Style of Play – Team Formation Recommendations

Playing small-sided games is recommended throughout the soccer community for ages up to U13.  Small-sided games allow the players to maximize their touches.  This will allow the players to improve their skills, confidence, and comfort on the ball, develop intelligence with and without it, promote faster decisions, and develop partnerships within the team.  And most importantly, it makes the game more fun to play!  It’s a good thing you have them practicing their MOTI skills. ?

Below are the recommendations from the USSF for the number of players playing in the small-sided games. Your association may have you playing with different numbers of players in your small-sided games. 

1. U6 through U8, we recommended that you play 4v4 without goalkeepers. We recommend you use a 1-2-1 or 2-2 style of play. For the 1-2-1, one player protects the net, two players play mid-field, and one player plays forward. For 2-2, have two players playing each half of the pitch.
2. U9 through U10, it is recommended that you play 7v7 with goalkeepers.  We recommend you use a 2-2-2, 3-2-1, or 2-3-1 style of play. Learning to stay connected is the key both in attack and while defending.
3. U11 through U12, at the 9v9 (with keeper) level of play we recommend a 3-2-2 style of play, ensuring that players always have a counterpart or ‘buddy’ to play to, to support while in possession, to cover on defense, and to interact off each other at appropriate angles and distances. This cooperation works in both offense and defense.
4. U13+, having the above concepts installed at an early age, makes players a good transition into the 11v11 game.  MOTI uses the defensive back four – as flat as possible with two central defenders dropping for each other, prompting the fullback to tuck in and provide cover and depth: Midfield four, two central midfield and two wide, and two target players as a starting point.  Advancing a midfield player or two gives us much flexibility to change the team’s shape to suit the game’s demands. Coaches, players, and teams should also be familiar with playing a 4-3-3 style of play with both a narrow front three and one wide front three. Coaches must experiment with formations and tactical concepts to suit game situations and the squad’s personnel.  Flooding players into areas to take advantage of or secure moments in the game is part of the journey and development of experience.  Be brave!  Take chances.

How do tactics and structure affect Your Team?

I believe that tactics and formation structures help minimize inaccurate passes and improve players’ field-of-view, resulting in better ball control and more significant time of possession while encouraging players to support each other; systems of play can also protect/hide less experienced players.

Sweeping Statement – Let’s get into the fray of proving it.

This session is intended to help your organizational skills, getting you familiar with the MOTI App.  Tactics and formations can only be implemented by organized coaches!!

Organization is a two-fold concept:

    (1) Self-organization         (2) Organization of a coaching session

(1) Self-Organization:  Before communicating coaching ideas to players, the coach must thoroughly understand the concepts. There are many sources to gain this knowledge.  I encourage you to investigate the MOTI Soccer Training Platform and use the Age and Gender-specific practice plans that can navigate you to conduct great sessions with engaged and aware players on your squad.

(2) Organization of Coaching Sessions:  MOTI has an expansive library of available session plans but is also flexible enough for you to develop personalized plans. If you set up your sessions, several questions must be asked as you create each training session.

• What is the theme, and what am I trying to teach?
• What field area will be needed?
•  How many players will be present?
• How can maximum transfer of training occur?

Realism

All practice is artificial to a greater or lesser degree.  The maximum transfer is gained when the practice is more realistic.  Five factors help ensure realism:

1. Off-the-ball activity – What are players doing when not possessing the ball?
2. On-the-ball activity – What are players who possess the ball trying to accomplish?
3. Targets/Direction – What are the Targets (either other players or objects, such as goals) players should be looking for?
4. Supporting players – Creating passing opportunities or denying lanes for passing?
5. Opponents – How does what a player does affect their opponent?

Having practice sessions in your players’ hands on a digital device gives them many opportunities to view, review, and analyze the Tactical activity and the review Techniques (Skills) needed for success.

Observation

Observation is aided by:

1. Good organization
2. Knowledge of key factors of successful performance.
3. Ability to recognize the absence of these significant factors in the coaching session.
4. The ability to concentrate on the topic at hand.  Avoid distractions staying focused.
5. The Animated 3D content gives everyone content clarity and deeper visual understanding.

Observation must be done QUICKLY.

1. To rectify a fault immediately.
2. So that the situation has had little or no time to change.
3. So that the player can recall the fault immediately.

Instruction

“Think before you say anything.”

If the function of the coach is to communicate, then he/she must be understood.  Players’ understanding comes from:

1. What the coach does
2. What the coach says
3. What the coach organizes
4. How the coach demonstrates
5. Recognizing situations, familiarity, and experience.

Demonstration

The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” is accurate in soccer coaching.  MOTI was developed to magnify the ease of visual coaching points to unwrap the inner workings of the beautiful game. The demonstration must be:

1. Accurate
2. Effective
3. Realistic

Remember, players will attempt to reproduce what they see.

Progress

The decision as to “when to progress” is dictated by the player’s ability under varying degrees of work pressure.

Evaluation

To what degree was the session successful or otherwise?  Why or why not? Possible changes for the next session. Next month, in part two of this article, we will dive deeper into the tactics and systems of play.

View the Tactics and Formations article part two.