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0:00 Well, hello coaches. Welcome back. Coach KW here for episode seven. This one's going to be a little bit longer cuz we're going to go in depth on the
0:07 defensive principles in 7v7. Uh the 2-3-1 is not just a great learning tool for attacking, but it's also just as well suited to the learning tool for
0:18 defending. Because once again, every role and responsibility that one might need to do as we get to 11v11 is incorporated here. Defending in pairs, using the sideline, central defending,
0:31 motions, and even the keeper. Which I know a lot of people kind of just think, well, isn't their job just to play goal and keep the ball out of it? That's one
0:38 of their jobs in the modern game. It's important for them to learn more. So, like all my videos, I do use liberal use of chapters. And once again, this one
0:46 has lots of them. Literally position by position, we'll talk about from back to front, left to right, all those things. So, you know, bookmark this one and come back to it
0:55 when you need to when you look at the different pieces here. Again, what's important to remember is that teaching roles and responsibilities, it's not just tactics. It's teaching players how
1:05 to play the game. And so, I want to make sure that's important because learning what to do without the ball is at least 50% of the game. And that's certainly a
1:12 part of the game that a lot of people seem to leave off. So, hopefully you'll find this valuable. Again, subscribe, like, hit the bell, all those things.
1:20 Thumbs up, share with your fellow coaches you're doing this. But, let's jump into it right away. Take a look at the game model of the flow, the four
1:28 phases of a game and where this comes in now, okay?
1:31 I'm surrounded literally by the game as we go along. So, we have the attack and defend, but it's those transition moments when we are transitioning to attack or transitioning to defense that
1:42 these roles and responsibilities, along with the shape and the formation that we're playing in, can help our teams manage these situations to get from one point to the other as effectively and
1:54 efficiently as possible, knowing what they should be doing at each moment of the game.
1:59 Now, most coaches spend most of their time with the ball. And that's an important We're working to get these kids to have those skills, those technical skills, right? But part of
2:08 being a good soccer player is knowing what to do when you don't have the ball.
2:11 How to defend, how to mark a player, how to defend space. And what really is the difference a lot times between decent teams and good players and really great
2:21 teams and great players is when the ball switches possession, what or you get it or you give it away, is that everybody knows what their job is next. Too many
2:30 times a ball is lost in transition and half of the team just stands and watches while the other half of the team or the team the player with the ball or the
2:39 player who just lost the ball stands there and watches and the rest of the team is springs into action. The whole point of this for your team is getting
2:46 everybody to understand their responsibilities both when they have the ball and when they don't. And you some of the graphics we look at are going to look very familiar because it's just
2:55 flipping the script on this. Here we are. I know this drives some of you crazy, but we're going from the top down. The green team is what we're going
3:06 to be looking at and we're going to start where we start, at the back. We're going to start with our keeper here, right? We're going to start with our
3:12 number one at the back. They've got a couple of jobs. Obviously, their job is to keep the ball out of the back of the net. That's one of the things they do
3:18 defensively. But more importantly, when we have the ball, their job is to get up the field and be that sweeper. Because, as you can see in this picture here, you
3:27 can see that space behind the back line of the two center backs who are keeping an eye out on that striker. Because they moved up the field, now the space that's
3:37 in between them, behind the back line or in behind, is now compressed. And we'll compare and contrast that to a second in a second. So, the ball is up the field,
3:47 our center backs have slid over to support the ball, the other team's striker is standing there, we lose the ball, They play the ball forward long and up the top. Because our keeper is
3:57 now up and off their line, it's a relatively easy run for them to get to that ball before the striker and those two center backs who are running at
4:06 their own goal can get there and can now put that ball right back into play, perhaps right back into an offensive moment, but at least for that matter, if
4:15 they can't keep possession, can put it out of danger's way, put it out of out of bounds, and taking the throw-in or or goal kick if it goes all the way. But,
4:24 let's compare and contrast that to what happens if they don't have a good starting position and don't get up the field to be that sweeper behind the back
4:33 Here we are, the same setup.
4:36 All the same things are about to happen.
4:38 We're going to push the ball up. Here we are, but now instead of where they are right now, now what if the keeper stays on their line? Look at the amount of
4:46 space that's there to be exploited. That spacing behind or over the top to be really a dangerous space if you don't defend it correctly. And that's what
4:56 happens when your keeper stays deep in their net when the ball is up the other end. Because now your center backs have turned and are facing their own goal.
