Spin in behind
Transcript
Check short, and the space opens up behind your defender. Here's how. Warm up first. You need a goal, a server with a ball, and a friend to defend, eleven metres out. Watch. Check short to drag them, spin, curve your run across, then go as the ball is played. First, spin off their shoulder. Then, stay level until the pass. Not this. Going too early puts you offside. Defend on your feet. Our target is three sets of six, resting ninety seconds. After any knock to the head, if in doubt, sit them out. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
Movement in behind: check short to drag your defender towards the ball, spin off their shoulder and curve your run, staying level until the pass, then arrive on a ground through ball at speed. The FA lists spinning in behind among a striker's key movements.
Set up
- A goal
- A server with a ball
- A friend to defend
- Defender 11 m out
How it works
- Warm up first. Use a goal. Your friend, the defender, starts about 11 m out (level with the penalty spot), facing you. You start about 3 m in front of them.
- The server stands out wide with the balls, about 9 m to one side of you and level with you.
- Check short towards the server, two or three quick steps. The defender follows you, on their feet.
- Spin off their shoulder and curve your run across them, staying level. As you reach their line, the server passes along the ground into the space behind the defender. Run onto it and finish first time.
- Jog back and spin the other way next time. Do 3 sets of 6 runs with 90 seconds of rest between sets (our target), then swap roles.
Coaching points
- Spin off their shoulder. Take two or three quick steps towards the server so your defender follows you. Then spin away from them and go past their shoulder: FIFA describes strikers dragging their marker, moving away with a short burst, then running deep again.
- Stay level until the pass. Bend your run across the defender, not straight at goal, so you stay level with them until the server passes. Level is onside: what counts is where you are at the moment the pass is played. Then sprint onto the ball; do not wait for it.
Not this
Running in behind before the pass is played. If you are already past the defender at the moment of the pass you are offside, and the defender can read where the ball is going.
Dose
- 3 sets of 6 runs
- 90 s rest between sets
Our target: 3 sets of 6 runs, 90 seconds of rest between sets, spinning both ways (the Football Reach target, not an FA rule).
Harder / Easier
Harder
The defender is fully active and can intercept, on their feet. Or the server passes to your feet first: lay it back first time, then spin in behind for the return pass.
Easier
The defender is passive: they walk after you, or use a cone as the defender. The server can pass slower and from closer until the timing feels natural.
Safety
- If in doubt, sit them out: anyone with a suspected concussion stops straight away, does no training for at least 24 hours and plays no matches for at least 21 days (UK concussion guidelines).
- The defender stays on their feet: no slide tackles, no pushing, pulling or holding. Every pass and every finish stays on the ground.
- Only use a goal that is anchored to the ground or has a weighted back bar, and never climb or swing on it.
- Warm up first. Flat grass, never a road or driveway, with nobody behind the goal. Stop if anything hurts.
Sources
- The FA Boot Room - how to coach forward movement (opens in a new tab)
- England Football Learning - how to coach turning in football (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - movement to attack the space in behind (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA Training Centre - balls in behind the defence (opens in a new tab)
- The IFAB - Laws of the Game, Law 11: offside (opens in a new tab)
- The FA - goalpost safety (opens in a new tab)
- England Football - UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport (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.
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