3. Movement

To challenge, players have to get close to an opponent, which requires good movement skills. They need to be able to turn, rush out to press, and change speed and direction. Players also need good balance – to stay on their feet – and good coordination. For example, using their upper body to make contact and their lower body to steal the ball. With this in mind, you must support your players’ physical development. Arrival activities that include tag games can help hone movement skills. A great example is ball tag. To give this activity a go, mark out an area and give a ball to a team of ‘taggers’. Their job is to pass the ball to each other using their hands and tag the other team. However, when a ‘tagger’ has the ball, they must stand still. This means they need to move into a good position before receiving the ball. You can use more than one football to make things harder and encourage more movement.

4. Positioning

When challenging, to get into a good position, a player needs to be close enough to make contact with the ball. Alternatively, they should be positioned to force an opponent to go towards a supporting defender.

Try an activity that rewards tackling to help your players work on this. For example, have two teams play a classic football game on a pitch split into thirds. Then, to ensure more focus on challenging, add the following scoring system. Reward a team with three points if they win possession in their defensive third and score, two for doing so in the middle third, and one if it happens in their attacking third.

5. Deception

Being able to disguise a challenge is a really useful skill. For example, using an action that suggests you’re going in for a tackle, but not actually challenging, can confuse your opponent. This could force them to make the first move or a mistake. Setting up games, such as 1v1 duels in 10×10 yard areas, is an excellent way for players to develop their deception skills. Give players a point each time they touch the ball, win possession or force their opponent out of the area. After each successful action, the defender needs to run outside the practice area and then come back into play. With so much repetition, defenders will need to use deception to change their approach to make it difficult for the player on the ball to keep possession.

6. Techniques

Finally, when challenging, players must demonstrate a good variety of techniques. This can range from adapting to block a shot on goal, positioning themselves to intercept or using different parts of the foot to challenge cleanly and keep possession of the ball. It can also be the ability to get between the opponent and the ball – dipping a shoulder to create space. Mastering these techniques will increase the likelihood of winning the ball. To work on them with your team, set up small-sided duels. Then, to increase the possibilities, add goals or target areas. This gives players the chance to experience blocking shots and challenging for the ball.

Putting it together

To master the challenging, players need to be efficient in each of the six areas above. To see this in action, check out the video above.