Attacking session: pass, turn, score

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Jan 20, 2025

Session intentions

This is week three of the finishing session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session aims to support players to pass and turn to create goalscoring opportunities.

It will help players:

pass and turn under pressure
know when and where to pass and turn
combine with teammates
practise finishing.

If you're short on time, this structured training programme can be used as it is. Pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

To make the programme more effective, adapt it to suit your players, your numbers and the space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend these sessions – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

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.

Session setup

In our example, this is what we’ve used to set up this session. But adapt it to suit your team and the space available to you.

45x25-yard pitch

14 players

Six goals

Flat cones

Bibs

Pass, turn, score

Create a narrow pitch with a halfway line. Put a large goal and two mini-goals at each end. Have a 3v3 in each half. The attacking team start with the ball in each half. They combine with teammates to try to score. Scoring in the large goal is worth one point. Scoring in a mini-goal is worth two.
Progress this practice by bringing in your two goalkeepers from their own activity. Put one in each large goal. You can amend the scoring system to reflect this change and encourage the attacking team to aim for the larger goal.
Play one big game using the large goals but start with players being locked in their halves. Players need to win the ball and pass it to their teammates in the other half so they can try to score. Progress this further by allowing players to step in to create an overload.

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Tactics board

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out Peter's tactics board video for this session.

Make it easier

Using the STEP framework (Youth Sports Trust, 2002) can help keep things fun, engaging, and appropriate.

To make this session easier, you could:

have more goals
overload the attacking team
make the pitch longer to create more space for attackers to use.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

underload the attacking team
tell attackers when they receive the ball they can’t play backwards; they must find a way to play forward.

Coaching points

Make sure players rotate so they get a chance to attack and defend.

As it’s a narrow pitch, get players to consider how their positioning and movement off the ball can support their teammates. Go-to-show movements can be beneficial. This is where a player runs away, then comes back to receive a pass in the space that’s been created.

Think about the six core capabilities. Encourage players to think about how they can use deception when passing, turning or shooting.

Look for: