U16 USSDA – Playing out of the back

This blog is about discussing things related to coaching soccer and player development, specifically from the perspective of a possession-oriented coach.

In my first ever blog post I outlined some key possession concepts, one of which is “playing out of the back.”

Recently, I shared a post from a U18 USSDA training session I observed locally.

Here is an excerpt from that post:

Now, before we get too far, let’s clarify the assumptions being made here:

• We are assuming that the teams we are analyzing want to be possession-oriented.
• We are assuming they selected their players according to that desired style of play and that they work on this specific aspect of their game, playing from the back, in a similar way to the U18 team (the assistant coach for the U18s, mentioned above, is the U16 head coach).

 

Last weekend I went out to watch the U16s play their first game.

Here is what I saw as they attempted to play from the back:

 

The lack of depth provided by the CB (not to mention lack of awareness and not keeping an open body position) leads to a variety of turnovers, all of which nearly turn disastrous for the team.

The following weekend, the team almost completely abandoned playing out of the back.  From the onset they opted to punt and take long restarts over playing out of the back.  A lack of success in the opening game seemingly resulted in a change of philosophy.

 

What is the main take-away?

Possession soccer is positional; if positioning and spacing are poor, it will always be a disaster.

It is not just about selecting the best players and letting them play.  And you can’t superficially cover something like this.  In order to implement a possession-oriented philosophy it requires that one understands all of the key details, how they fit together, and most importantly, how to train them.