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Home/Training Drills/Possession Drills/Take It Out and Bring It Back
PossessionAdvanced

Take It Out and Bring It Back

Train the long switch as a deliberate tool rather than a last resort. Players work the ball away from the target to drag the shape, combine to escape pressure, then find the far side and attack the goals from the space that has opened.

Create your own drill
Live animationPOS
Duration
20 min
Total drill time
Players
10
Recommended
Pitch
Full Pitch
Setup space
Level
Advanced
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U15-U16
Any format

Setup & instructions

Set three pairs of mannequins as lines across a 35x23m area, with a central pole gate and two mini-goals side by side at one end. Start with the ball near the goals. Work it away with a carry and a wall pass, then hit a long pass to the far side, combine there, and switch it back through the lines to finish in either mini-goal. Send the next ball as the previous sequence reaches the far side, so two waves are always running. Rotate players through every station.

Setup time: 4 min

Tactical breakdown

Possession drills tend to reward the nearest pass. Keep the ball, find the free man, repeat, and after a while a group gets very good at circulating in a small area and no better at doing anything with it.

The structure here forces the opposite habit. The target goals sit at one end, and the pattern deliberately takes the ball away from them, nearly twenty metres in the wrong direction, before bringing it back. That sounds inefficient and it is exactly what good sides do: the ball goes to one side to make the opposition shift, and the goal is scored on the other. Practising the journey, rather than just the final pass, is what makes the habit stick.

The three lines of mannequins are what stop it becoming a passing rhythm. Every significant transfer has to go through or around something, which means the receiving player's body shape matters on every touch. Receive the long ball square and the return journey costs an extra touch, by which point the imagined defensive line has reset.

Running it in waves matters more than it appears. A single ball means seven of the ten players are watching at any moment, and watching is where habits go to die. With a second wave starting as the first reaches the far side, players are constantly either involved or about to be, and the tempo is set by the exercise rather than by whoever happens to have the ball. It also stops the group treating each sequence as a set piece to be performed neatly, which is the failure mode of every patterned possession drill.

How to run this drill

  1. Carry at the first line before passing. Releasing the ball from a standing start leaves the line exactly where it was. The carry is what commits it and makes the following pass worth playing.
  2. Use the wall pass to escape, then look long. The one-two is not the objective, it is the way out of the first line. The moment it comes back, the far side should already be the plan.
  3. Take the long option, not the next man. There is always a shorter pass available and taking it collapses the whole idea. The switch is the pass this drill exists to rehearse.
  4. Receive the switch on the half turn. Arriving square means an extra touch to turn, and the return journey is already a pass behind. Open your body while the long ball is travelling.
  5. Play through the lines, never across them. The square ball in front of a defensive line is the one that gets intercepted and turned into a counter. Go through the gap or round the end.
  6. Choose your goal early. Two mini-goals side by side cannot both be covered. Deciding late means the defender has time to shuffle across and take the easy one away.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Carry before the first pass so the mannequin line has to be beaten, not walked past
  • Wall pass to escape, then look long immediately
  • The long ball is the point: do not settle for the next man across
  • Receive the long pass on the half turn, already facing back
  • Play through the lines, never square in front of them
  • Pick a goal early: two targets means the defender cannot cover both

Common mistakes

  • Taking the short option instead of the long switch, which collapses the whole pattern
  • Receiving the long pass square, so the return journey needs an extra touch
  • Playing square in front of a mannequin line rather than through it
  • Waves sent too close together, so the two sequences collide in midfield

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • Two touch throughout
  • Add live defenders in place of the middle mannequin pair
  • Require the finish to come in the opposite goal from the one the ball started nearest

Regressions

  • Remove one line of mannequins
  • Unlimited touches while the route is being learned
  • Run one ball at a time rather than in waves
Equipment
Goals×2
Mannequins×6
Poles×2
Tactical principles
possession drill footballswitching play drillplaying through the lines drillbuild up play drillpositional play drillu15 possession drilllong switch drillmidfield passing drill10 player passing drillcombination play drill
Audience
U15-U16

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All Possession drillsAll drill collectionsPossession for U15-U16

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