5:05 They're trying to get to a ball that a striker probably has a head start on.
5:09 And now from this position, that spacing behind is much larger for the other team to play in. Maybe you've heard on TV and such, you know, playing a high line.
5:18 That's what we're doing here. We're having our center backs play up high, but the key to that is to make sure to compress the space in behind to make it
5:26 harder for the other team to play into.
5:27 But in this situation, because the keeper is so deep, it's practically giving them the entire half of the field to play in and behind. So, that's why
5:36 it's super important for keepers to get up and off and be that seventh defensive player behind the center backs when you have the ball.
5:45 The other important part of a keeper's You can see here by this shadowed yellow area, this is what the keeper can see.
5:52 Everybody else on the field. And so, communication is a huge job of a keeper.
5:57 Is the letting players in front of them know what's happening in places they can't possibly see. If that ball is off into the one side of the field to the
6:06 other, it could be that the far winger or the far center back doesn't see a player trying to sneak in from the back side. The keeper can see it because it's
6:14 in front of them. And so, that's one of the primary other jobs that a keeper does when the ball is in our end and we're defending, is they
6:22 should be able to begin to have a vocabulary to tell people to slide left, to slide right, to step up, to drop back, to watch out for this, to put
6:30 pressure on the ball, to cover somebody.
6:32 All those sort of things, that's the hallmark of a really great keeper and you can start to develop that language and understanding of your players because they all should be able to
6:41 communicate, but that keeper, as well as the center backs, is an incredibly vital role in any team going forward.
6:53 Okay, now let's move on to defending as a pair. Our center back pair, our four and our five. They are connected at the hip as it were and you can see here how
7:03 they move and flex together and this is playing as a pair, as we talked about in earlier 7 v 7 videos, comes into play.
7:10 Their job is to support each other, to stay connected. What you don't want is your five or your four to be so far to one side and the other one on the other
7:18 side that they're not defending the most important part of the field, and that's in front of the net. You can see here the five has come over to support the
7:25 winger. They've come over to the edge of that zone, edge of the channel, and the four isn't all the way on the other side worrying about that wide winger, that
7:33 wide player. They're in the middle of the field because that's where it's important. If the five was to get beat, the four then has at least a chance
7:40 diagonally to get in here and help support and work on this player coming with the ball.
7:46 Center backs should be incredibly pessimistic. The whole point of a center back is to look at every situation and think, "If this goes wrong, what can I
7:54 do to make sure I'm there to help?" And that's the hallmark of a fantastic center back. They're always thinking about the worst thing that can happen and then preparing for that.
8:03 As this ball moves around, perhaps it goes up the field now. Now the center backs are pushing forward.
8:09 They're behind their wingers to support as the ball gets moved from one side of the field to the other. You can see as a pair they're sliding over and now that
8:17 four is in behind their winger. So that if they needed to turn around and play a back pass, they're there. In addition, if they happen to lose the ball there,
8:25 they're in a great position to hold that area and delay the attack while other players are getting back and the five is there to support them as well. The worst
8:35 thing that can happen with center backs is for them that It happens a lot is both players that go after the ball. And so the other rule of thumb is if one
8:42 goes, one stays. If that four is going to go running out to try and cover for somebody, that five can't also be going in the same place. They need to stay and
8:52 maintain a best position they can to make sure that again, if the worst thing happens and their center back partner gets beat, they're there as the next
9:00 line of defense. Okay, let's talk about maybe the simplest roles and responsibilities and that's our seven and 11. And we already talked about this again in our
9:13 positioning video. Their job is the wide areas, whether that's an attack one v one and conversely, when we lose the ball, their job is to defend one v one
9:23 these wide channels. There I really their job is to find the other team's wide players and cover them wherever they go. Now maybe the other team isn't
9:33 as disciplined as yours and goes narrow, that doesn't matter. They find their winger and they stay with them and that's basically their job for the entire game. Attack 1v1 and defend 1v1.
