Play It Out

Build with purpose from the back — bait the press, find the free man, and break the lines to goal.

Soccer
Adult
75 min
16–22 players
1 coach
Effort 3/5
Two-thirds of a pitch
adult
possession
build-up
playing-out
positional-play

The PitchPlans coaching teamGAA Award 1 & 2 coaches

Kit: 14 footballs, 30 cones, two goals, a keeper, bibs in three colours

Warm-up12 min

Pattern and Position

Setup: A 25×25m grid with cones marking positions like a small team shape. Groups of five or six, one ball. The player-coach keeps it rolling.

How it works: Warm up with a positional passing pattern that mirrors playing out: pass to the pivot, who sets it back or turns and switches, then the ball travels wide and back inside — the rotations you want in a game. Two touches to begin, then one touch when the picture is clear. Add dynamic stretches between rounds. It gets the body warm and the mind already thinking about angles, scanning and support.

What to say

“Tell them: 'scan before you receive — know your next pass before the ball arrives.'”
“Say: 'body open, half-turned, so you can play forward or switch, never back-to-goal.'”
“Look for the supporting angles that make every pass a simple one.”

Easier

Two touches and a simpler pattern with fewer players.

Harder

One touch and add a passive defender in the middle to read.

Activity16 min

Play Out from the Back

Setup: Half the pitch. A keeper and a back unit of four with a holding midfielder against a front press of three or four. Two target gates on the halfway line for the build-up team to play through. Balls with the keeper.

How it works: The keeper starts every rep. The back unit must play out and reach either halfway target gate under a live press. The centre-backs split wide, the full-backs push on, the holding midfielder drops in or pins a presser — the aim is to create a free man and break the first line of pressure. If the press wins it, they score into the goal, so the risk is real. If the pressers close one side hard, the answer is to switch fast to the free man on the other. Reset and rotate the pressers.

What to say

“Say: 'bait the press — invite them on, then play through or around the space they leave.'”
“Tell them: 'the free man is nearly always the one furthest from the ball — find him with a switch.'”
“When the press is right and there is no out, the brave call is to go long to a set target, not to force it.”

Easier

Give the build-up team an extra player and start the press passive.

Harder

Even the numbers and let the press start on the keeper's first touch, so decisions must be instant.

Activity17 min

Find the Free Man

Setup: A 40×30m area split into three vertical channels. Six against six plus two neutral players who always play for the team in possession. Bibs in three colours.

How it works: A positional game teaching where the space is. With three channels, the rule is a maximum of two of your players in any one channel, which forces the team to spread across the pitch and find the underloaded side. The two neutrals give the team in possession an eight-against-six overload, so there is always a free man if they look. Score a point for six passes that use all three channels, or for switching the play from one side to the far channel where the free man waits. Turn it over and the neutrals swap sides.

What to say

“Tell them: 'stay in your channel — spread us out and the free man appears.'”
“Say: 'draw them to one side, then switch it quickly to the space you made.'”
“Reward the pass that breaks a line into a player between the units, not just the safe sideways ball.”

Easier

Add a third neutral and drop the channel limit so keeping it is easier.

Harder

Take a neutral away and cap it at two touches, so the free man must be found faster.

The rest of this session is free — along with 3 more this week.

PitchPlans coaching team

Free on PitchPlans — new sessions weekly.