Week 2 · U14
Defending basics
Objectives — what the players will do
- 1Defend 1v1: curve your run, slow down as you arrive, stay low and patient
- 2Make the attacker predictable — show them one way and take away the other
- 3Sprint back at FULL speed the moment you are beaten
Play 1 — starts when the second player arrives
Gate Defenders
Arrival 1v1s in channels: attacker tries to dribble over the end line, defender tries to win the ball or force them out of bounds. Swap roles every rep. Add channels as players arrive. 15 minutes — let them figure out what works before you teach it.
Practice — the one taught activity of the night
Press and Contain
Stage 1 — 1v1 channel: defender starts each rep by sprinting out, CURVING the run to show the attacker one direction, then chopping the steps and getting low as they arrive. Score for defenders: every second of delay counts, winning the ball is a bonus. Stage 2 — 2v2: first defender presses exactly like stage 1; second defender takes two steps back at an angle behind them (‘cover’ — the insurance if the first defender is beaten). About 25 minutes across both stages.
Attackers limited to two touches or walking pace, and defenders only delay — no tackling. Counting seconds-of-delay as the score lets brand-new defenders win without ever making a tackle.
Go 3v3 and add the third job: ‘balance’ — third defender tucks in deeper to watch the far side. Attackers fully live, and any beaten defender MUST sprint to recover behind the ball or the attack replays.
Play 2 — always finish playing the real game
Defense Scores Too
5v5, 25 minutes, with defensive scoring: blocks, interceptions, tackles, and full-speed recovery sprints each earn a point alongside goals. Appoint a scorekeeper on each team — suddenly everyone wants to defend.
Key coaching points — in your own words
- ·Curve your run so the attacker can only go one way — YOU choose their direction, not them.
- ·Fast feet early, slow feet late: sprint to close, chop your steps as you arrive.
- ·Beaten? The only speed is a full sprint back. No jogging.
- ·‘Which way did you make them go — did you choose it, or did they?’
- ·Win your duel — defending is a 1v1 you can win every time, even without touching the ball.
Give attackers the numbers (3v2), grow the space, demand pressure-cover-balance talk on every rep.
Shrink the space, limit attacker touches, defenders delay only.
Game-day focus — watch for this on Saturday
Press together, from the striker back: when our striker presses their defender, the midfield three step up behind — one presses, one covers, one balances. The deepest defender is the organizer and talks the WHOLE game. This week, praise recovery sprints louder than goals.
Message to forward to your parents
Defending week — effort plus brains. The stat we praise is the full-speed sprint back after being beaten, because it is 100% choice. If you hear us cheering a kid who just got beaten, that is why: they sprinted back. Ask your teenager what ‘pressure, cover, balance’ means — they can teach you.
This week's two videos
Prep the night before; copy the activity on the field.
Pressing Successfully | Football Pressing Session From Debbie Barry | England Football Learning
Watch the night before to understand the idea
Debbie Barry's full FA pressing session covers individual pressing roles, angles of approach and forcing play — SEAL at match tempo. Watch before Week 1 and bring the whole session back as your Week 4 Apply centrepiece.
Watch on YouTubePractising the press | Session one | Pressing and covering six-week training programme
A drill you can copy on the field
Session one of the FA's pressing-and-covering programme — the cleanest build of individual press mechanics before any unit work. Run it in Weeks 1–2 and hold players to the detail: curve the run, close on the touch, arrive low.
Watch on YouTube