When, How and Why to Go Wide: U11-U12 (75 Min)
A seventy-five minute session for under-11s and under-12s on attacking from wide areas. The younger version of this theme is one player beating a defender and pulling it back. This one adds the rest: the delivery itself, the overlap that creates the space, the wide two against one, and runners who arrive in pairs rather than one striker standing alone. Every ball into the box stays on the ground, because under-11s are not allowed to head it.
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Objective: Warm up with passing over distance
Coach note: Stretch the distances a little more than a normal warm-up, since the whole session involves moving the ball across the width of the pitch and a soft pass will not get there. Keep it competitive with a count and get both feet involved now.
Objective: Deliver a usable ball, and be the player who finishes it
Coach note: The published guidance asks for variety in the delivery, so within the ground-only rule there is still a real choice to coach: a cutback near the byline, a driven ball across the six-yard area, a short pull-back to the edge. Ask which one the situation wanted rather than drilling one. On the finishing side the fault is almost always timing rather than technique, since players sprint to the near post and arrive before the ball. Late is better than early. Water break between the two activities.
crossing · 4 players
Ground deliveries only. Coach the variety of low ball, not one correct cross.
Open full drillObjective: Use a second player to get free out wide
Coach note: A half-hearted overlap is worse than none at all, because the defender ignores it and the wide player has now telegraphed the pass. Insist the runner goes properly. In the two against one, the recurring fault is passing before the defender has committed, which just gives him time to slide across and defend both. Same rule as anywhere else: run at him, and when he comes, the other player is free. Water break between the two activities.
crossing · 4 players
The run has to be committed. A half-hearted overlap is worse than no overlap.
Open full drillcrossing · 5 players
Commit the defender before releasing. Keep every delivery on the ground.
Open full drillObjective: Make width the way to score, and keep it on the floor
Coach note: Three conditions is more than this library usually allows at once, so introduce them in order rather than all at the start: channel first, then ground-only, then two runners. Check involvement after each. The two-runner rule is the one that changes the picture most, because one striker alone in the box is a defender's easiest afternoon and it is the single most common sight in youth football. Remove the conditions one at a time for the last games and say nothing. Whatever survives without the rule is what was learned.
crossing · 12 players
Introduce the three conditions one at a time, not all at once. Remove them one at a time at the end.
Open full drillObjective: End calmly and check the recognition landed
Coach note: Keep this short and be honest about why it exists. Cool-down research in adults shows no effect on soreness or next-day performance and there is no children's evidence at all, so this block is here for ritual and reflection. Ask what tells them to go wide rather than telling them again. The answer you want is that the middle was full, and hearing a player say it is worth more than hearing you say it.
conditioning · 4 players
Relaxed and brief. The conversation matters more than the movement.
Open full drillSession philosophy
The theme, the principles, and the outcomes you should see in players by the final whistle.
Session theme
Attacking from wide areas with low deliveries
Session day type: training
Key principles
- Crowded in the middle means the answer is outside
- Get to the byline before you give it
- Along the ground, behind their last defender
- Never one striker alone in the box
Learning outcomes
- Players recognise a congested central area as the cue to switch it wide
- Players carry into the byline rather than delivering as soon as they get wide
- Players deliver low and behind the last defender rather than across the goalmouth
- At least two attackers arrive in the box on a wide delivery
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