How to practice for matches when you are a player short
It's a sad fact that for many, shopping at this time of year comes before football matches! Or so two of the mums of my players would have me believe.
I had to play a player short last Saturday because last minute shopping trips got in the way of more important matters on the pitch. I have coached my team to play a couple of players short though, and we played a good game.
Before we kicked off my players were moaning that "it wasn't fair", and that "the match should be cancelled". I told them to play how we had practiced as if a player had been sent off in the first minute.
I told my defenders to play a tight line and not to get pushed and pulled out of position by the extra man. I cut the front two down to just one and told my midfielders I wanted them to run at the opposition and create as many chances as they could.
We scored early and were 1-0 up for most of the game but fatigue and the pressure of being a man down built up and we let a late equaliser in. We nearly lost in the last minute when the opposition took a great corner only to see it rebound off the crossbar... phew!
Here's how we practice for being a man down. When you're coaching this game save your coaching points until the end, let it flow, don't keep stopping.
How to set it up
Set up a 6v6 game on a small-sided pitch. You can either use two small coned goals at each end (four goals altogether) or large goals with goalkeepers.
Every player on each team has a number.
How to play it
Start and play as normal, then after a couple of minutes shout numbers one and two, and the team - in this case team A. Those players must leave the field and jog/run around the boundary of the field.
They then re-enter the match at the exact point they left. After they have returned, the coach tells players 1 and 2 of team B to exit and run around the field.
The next players to leave are 3 and 4 of team A, etc.
Coaching Points: the coach may want the team with the extra numbers to speed up play to capitalise on their numerical advantage. However, a more conservative build-up to find the "holes" may be the coaching preference. Defensively, the team with numbers may want to play high pressure, looking for double teams and providing adequate support to the ball.
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