The Offside Trap
The Offside Trap is a great skill for your players to learn.
Stepping up to 9 a side offers plenty of challenges, the main one being “Offside” coming into play.
This is done in phases.
Phase I – The Offside Trap
Start off marking a zone of about 15 meters just outside the Penalty Area.
Place 2 defenders toward the back of the zone.
Place 2 forwards about 15 yards outside the front of the zone.
One of the forwards will make a straight run in between the defender.
The defenders have to work to together to step up at the right time to catch the forward offside.
Phase II – Multiple Runners
Once the defenders have got the hang of Phase I it’s time to step it up and make it more complicated.
For now, the runners will still only make Straight runs, as this part of the drill is about setting the trap. Beating it comes later.
This also puts a lot more emphasis on the passer. Can they time it right, will they choose the right pass.
It puts an extra level of pressure on the defence too.
Now they have to make sure they time they’re stepping up right before the pass gets played and they get to play the right player offside.
This is where you can start to develop a leader at the back. Encourage Communication between the players.
If they don’t get the Offside Trap right, let it play out as this then test quickness of thought & recovery of the defenders and brings the Goalkeeper into play.
Is their starting position right, were they able to come out and intercept?
Phase III – The Offside Trap – And how to beat it
Once the defenders are well drilled into setting the Offside Trap, it’s time to switch the tables and teach the forwards how to beat it.
This time, instead of running in a straight line past the defenders, just before the forward gets in line they are going to bend their run in front of the defenders before bending it again as the ball is played.
This requires perfect timing.
It also requires intelligence from the passer… to see where the forwards run is going and to play it into the right space.
Phase IV – Adding tracking runners
The final phase is to add tracking runners into play.
This requires communication and awareness on the defences part.
The tracking runners need to be aware of the defenders stepping up and not go past them so they don’t play the attacking runners on side.
The defenders need to be aware of the tracking runners positions before they try and deploy the Offside trap.
Once this phase has been tried, all of the above can be tried in practice games.
The Offside Trap – What to Expect
Move through the phases slowly, don’t try to do them all in one session, spread them out over a 6 week period.
It’s going to take players time to get used to this, especially if they have just moved up to 9v9 and are having to deal with offside for the first time.
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