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The following is part of the correspondence with a U-9 Travel Coach whose team plays 7v7. SoccerHelp's response and the full 9 pages are on SoccerHelp Premium. We recommended a different formation and many topics are discussed.
Dear SoccerHelp, I am coaching a boys under 9 travel team. It is a new team as of September. Many of the teams we have been playing were together the prior year, so the beginning was tough, but we have improved, as we started to tie games, then won our first game last Sunday. We are allowed 6 + goalie on the field (7 v 7). I have been playing a 2-1-3 formation, calling the back two a sweeper and stopper, to help teach them to learn to cover each other, and give us more depth. The midfielder I call a "Trailer" and he trails the action and clears/distributes the ball to our forwards. This works well when I have a fast aggressive player playing trailer. The trailer does our throw ins. I have been reading (and enjoying) your Premium site, and have incorporated your games and strategy as much as possible. The marking, throw in suggestions, and short corners work fantastic when we can execute them well. I have a mix of skills on the team: a couple fast all around players, a couple fast good defenders, a couple slow but tough players, a fast but weak foot skills, a good foot skills but timid, and a couple of smaller but decent (when aggressive) players. We have had trouble maintaining possession on goal kicks and punts when playing better teams. Most of our goals have been from a wing persevering and scoring, not the teamwork I would like to see. Last practice I instructed the wings to practice a "tap-stop" at speed, coming over the ball, turning, then pushing the ball to the middle, to try to drill in the idea ( most of our crosses have been poor, and into the penalty area where the goalie gets them first). The one player who did this last game was responsible for assisting 2 goals and several attempts, so I'd like to continue to emphasize this or something like it. I would GREATLY appreciate any insight and suggestions you might have. Do you have any specifics for team position strategy when the goalie is distributing the ball? Also, I was wondering how you think a 2-2-2 might work for us. Sincerely, Allen, Boys U-9 Travel Coach, New York, USA
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