A group of four young children play football. One is kicking the ball, wearing a blue bib, while a teammate and two opponents stand round him.

Session

Covering and recovering session: supporting on the line

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Nov 13, 2023

Session overview

This session will help players:

cover for their teammates when defending
move to make interceptions
press on their own and as a team.

If you like this idea, download the session plan and give it a go. And don’t forget to share your experience on the England Football Community. We’d love to know how you got on.

Supporting on the line

Set up two parallel pitches with a mini goal at either end. These vary in size to encourage different returns for your players. Use cones to mark a line ten yards out from each goal. Have a 2v2 in the middle area of each pitch.
The aim is to score more goals than the other team. The team out of possession must keep a player on the ten-yard line in front of their goal.
Once your team has the hang of it, increase the numbers. Play a 4v4 on your bigger pitch to increase the chance of attacking and defending in tight spaces. The player on the line will also need to be more alert as the ball changes direction more.
Increase the depth of the line in front of the goal to bring the defender closer to the action. This encourages more tackling and intercepting.

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Coaching session

Watch this video to see the session in action.

Coaching tips

Encourage players on the line to scan the pitch for the position of their teammates and the ball. This should help them move up and down to cover and protect the goal.

Make sure the player on the line swaps within a team. Players who are defenders will want to drop deep, but we want them to have a go at pressing, too.

When pressing, encourage players to be deceptive with their intentions. Can they trick opponents to intercept the ball?

Change the size of the pitch for different returns. Creating a wide area encourages players to use longer passes. Defenders have more time to intercept and recover the ball as well. While a narrow pitch encourages short, and quick, passes. This puts more focus on pressing for the defenders.

And if you feel it’s right to progress the session, use the STEP framework (Youth Sports Trust, 2002) to help keep things fun, engaging and appropriate.