Attacking session: scoring as a team

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Feb 10, 2025

Session intentions

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

This session aims to support players to work as a team to score loads of goals.

It will help players:

get repetition of finishing
shoot from different distances
understand roles and responsibilities around scoring in game situations
understand security behind the ball.

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.

35x45-yard pitch

12 players

Two goals

Bibs

Flat cones

Scoring as a team

Create a 35-yard diamond area. Have a halfway line and two goals. Lock players in to have a 3v3 and a keeper in each half. To start, a team gets a free pass to give it to their teammates in the other half. They try to score. Then the game goes back and forth. Players stay locked in but can tackle.
Create a pitch split into thirds for a small-sided game. Players aren’t locked into thirds. A keeper starts with the ball and distributes it anywhere. But once it’s worked into the final third players can’t play more than three passes before shooting. The opposition get the ball if this is breached.

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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:

allow players to create overloads when they’re attacking in the arrival activity
let players combine with neutral players on the outside of the area in the arrival activity
set up the main practice with equal numbers starting in each third to make it easier for the forwards.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

let players pressure and challenge opponents from the start of the arrival activity
introduce a one-touch finish rule
put a time, pass, or touch limit on teams in the middle and final thirds of the main practice.

Coaching points

Encourage players to take shots whenever there’s a good chance to score. After all, this session is all about creating and finishing loads of goalscoring opportunities. Plus, shooting early can catch the opposition off guard. Goalkeepers will find it harder to set themselves for an early strike compared to when a player takes loads of touches before shooting.

Reassure players if they miss a chance and encourage them to go again. Having a positive mindset is really important when it comes to scoring. So, if a chance is missed, there’s always another opportunity around the corner that players need to be ready for.

Get players to think about how they can create space for themselves and others to help their team build and finish an attack. Going away from the ball, running beyond a player, moving with the ball and even how you receive the ball can all change the space that’s available.

Ask players to consider their positioning. As a team, they need to create an attack but also provide cover and balance if they lose the ball and need to defend.