FineSoccer Kids 57

Welcome to the FineSoccer Kids Newsletter.  Today’s subject deals with high-pressuring in two’s and three’s.

When applying high pressure, even if the rest of your team is also stepping up to high pressure, it’s best if you are able to send either two or three players to the ball to apply pressure.   The reason for this is when one player pressures the ball, the opponent can frequently get away from that player HOWEVER, in doing so, the opponent is frequently somewhat out of control.  So, if one player goes to high pressure, the opponent can frequently get around this one player and get to the ball to get it under control.  If two or three players go to pressure the ball (assuming it’s a good time to high pressure) the first player goes hard at the opponent and the second or third player will be there to win the ball.

This is the reason that when one player seems to be high pressuring and the others aren’t it might seem that the other players aren’t doing their job but the truth of the matter is, it’s frequently the lone player who is making the wrong decision.

If you are not sure what is meant by high pressure or low pressure or want to learn more about doing this as a team decision, please go to http://finesoccer.com/soccer_newsletter150.htm

When two players are able to pressure the player with the ball, it’s frequently the second defender who is going to win the ball.  One of the ways to really capitalize on the high-pressure defense is to realize that the player who initially pressures the ball will almost always be open if the second defender wins the ball.  The key in this situation is for this initial player to make sure she is in an onside position when the ball is played to her.

Good teams can force the change of possession when high-pressuring defensively.  Top teams and players can take advantage of these changes of possession and are able to create scoring opportunities off of them.  The first key to creating these scoring opportunities is to high pressure with numbers.  The second key is to not be content with just getting the change of possession but rather to immediately look to attack and “punish” the opponent by getting to goal before the opponent can get numbers back.

Any questions, comments or suggestions should be sent to Lawrence@finesoccer.com or they can be posted on the FineSoccer Forum at http://finesoccer.net

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Have a great day!

Lawrence