Defensive midfield: scan and screen
Transcript
Protect your back line by shutting the passing lane into the striker. Here's how. You need a passer with a ball, a striker behind you, a small goal, and four cones for a box fifteen metres by twelve. Watch. The striker drifts. Check your shoulder, slide across, and cut out the pass. First, check your shoulder to keep the striker in view. Then, stand in the passing lane, between the ball and the striker. Not this. Chasing the ball opens the lane behind you. Our target is three blocks of two minutes, then swap roles. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
Screen as a defensive midfielder: keep the striker in view and stand in the passing lane to them, so the pass is cut out or forced wide. FIFA coaches defenders to anticipate the pass the ball carrier is most likely to play.
Set up
- A passer with a ball
- A striker behind you
- A small goal
- 15 x 12 m box, 4 cones
How it works
- Warm up first. Mark a box 15 m wide and 12 m long with 4 cones, with a small goal (or 2 cones) in the middle of your end line.
- The passer starts on the far line with the ball. The striker starts in front of your goal, and you stand in between, facing the ball.
- The striker moves left and right to get free. Check over your shoulder to see where they are, and slide across to stay between the ball and the striker.
- The passer tries to pass along the ground into the striker's feet. You score a point for every pass you cut out; they score one for every pass that gets through.
- Play 3 blocks of 2 minutes, then swap roles.
Coaching points
- Keep the striker in view. Glance over your shoulder every few seconds, not just once, so you always know where the striker is, even as they drift behind you.
- Stand in the passing lane. Shuffle across while still facing the ball, so you stay on the line between the ball and the striker. When the pass comes, step in front of it and take it with your first touch.
Not this
Running out to chase the ball on your own. The lane behind you opens and the pass goes straight into the striker.
Dose
- 3 blocks of 2 minutes
- Then swap roles
Our target: 3 blocks of 2 minutes as the screen, then swap roles (the Football Reach target, not an FA rule).
Harder / Easier
Harder
The passer may also dribble along their line to open a new lane, or pass wide to a cone on either side. A wide pass scores nothing: you forced it away from the middle.
Easier
The striker walks, and the passer counts to three out loud before each pass, until checking your shoulder and sliding across feel natural.
Safety
- Flat, dry grass with space around the box, never a road or a driveway.
- Passes along the ground only (no chips or lofted balls), so nothing is ever headed.
- Cut the pass out on your feet: step in front of the ball, no sliding and no tackles on the striker. Stop if anything hurts.
Sources
- FIFA Training Centre - game situations: developing central midfielders (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - preventing progression through central areas (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - 4v4 plus 2: protecting central areas (opens in a new tab)
- England Football Learning - defending in wide areas (anticipate, block, intercept) (opens in a new tab)
Not sure which skill to work on first? The free Football Reach test gives you a Player Development Score and shows which of the four corners of your game to work on next, in about two minutes.
Take the free test