9:45 Use that sideline as their friend when they're defending to force play out there and keep an eye on their wingers and try not to get beat up and down the
9:53 field. It's a pretty straightforward role to deal with, especially at this Now, perhaps the most difficult one and we talked about this again in our positioning videos earlier on and that's
10:08 the eight. They really are the helper position for both attacking and defending. When they're attacking, they're there they can support the keeper as a central outlet. They can
10:17 help either one of their center backs as a again another play in a triangle there. If their wide players have the ball, they can be slid over to help that
10:26 wide player perhaps take a 1v1 and turn it into a 2v1. They're behind the striker to help support them for give and goes or maybe even a back and
10:35 throughs or just being there to recycle the ball and push it out wide and be that quarterback. And they command that center of the field and help everybody
10:44 But on the defensive side of the game, it's exactly the same thing. They're in that role that protects that middle, is that quarterback that becomes a safety
10:53 if you flip it on that American football metaphor. And you can see here when we've lost the ball in the corner because they were in a good position to
11:01 support the attack, they're also in a great position to support defending.
11:05 Because now they're taking up the middle of the field, they're cutting off passing lanes and they're there to help.
11:10 So, let's say our winger gets beat up the field.
11:15 They're able to then step out there and take over the role of that winger and try and force that play down the sideline as it goes. Now, maybe that
11:24 ball goes in deep and the striker goes after that ball and now one of our center backs has to step out. You can see now the eight has dropped in between
11:33 the two center backs. I've taken the triangle and flattened it out and now they're helping the center backs. So now in effect, this center back has become
11:40 the winger. This winger has become the eight and this eight has become the center back pair. But that's their job. It's to help out wherever they go. It makes that
11:49 playing in the center of the field so difficult is because there's so many options and so many things that can happen. You can see in that play they
11:55 went from being the winger on the defensive standpoint to then having to change roles and become one of the center backs because the center back had to step out
12:03 wide to get that ball in the wide See when we look at the whole defensive their connection with the center backs that makes that triangle in the middle
12:12 of the field almost acts as a snow plow and we'll take a look at that. But again, it's that positioning. If they're in the right position to support the
12:18 attack, they'll always be in the right position to support the defense on a Our next video, we're going to talk a little bit more about the nine's role on
12:31 pressing. But that is the first part of defense in the attacking zone, in the attacking half of the field. The nine's job is to be the player that hunts the
12:40 ball, that tries to put pressure on the ball and tries to if not win it back, force play in one direction. So again, we'll go over details in pressing in the
12:48 next video. Stay tuned. But in this case, here's a goal kick where they've come in with this curved run and now force play to one side making it hard
12:56 for the other team to go the other way.
12:58 So that's their first defensive duty is being first to the ball when it's in the attacking half of the field and we've lost the ball and they're anywhere near
13:07 it. This play goes up the other end of the field. A lot of times young strikers will just chase the ball all the way back and they'll end up with all the
13:16 rest of the team near the goal area and that defeats one of their primary purposes which is to be to be an outlet for when we win the ball back. But
13:23 there's another super important defensive job that they have that a lot of people overlook and that job is to defend the other team's center backs.
13:32 You can see here the ball is out wide and we're in good defensive posture and so that winger doesn't really have anywhere to go. If that nine is not
13:40 diligent and is not taking up this position here, it's an easy pass back to the center back who may be able to swing the ball around to the other side of the
13:48 field to change fields, change the point of attack. They maintain possession and they come at us again. Their job, staying nice and high and defending those other center backs makes that back
14:00 pass super difficult and makes your other defenders jobs a little bit easier because they know if they can win that ball back, they don't have an easy out.
14:09 That that wide player is going to have to hold on to the ball or do something perhaps a little bit more risky than turning around and playing it backwards
14:16 for a safe pass. But again, because they're in a good defensive position, they're also in a good offensive position because when we win this ball and we now have to get this ball up,
14:28 they're in a perfect position to spring the counter attack, to receive that outlet, to relieve the pressure because they're already up high up the field occupying the other two center backs,
14:39 which means we get the ball back and restart our attack that much more.
14:43 Again, turning that defense into And so now if we want to look at the whole picture of the whole team and how it all comes together, when all of our players are doing their
14:58 jobs and their roles, here it is all together. And so what we get is we get in the middle of the field, we get that triangle, that snow plow of the two
15:07 center backs and the eight, the four, five and the eight, that now dictate play in the middle of the field acting as a snow plow to push the play out to
15:15 one side or the other where our wingers are defending one v one. And once we've done that, if you take a look at the scenario the way it is right now,
15:24 that wide player is outnumbered basically three to one. And that's what we want. There's plenty of support in front of, beside, and behind the ball making it difficult for that winger.
