Training idea: Gates game inspired by Wolves U18s

Having watched the latest coaching course on Coaches’ Voice Academy, a brilliant resource, delivered by James McPike with Wolves’ Under-18s, I adapted one of his sessions to increase the focus on diagonal play. The original session is good, particularly with higher numbers and is more directional than my adaptation, so I will likely use it in the future and I have outlined it below.

Although I normally favour directional practices, I wanted to focus on diagonality as a principle when in possession. Diagonal passes pose more of a threat than horizontal or vertical passes, which are useful at the right time, but have limitations. While vertical passes do advance the team up the pitch quickly, the player receiving the ball often has their back to goal and will require support to advance any further and attack. Horizontal passes can be used to change the point of attack and are often received by players facing forwards or in towards the middle of the pitch, but they do not immediately advance the team up the pitch. Diagonal passes however, provide the benefits of both, allowing a team to progress the ball up the pitch, change the point of attack and also receive the ball facing forwards. It was for this reason I wanted to work on them within the session.

Layout

Rules

The game is played on an approximately 30x30m field, which can be adjusted based on age/ability, with an approx. 10x10m diamond marked out in the middle. Four gates are also marked, one in each corner. Players are free to move anywhere in a 7v7+2 and should look to play as many passes as possible, using the neutrals to create a 9v7 overload in possession.

Extra points are scored for passing through the gates or the central diamond. Diagonal passes through the diamond, which go in one side and out the opposite side (green arrow), are scored higher than horizontal/vertical passes that ‘cut’ the corner of the diamond, which go in one side and out an adjacent side (blue arrow).

If the defending team win the ball, they look to do the same, creating a 9v7 overload themselves.

Scoring

- Play 8 consecutive passes - 1 point
- Pass through one of the gates - 1 point
- Horizontal/vertical pass through the diamond (blue arrow) - 2 points
- Diagonal pass through the diamond (green arrow) - 3 points
- Pass in to the diamond and back out in a different direction - 3 points

I have outlined some variations and the impact they may have on the practice:

Add mini-goals to the outside to create a transition game

Rather than a 7v7+2, the game would now be played as 9v7 in favour of the Blues, who would look to pass through the gates or diamond as before. Should the Yellows in the ball, they would attack the mini-goals on the outside of the pitch, looking to score as quickly as possible.

While changing the game in this way makes it less possession based for the Yellows as they are underloaded, this set up increases the emphasis on quick transitions from both teams.

After passing through a gate, the furthest diagonal gate is worth 3 points for six seconds

Although one of the key coaching points of the original practice is to quickly switch play into space when the opportunity presents itself, this condition will help emphasise this. When passing through a gate, the opposition (Yellows below) will naturally be drawn towards the ball, leaving a space on the far side of the pitch. Players should therefore look to exploit this as quickly as possible, in order to retain possession and score more points. This implicitly encourages the principle of ‘overload to isolate’, where short passes are played to draw the opposition to one area of the pitch, before a quick switch of play to a teammate in space and a dangerous position.

If you feel this is not coming out in the practice enough, making the furthest diagonal gate worth 3 points for 6 seconds should remedy this. Only giving them 6 seconds keeps it realistic to a game, as the space will need to be utilised quickly for it to be most effective. Should a team switch the ball slowly, the opposition will have time to adjust their shape as the ball moves. With this condition, as with any that encourage an idea implicitly, it is important the players understand why the idea is being encouraged — in this case ‘overload to isolate’. If not, they will simply stop performing this action once the condition is removed.

Add goals, which players must score in to ‘cash in’ their points from gates

The practice is changed, to include a full-size goal and goalkeeper at each end, making it an 8v8+2. Players can still score points in the same way, however if they lost the ball, the points from that passage of play will not count. In order to ‘cash in’ these points, a goal must be scored.

Although the size of the field could be stretched, keeping it small will lead to more goals be scored and therefore a more entertaining and engaging game. With teams each attacking one goal, the practice will become more directional. Positioning of players will now need to be relevant

The position of the gates nearest the goal should naturally lead to a lot of cut backs across goal, with players encouraged to arrive in dangerous areas in front of goal as the ball arrives.

Coaching points

In Possession

- Make the pitch big
- Movement into space
- Quick switches of play
- Positioning to utilise diagonal passes
- Quick combinations to play centrally

Out of possession

- Protect the middle
- Force play in one direction
- Triggers to press aggressively
- Cut off passing lanes
- Use the touchline as a defender

The McPike Session

Rules and scoring

- 8v8+2 keepers as neutrals and servers
- Play 6 consecutive passes — 1 point
- Pass or dribble through one of the black gates — 1 point
- Pass or dribble through one of the red gates — 2 points

Bonus session

Saw this one from Pep Guardiola recently — video courtesy of Albin Sheqiri, who is well worth a follow:
https://twitter.com/albinsheqiri/status/1611447088352469013