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Home/Training Drills/Possession Drills/Playing Out from the Back
PossessionIntermediate

Playing Out from the Back

Beat a press by playing through it, not around it. Get the shape right first, centre-backs split, pivot dropping to form a diamond with the keeper, then draw the press and play the pass that removes the presser from the game.

Create your own drill
Live animationPOS
Duration
11 min
Total drill time
Players
5
Recommended
Pitch
46 × 36 m
Setup space
Level
Intermediate
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U11-U12
Any format

Setup & instructions

The keeper starts with the ball, centre-backs split wide, and a holding midfielder drops to form a diamond. Play out to a centre-back to draw the presser, then bounce into the pivot in the vacated space to turn and play forward. Get the shape right before the first pass. Add pressers to make the press real, and rotate.

Setup time: 2 min

Tactical breakdown

Playing out from the back will cost you goals while a team is learning it. That is not a risk to be managed away with better coaching, it is the actual price, and a coach who has not decided in advance to pay it will abandon the whole idea in October after a bad Saturday. Deciding beforehand, and telling the parents beforehand, is the single most useful preparation for this exercise.

With that settled, the mechanics are learnable. Shape comes before the first pass, always: centre-backs splitting wide of the box, the pivot dropping in, the keeper making the fourth point of a diamond. Teams that start passing before the shape exists are simply playing risky football rather than playing out.

The idea players find hardest is that the ball is bait. The point is not to escape the press quickly, it is to invite it, because a presser who has committed is a presser who has taken himself out of the game. That means holding the ball a beat longer than feels safe and passing at the moment somebody commits, not before.

Which pass matters more than how well it is struck. The right one removes the presser, going into the space behind or beside him rather than square across the face of goal. Square passes across your own box are how the goals in the first paragraph actually get conceded.

And the honest exit: if the press is genuinely good and the shape has failed, go long. A team that cannot recognise when playing out is not on has misunderstood the instruction as a rule.

How to run this drill

  1. Decide in advance to accept the goals. It will cost you some. A coach who has not settled that beforehand abandons the whole approach after one bad afternoon.
  2. Get the shape before the first pass. Centre-backs split, pivot drops, keeper completes the diamond. Passing before the shape exists is just risky football.
  3. Use the ball as bait. The aim is to invite the press, not escape it. A presser who commits has removed himself, which is the whole mechanism.
  4. Hold it a beat longer than feels safe. Releasing before anybody commits leaves every opponent still in position and wastes the shape you just built.
  5. Play the pass that removes the presser. Behind or beside him, into the space he left. Which pass you choose matters more than how cleanly it is struck.
  6. Never pass square across your own box. That is the specific pass that turns playing out into a conceded goal, and it is the one under-pressure players reach for.
  7. Recognise when it is not on. Against a genuinely good press with the shape broken, go long. Treating playing out as a rule rather than an option is how it fails.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Get the shape right before the first pass: split the centre-backs, drop the pivot
  • Use the ball as bait: draw the press onto you, do not rush it
  • Play the pass that removes the presser, into the space they leave
  • Pivot receives on the half-turn to play forward in one movement
  • The keeper is the spare player: use them to switch and reset the press
  • Stay calm and keep your head up under pressure

Common mistakes

  • Poor shape before the ball moves, so there is no easy second pass
  • Rushing the play instead of drawing the press first
  • Pivot receiving with a closed body and unable to turn
  • Forcing a pass into the press instead of around or through it

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Add a second and third presser for a realistic high press
  • Add a target up the pitch to reach once the press is beaten
  • Condition the pressers to a trigger so the timing is game-realistic

Regressions

  • Passive pressers to groove the shape and the pattern
  • Add a spare player to overload the build-up
  • Walk the shape and the first two passes before adding a press
Equipment
Full Goals×1
Markers×3
Tactical principles
playing out from the backbeating the presssplitting the centre backsdropping pivotgoalkeeper build upremoving the presseru12 possession drillplaying through the pressbuild up shapedrawing the press
Audience
U11-U12

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All Possession drillsAll drill collectionsPossession for U11-U12

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