Flooding the penalty area

by Tony Carr in Attacking, Practice plans

 PRINT
 Save to My Activities

This session aims to improve the movement of your forwards when getting into the opponents box in order to score from a cross.

What this session is about

1.  The forwards working together to make different runs.

2.  Midfielders getting into the box.
3.  Covering all areas of the box to give your team the maximum chance of scoring a goal.

What to think about

When the ball is in wide areas you must have players getting into the penalty area if you are going to score from crosses.

In addition its vitally important that the players make different runs so that they are covering the whole of the penalty area, giving your
team the best chance of scoring a goal.

Make sure players are communicating their movements. This ensures the forwards do not all run to the same area. It also helps the
midfielder decide where to aim.

Set-up

  40 yards x 70 yards area.

Warm up Session Developments Game Situation Warm Down

10 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes 5 minutes

What you get your players to do

The midfielder must play a pass into space for the wide player to run and cross the ball.

The two forwards must make a crossover run to get into the box so that one is attacking the near post and one is attacking the far post.
<img src="https://soccercoaching-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Flooding-the-penalty-area-074-1.jpg"
class="aligncenter" alt="The two forwards make different runs so that the near post and far post areas are covered." />

The two forwards make different runs so that the near post and far post areas are covered.

Development

Now add a midfielder to the practice for the attacking team and two defenders to play against the two forwards.

The inclusion of the midfielder gives the attacking team a 3v2 on the cross.

This type of late running midfielder getting into the box is in the mould of Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard. Arriving late often makes
players more difficult to track and mark effectively.
<img src="https://soccercoaching-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Flooding-the-penalty-area-074-2.jpg"
class="aligncenter" alt="The two forwards cover the near and far post areas which leaves the central area for a midfielder to attack." />

The two forwards cover the near and far post areas which leaves the central area for a midfielder to attack.

Game situation

Progress to include a midfielder for the defending team and a second midfielder joins the attacking team. You act as a server.

Pass into the attacking team who must make three passes before passing to the wing.

Now the two forwards are joined by one midfielder in the box and one midfielder on the edge of the box for any knockdowns or
clearances.
<img src="https://soccercoaching-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Flooding-the-penalty-area-074-3.jpg"
class="aligncenter" alt="The two midfielders and forwards combine to get the ball wide before getting into the penalty area for the
cross." />

The two midfielders and forwards combine to get the ball wide before getting into the penalty area for the cross.

What to call out

 “Get the cross into the box early”

 “Time your runs”
 “Attack the different areas”