Passing and receiving session: the lions’ den

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Apr 22, 2025

Session intentions

This is week two of the passing and receiving session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

receive the ball in tight spaces
develop confidence to receive the ball under pressure.

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.

60x40-yard pitch

12 players

Goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

The lions’ den

Create a 30x30-yard area and split it into four. Put three players in each grid to create four teams. Make one the pressing team. One of the other teams starts with a ball. They aim to make three passes between themselves while under pressure from a pressing player before passing it to another team.
The pressing team can only send one player out at a time and must change the player each time it goes to a new grid. If the pressing team do win the ball, the side they won the ball from becomes the new pressing team.
Set up a 30x30-yard area. Four attackers and three defenders are inside the area with five players around the outside of it. Give four of the outside players a ball. They pass to the attackers in the middle who, under pressure from defenders, try to pass to an outside player who doesn’t have a ball.
Add two goals and a halfway line to the previous area. Have a 4v4 in the middle with four players on the outside. Players combine with teammates to score. But the team in possession can use the players on the outside. When a goal is scored, the outside players swap with the team that’s conceded.

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Tactics board

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out Emily'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:

make the grids bigger in the arrival activity to provide more space and time to make decisions
remove the condition of needing to make three passes before playing it into another grid
take away two footballs from the players on the outside of the area in the second activity and allow attackers to combine with teammates in the area to provide more passing options
let players on the outside use their first touch to take them into the area during the final activity.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

allow the pressing team in the arrival activity to send two players to press at a time
start with a pressing player in each grid during the arrival activity
make the second activity a matched-up practice.

Coaching points

Ask players to scan for ‘BOTS’ to gain key information before receiving the ball. This stands for; ball position, opposition players, teammates and space.

Encourage players to vary their body positioning and technique when receiving the ball.

Task players with using deception to outwit their opponent.

During the last two drills, state the importance of offering supporting movement. When the player on the outside of the area receives the ball, good movement can help create space for the next pass.