Pressing and covering session: pressing duels

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Mar 16, 2026

Session intentions

This is week four of the press and cover to defend programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

develop their tackling and pressing skills
work on their movement skills to win the ball
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.

50x40-yard pitch

13 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Week four: pressing duels

Small-sided games: Create parallel 20x15-yard pitches. On the first, winning the ball in the opponent’s half and scoring is worth three goals. On the second, winning the ball and scoring from the counter-attack is worth three goals. On the third, teams get three goals for keeping a clean sheet.
Diamond duel: Set up two areas with mini-goals at each end. Put flat markers down in a diamond shape in both areas. Attackers get a point for reaching a side cone and three points for getting to the far cone. If they score, play restarts from the beginning and they go again.
If the defenders win the ball back, they try to score in their opponent's mini-goals. If the attackers regain possession, they try to score in the opposite mini-goals.
Press for success: Split your whole pitch into thirds with a goal, or mini-goals, at each end. Split your players into one attacking team and one defending team. Attackers play a normal game, but the defenders have a particular scoring system.
If defenders win the ball in their own third and go on to score, they get one point. If they do that in the middle third, they get two points. If they do that in the attacking third, they get three points. Ensure you swap roles to give players experience on both teams.

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:

make the areas smaller in diamond duel so players find it easier to press
lock teams into thirds during the press for success practice.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

make the areas bigger in diamond duel to players find it harder to press
consider overloading one team in diamond duel to increase the level of challenge for the other team
place footballs around the defend for glory area to allow the attacking team to restart play from different positions.

Coaching points

Get your players to think about when to cover ground quickly and then when they should slow down.

Ask your players to think about how best they can use their whole body to help them win possession in a duel. For example, can they get their arm across the attacker to stop them reaching the ball?

Encourage your players to try to win the ball cleanly and then think about the best way to start an attack.

Encourage your players to look for triggers to press. If the opponent is facing their own goal, takes a heavy touch, or is going to receive a longer, slower, pass, players should try to press. It can help force their opponent backwards or help them win the ball back.