine and learn something about that since this is part two we've looked at this before but Bears repeating as we look at the last two positions the nine
1:03 and the eight um again in the most balanced of games you only have the ball half the time what you do without the ball is just as important as what you do
1:11 with it because again if you've got an even match that's 50% of the game you don't have the ball the game cycle attack transition to defense defend
1:19 transition to the attack is never ending and those transition phases are always the most dangerous we're looking at that transition to defense and defend we're looking at the transition phase is here
1:30 transition to defense and defending in these videos but what we talk about here can reply to all these things and again teaching your players what their role is
1:41 in defending when they're in these positions is super important for their development and for your team so let's look at the striker now many people incorrectly think the striker has very
1:52 little to do on the defensive side of the ball and that's not really true in the modern game the striker has a lot to do it's just a little bit more subtle
2:02 and becomes more and more important higher up and bigger and bigger Fields when you go to 9v9 and 11 v11 so their primary job is to screen and PR pressure
2:11 those opposition center backs we want to try and take the easy pass backwards away so that if we do have a team in the corner in our Zone and we've got a good
2:20 defensive structure they can't just turn around and play an easy ball backwards and play around to the other side of the field through their center backs and now
2:28 try to attack us on the other side it's mentally demanding because they have to maintain awareness and movement without the ball for sometimes long periods and still be ready to receive
2:38 that ball to Counterattack they if you're up against a really good team and your team doesn't have the ball 50% of the time maybe we only have it 30% of
2:47 the time and we're defending in our Zone it could be very easy to kind of switch off and stop doing the right things movement without the ball so it's really
2:55 important mentally that they're strong that they keep working even if they don't have the ball in defense they're preventing that opposition Center back for provide that outlet when the play is down low and
3:07 they can't go any further from turning around and playing backwards and again they also must be ready to receive a ball that was won by teammates to
3:14 transition to the attack and escape the center backs they've been screaming so they need to be close to them but be ready to try and burst past them if they
3:21 get the ball they're also the trigger for the rest of the team to counter press if we're now counter pressing the opposition's half but they have to again
3:30 be aware of their teammates positions and Readiness to support their press otherwise it's a wasted effort one player chasing the ball is not a press it's just a player wasting their energy
3:40 and again if you go back and look at the pressing video we talk about pressing triggers and how the nine a lot of the times is the key player to start the
3:50 Press they work mostly solo but they do have some relationships with other positions on the field that we'll take a look at so here's our number nine here
3:58 at the top of the field so you can see when the ball is in our half the nine has slid over to the side where the ball
4:05 is and they're basically providing pressure in screening that four to make it uncomfortable for that wide Winger to take this ball and turn around and pass it backwards because they're lurking
4:15 here the other advantage of this player maintaining their positioning on the side of the field with the ball is that if the seven wins it they just need to
4:23 be able to look up to see if they can get this player to spin in behind or throw that ball up there relieving the pressure and allowing your team to now
4:32 do that transition to attack as the ball has split over to this side now your nine has to do this hard running without the ball from one side of the field to
4:42 the other again to now do the same job screen this opposite Center back and be an outlet in case your team wins the ball on this side of the field even when
4:52 the ball is deep in your half the nine has to remain high up the field they cannot get pulled down into this part of the field cuz if you win the ball all
5:03 your players are now marked or covered by opposition players and it's going to be very difficult for you to break this pressure and get up the field so Staying
5:11 High it's difficult for young players staying up the field they want to go where the ball is so early on if you have to with third graders especially
5:20 you can tell them you can't leave the circle it's not ideal but at least it's a starting point to get them to understand if the ball's in my half I
5:29 need to stay up near the halfway line now in the opposition half they're the primary pressure if the ball is lost or if we're restarting a play from a dead
5:39 ball as we looked at at the pressing video they're the ones whether it's a goal kick they are the ones that are going after the ball or if the ball is
5:47 lost in a space they're the ones trying to put pressure on the ball as you can see here we have used this clever we talked about curving their run
5:55 especially from goal kicks to cut the field in half so that that this player can't simply turn and play to this player they're being invited to push the
6:05 play out this way and the nine does a lot of these curved runs at Players to try and force the play to One Direction or the other the nine while they're
6:14 isolated up here they definitely have a relationship with the eight especially in the opposition half again when we talked about the advanced pressing they could switch with the eight um go back
6:24 and watch that video and they do have relationships especially with the seven and 11s if they're winning the ball out wide and that nine is shuttling side to
6:32 side to be that outlet they're helping protect the seven because or the 11 because the opposition can't just easily make a pass backwards and maybe pass through over them and also again if we
6:43 win the ball we want this play to be ready to receive so now let's get to the eight it's the most complicated and difficult position on the field because
6:52 there's so many roles and responsibilities especially as they get older and on the bigger field so again it's super important to start this training in third and fourth grade
7:02 because it just as Progressive every year they're going to learn a little bit more and a little bit more to make them successful as they go forward it's
7:09 mentally and physically demanding because they have to maintain awareness of multiple players around them and they have to be ready to assume a different position to cover for a teammate they're
7:18 next to or adjacent to every other position on the field except goalkeeper in the defense they're screening the area and directly in front of the center backs controlling the center of the
7:27 field so they act as kind of a first gate keeper to keep play from coming right down the center to push that play out to one side to the other where one
7:35 of your center backs will be waiting you'll see the triangle that they make and that's one of the strongest pieces that that eight can do as we talked
