Pressing and tackling session: challenge, read, and react

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Dec 8, 2025

Session intentions

This is week six of the press, tackle and cover session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

understand how to win the ball back
keep the ball once they have won it
learn how to move into a counter-attack.

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.

40x30-yard pitch

17 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Challenge, read and react

Small-sided games: Set up three pitches. Start with free play before adding challenges. On pitch one, teams get three goals if they win the ball in their opponent's half and score. On pitch two, teams have three seconds to score after winning the ball. On pitch three, teams play a match scenario.
Gate race: Players pair up and create a gate. One player starts with the ball in their hands and passes to their partner through the gate. The receiver dribbles to a cone while the thrower attempts to get there first. Players swap roles after five goes. Players rotate if they’re in a three.
1v1s: Set up three channels. Have a halfway line and an end zone on the end channels. Have two defenders and two attackers on these two channels. This is a 1v1 game, but players rotate after each go. The defender starts in one half with the attacker lining up on the edge of the other half.
The attacker plays a one-two with the defender to start the practice. The two players then have a 1v1. The attacker aims to enter the end zone and stop the ball on the end line. If the defender wins the ball, the next pair comes on to have a go.
Two practices take place on the middle channel. Set it up with a halfway line and then an end zone at one end. A defender starts in the area between the halfway line and the end zone. An attacker starts with a ball on halfway and tries to get into the end zone to score. Players rotate after each go.
The same activity takes place in the other half of the middle pitch. An attacker starts on the halfway line with a ball. They try to beat a defender in the area and to the end zone to score. The defender tries to win it and get to the halfway line to score. Players rotate after each go.
Quick transitions: Use the whole area with a goal at each end. Have a 6v6 with five neutrals outside the pitch who help the team in possession. Scoring a goal is worth one point. If the ball is regained and a goal is scored within five seconds, it’s worth five points.
Press for success: Mark out your pitch into even thirds. Play a regular game, but teams will be awarded goals depending on where they win the ball. For one team, three points are awarded in the attacking third, two in the middle third, and one in the defensive third. Reverse it for the other team.

0/0

On the pitch

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out this video to see what it can look like on the pitch.

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:

decrease the size of the areas used to make it easier to press
pass or roll the ball along the floor in ‘Gate race’, making it easier for the player to control, and easier to read the direction of their first touch
decrease the number of neutral players in the quick transitions practice, as the neutral players add to an in-possession overload. Decreasing them means it will be easier to win the ball back.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

increase the size of the areas used to make it more physically demanding when pressing
add in more neutral players, or allow them to float around the pitch. This will make defending and pressing more difficult.

Coaching points

Remind players to think about when to press. If an opponent takes a heavy touch, is hesitant on the ball, is facing their own goal, or plays a slow pass, these are good triggers to press.

Ask players to think about how they press. They need to decelerate when approaching someone, rather than just running at them. So, they need to slow down, be side-on and bend their knees when close to an opponent.

Encourage players to try to pinch the ball when challenging to keep possession and launch a counter-attack. Deceleration, as mentioned previously, will help your players slow down and pick their moment to steal the ball to play forward.