Receiving session: receiving under pressure

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Apr 20, 2026

Session intentions

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

This session will help players:

develop how to receive the ball under pressure
improve their confidence in receiving the ball
consider how their pass affects the receiving player.

If you're short on time, this programme can be used as it is. But it’s a template you can build on. So, to make the session or programme more effective, adapt it to suit your players and their needs, as well as the numbers and space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend individual practices or the whole session – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

Any pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

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.

If you’re coaching U7s, please note that from the 2026-27 season, changes will be made to the formats to improve the experience young players get across the country. Check out the Future Fit digital content hub to find out more and alter training plans accordingly.

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.

Third of a pitch

6-18 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Receiving under pressure

Receiving repetition: Create a rectangular area ideal for your players. Have a group of players on the outside with a ball and a group in the middle without a ball. Players in the middle receive the ball from an outside player. They then pass to a different player on the outside without a ball.
Receiving under pressure: Create another area. Have goals and a middle zone on both. An attacker starts in the zone with a defender outside it. Attackers pass to the zone player, then the 3v2 game is live. After each round, attackers rotate the middle player. Defenders rotate their resting player.
Progress the drill by having an attacker and a defender start at one side of the area and two attackers and a defender on the other side. The lone attacker drops into the middle to receive the ball. As soon as the pass is played, the 3v3 game is live.
3v3 matches: Use the same pitches to finish the session off with parallel 3v3 games. Keep the middle zone in to help encourage receiving under pressure. If the ball goes out, use kick-ins to restart. Play for three minutes then rotate teams around to play against others.

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On the pitch

Wondering what this could look like? Check out the video to see how a coach took this session idea and adapted it for a group of players.

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:

create a safe zone in the ‘receiving repetition’ arrival activity and allow receivers to be in there for a few seconds unopposed
allow attackers to play a couple of passes before a defender can press during the ‘receiving under pressure’ drill
make the pitches for ‘3v3 matches’ bigger so attackers have more time on the ball.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

add in defenders to the ‘receiving repetition’ arrival activity
let attackers face an overload in the ‘receiving under pressure’ drill
make the pitches for ‘3v3 matches’ smaller so attackers get more repetition of receiving under pressure.

Coaching points

To receive the ball successfully, players also need to understand what makes a good pass. To break this down for players, consider a before, during and after approach.

Before: establish contact with the receiver so the passer and receiver are on the same wavelength.
During: focus on passing technique with the receiver’s intentions in mind.
After: think about offering support to help progress play or keep possession.

Get players to think about their positioning and their body shape before receiving. If players approach at an angle and position themselves on the half-turn, they can receive and turn more easily.