7:43 about often they can assume almost any other position to provide cover or assistance if a player gets pulled out of positions we talked about the relationships and again in 7v7 that cent
7:53 of Midfield could be asked to play as a six a defensive mid an eight a box-to-box midfielder or a 10 an attacking mid depending on the phase of
8:01 the situation but all the concepts we're going to look at are going to be the same it's just maybe their starting position is going to vary depending on
8:09 how high or low up the field they're positioned when the transition happens so here's on number eight right in the middle of the field obviously they act
8:18 as a screen for this four and the five so they dictate the play as it comes down the center trying to keep opposition players from coming right
8:26 through they can even drop in to make a back three when needed but really their job is to engage to make sure that this is not an area that gets exploited right
8:35 down the middle as you can see here the eight has come out they've engaged this player and now they're forcing play this way so now they're forcing play into the
8:45 11 compressing this space making it easy to then gang up on this grouping of players where it's 2v2 or maybe 3v2 on ourside as the five slides over then
8:56 maintaining this triangle and then maintaining this positioning to maintain this strong position guarding this area as the ball's wide they may have to drop in as they say to make a line of three
9:09 but their idea here is this wide player doesn't have a clear path into these players and if they play this ball backwards the eight is available to make
9:17 quick pressure so it's this relationship and triangle that's super strong and important if the five overcommits it has to step out maybe the 11 has been beat
9:28 the eight is in a great position just to step into this void while the five goes out wide sometimes the eight can go out wide but again it's there to be aware of
9:38 what's happening around them because again they have empathy for their teammates because they've played all the positions and this is where the eight can come into play using their
9:49 intelligence they could even be the player who provides that wide pressure because perhaps the 11 got beat up the field and they're not back in position and they don't have their full
10:01 complement in Attack the eight can be that player that goes out wide if the 11 isn't anywhere to be found it does make it a little bit more risky here and you
10:10 hope that your 11 is coming in to fill in behind but it's better than leaving this player threee or this five stepping out and leaving a big gap in the
10:19 opposition half while they're in support of the attack they're also the seal they're almost like the safety in a football system where they're look looking for if something goes wrong
10:31 they're near enough to cover and also block these passing Lanes so a lot of times the eight is covering space when we're in this Spa in the attacking half
10:41 not necessarily a person so they're in a great position to support the ball with us but they're also in a great position to slow down a Counterattack if we lose
10:49 the ball one of the key things that is hard for an eight at the 7v7 game grade three and four is they tend to want to just push up until the next two are in
11:00 line with the nine so one of the key phrases that really has become important for teams that I've coached and work very well is to tell this player they
11:09 need to remain behind the ball if you can get them to remain behind the ball and if they're behind the ball they're not going to get themselves in the
11:17 position like this they're always going to then be able to keep that ball in front of them and that will more than likely keep them in the spacing and the
11:26 spot that you want them to be when we have Central play and maybe the ball's turned over they really need to have excellent spatial awareness learning how
11:34 to scan to see what's going on because again they're defending the space not necessarily a player but here knowing what the situation is the more dangerous pass is this player here so being able
11:46 to slide into this space to cut off this pass to force the play into the center where then they have time and space to now come over is really an important
11:55 skill being able to have that situational and spatial awareness is a skill that will take time and not all your players will be good at but it's
12:04 something to work with them to keep their head on a swivel and keep looking around obviously as we talked about they have a key relationship with basically
12:14 every player on the field even the keeper because they have a direct line to them many times they're there to keep a player from walking down the middle
12:21 but being able to assume and connect to all these things can be a challenging job for any young player you'll probably find on your team that you have two or
12:32 three players that just have that natural gift of being able to be aware and command that space and connect the game together and these can be some of
12:41 your most valuable and skilled players going forward so the eight is really a vital position in defense but it's also a very difficult one for learning novice
12:51 players in grade three and four we talked about this before but each position has a role to play in that General defensive scheme go look at part
12:59 one again that we talk about the first three positions the goalkeeper the center backs and the wide players the sevens and 11s um these basically concepts are easily scaled up all the
13:10 way to 11 v11 that's why I really love the 1 12 31 you're covering all the basics right away in grades three and four you have to work to develop the
13:21 understanding of each role with your players through whiteboard sessions small-sided games controlled scrimmages we talk about some of those games where we lock players into zones and that
13:30 really can reinforce that 1 V1 defending on the wide the central defending in the middle those all ways to train these skills in small-sided games and again
13:42 all the roles combined to make that goal of making the field small on defense being compact in front of the ball to make it hard for the opposition to play
13:50 through or and make them have to go around keeping them out of the center of field okay so I hope you found that interesting uh obviously the eight has
14:00 the most difficult position on the field the central Midfield is just there's so many things going on as uh they say in fire pilot lingo it's a target-rich
14:10 environment and there's lots and lots going on being able to keep your head on a swibble is a Suiter important skill but I hope you also learn that the nine
14:17 has defensive responsibilities that can't be overlooked it's a long lonely job standing up there screening those center backs and getting ready for a transition to attack but they can't
14:28 switch off they can't just take a vacation when they don't have the ball so I hope that both of these videos in the two parts can help you when you're
14:37 training your team through small-sided games and other ways so that your players begin to understand when they lose the ball what should they do where should they go to try and make the field
14:47 small and compact so that you have the best chance of Defending Your goal getting the ball back and going having fun trying to attack the other net till
14:55 next time I hope your teams have a great time on the fields and until then I'll see you later bye
