To mount an effective offensive attack, teams need to be skilled at attacking in the final third. Attacking in the final third requires getting players forward and getting players around the ball. Once players are forward and around the ball, then they must be trained on attacking in the final third.
In the clip below Elmar Bolowich, former Creighton University Men’s Head Coach and current Executive Director of Armada Youth FC in Jacksonville, Fla, describes a drill that he calls Up Back and Through that is designed to help a teams attack in the final third of the field.
The clip is from World Class Coaching. You can get other great coaching tips by clicking on the link above, or by visiting the World Class Coaching YouTube Channel
The YouTube video has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site (Some schools block access to YouTube)
This drill begins with a support player back with the ball. He will have a target player in the middle of the field being checked by to players. Two other attacking player are positioned on either side of flank of the target player. Each Flank player is defended by an outside back that may be positioned in the gap or in line with the flanker.
The drill begins with the support player moving the ball to the target player in the middle of the field. The target player returns the ball to the support player that has now moved forward. The support player will the play the ball forward to the flanker on his side of the field. The player on the flank must read his defender. If the outside backer is in the gap, he runs straight to receive the ball. If the backer is in line with him, he must run hard through the gap to receive the ball. Once the ball has been passed forward then all three players are attacking in the final third to score.