3v1 in a Six-Yard Square

Objective

• Keep it away from one defender, and learn what a triangle is for

Set-up and how it runs

• Four cones in a six-yard square. Three keep the ball, one defends inside.
• The two players without the ball move to give the one on it two options — that is the whole drill.
• Whoever loses it goes in the middle.
• It is deliberately tight. Expect it to be scrappy before it is good.

Equipment

• 4 cones per group
• A ball per group

Coaching points

• Two options, always — one is not enough and three is not possible
• Move as the ball moves, not after it arrives
• Pass firmly; a soft pass in this space is an interception
• Look at the far option before you receive

Progressions

• Limit the touches
• Widen to eight yards if it never settles
• 5v2 in a bigger square

What it develops

Technical

Passing and receiving

Psychosocial

Decision making

Tactical

Possession

Physical

Perception and awareness