15:34 When we add in our striker, now we've covered a few more players in this situation. And now that winger is extremely isolated. They've got to beat their player 1 v 1. And once they do
15:45 that, they still have two more players to deal with as it goes forward. And of course, in the back there, we have our keeper who can see the whole action in
15:55 front of them and can communicate on the ball and off the ball what's happening to keep everybody informed so that they know when the other team is
16:05 moving in places that perhaps their attention is not focused on cuz maybe they're looking where the ball is. They can help remind them to cover that player, to look behind them, to step up,
16:15 to slide over, etc. etc. So, this is what it looks like in total. And this structure here is the basic structure that takes you all the way to
16:24 11 v 11. So here, here are two quick still pictures from a 7 v 7 game a few years ago. This is right off the kickoff. And
16:33 the blue team has played the ball backwards. And automatically, you can see the shape beginning to take appearance right in front of your eyes, right? Here is our eight and two center backs.
16:44 There's our triangle already formed as the ball has gone back. You can see this winger is near their winger, but the ball is way over here on this side. This
16:52 winger is right on top of their other winger. And here's our striker who's gone forward and now has cut off that play. That ball went back to the center
17:00 back. They're now trying to play it out to the wing. My winger is now going to intercept that ball and we're going to turn defense into offense. But again,
17:08 it's because of the good shape and everybody knowing their role. The eight has stepped forward to fill this gap.
17:14 The striker has gone forward to press the ball. The wingers have stayed with their wingers 1v1, and the two center backs are back there for support.
17:21 They're just literally this is 5 seconds into the game. The They're just moving up the field along with my keeper.
17:27 See here in this still, this is right after a goal kick, and again it shows you the same sort of thing. And again, we'll go over the details of pressing
17:34 here later, but we can we can see very clearly here is my triangle. My eight has stepped in here, and now they're protecting this area. My striker has made that curved
17:45 run in, has now pressed this ball, and pushed it to one side. This winger is literally standing on top of their winger, not giving them the option to
17:53 make that pass. And because the play is so far off the other side, my other winger is way over here, but clearly in a good position to support. They're
18:00 still the widest player on our our team.
18:02 That blue player really should have come inside uh cuz they're not going to get the ball anytime soon. But you can already see that shape where everybody
18:09 knows their role. These are third or fourth graders. Uh I think this is looks like the spring might be the fall. The trees are turning already. So, again, in
18:18 a very short time they've picked up their roles and responsibilities to know what they should do when the ball is in play. So, coaches, I hope that you can
18:29 see the value of understanding all the roles on the defensive side of the ball as much as you can on the offensive side of the ball. And again, 7v7 is a great
18:38 way to work on all those things because again, we're representing all the different types of positions you might have on a field, a wide, centrally, up top, keeper, working in pairs, and
18:50 working with teammates on all sides of you, especially that central eight player. Hope you saw that in this video how it relates back to the attacking videos that we looked at and the
18:59 build-out videos that we looked at. It's just a matter of what do we do when we have it and we don't, right? It's that concept that when we have the ball
19:07 can we get big? Does everybody know that our job is to do X? Wingers are getting wide to make space.
19:14 Center backs are supporting the play.
19:16 Eight is around to help anybody. The striker is stretching the field. And conversely, when we lose the ball, can we shrink down? Can we get small? Can we
19:23 control the middle of the field? Can we maintain our markers if we're playing 1 V 1 on the outside, keeping an eye out that eight again that I helper position
19:33 as I like to call it.
19:35 Are they helping a winger? Are they playing in the central? Are they helping a center back? Whatever there is, right?
19:40 All those pieces and parts are tied together. So, again, I hope you found this really useful. The next bit we'll talk about is actually pressing, having a structure to press
19:50 when we lose the ball, whether that's a counter press or whether it's a restart, whether it's a goal kick or even a goalie restart when the other keeper
19:58 gathers the ball. There are some principles that you can teach in 7 V 7 that'll make your teams much more effective. And again, they're universal for as far into the game as you want.
20:08 So, I hope you found this useful. Uh until next time, I can't wait to see you guys out on the field. We'll see you later. Bye-bye.
