Pressing and tackling session: small-sided duel

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Dec 1, 2025

Session intentions

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

This session will help players:

develop their tackling skills
work on their movement skills
understand when to challenge for 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. Please note that we adapted to frequent changes in player numbers when recording this session.

40x30-yard pitch

11-13 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Small-sided duel

Small-sided games: Split your pitch into thirds. On pitch one, keeping a clean sheet equals three goals. On pitch two, winning the ball in the opponent's half and scoring equals three goals. On pitch three, scoring on the counter equals three goals. Rotate teams around to play on all pitches.
Diamond duel: Put four cones down to create a diamond shape. A cone should be at the edge of each side. Split players into attackers and defenders. They line up at opposite ends of the diamond, roughly 20 yards apart from each other.
In this 1v1 game, the attacker aims to get to any of the three cones across from them without being tagged. Reaching either of the side cones is worth one point, and the far cone is worth three. The defender must tag the attacker before they reach a cone. After their turn, the next pair have a go.
Progress the game by giving the attackers a ball. The aim of the game is the same, but this progression puts the focus on the art of tackling. Once players have had a go, the next pair have a turn, while the original attacker and defender swap sides.
Now progress to a 2v2 game on each pitch. If you have more players, they swap with their teammates after each turn. Create gates either side of both starting cones. If the defenders win the ball, the practice opens up into a four-goal game. Play until a goal is scored or the ball goes out of play.
Defend for glory: Mark out your pitch into even thirds. Play a regular game, but teams will be awarded goals depending on where they win the ball. Three points are awarded in the attacking third, two in the middle third, and one in the defensive third.

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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 pitch to make it easier to press and tackle
give an underloaded side a bigger goal to score into
bring the starting positions in ‘Diamond duel’ closer together, so defenders don’t have as far to cover
overload a side to make it easier for them to press and experience success.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

increase the size of the pitch to make it more physically demanding to press and tackle
underload a side to make it more challenging to press and tackle.

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.

Get players to think about adjusting their speed when approaching an opponent. If it’s not possible to press or tackle, they should slow down and delay them instead.

Ask players to think about their movement skills and body shape when tackling. Players need to adjust their speed, be agile and balanced. If it’s possible to tackle, they need to be positive, show enthusiasm, and time it correctly rather than diving in.