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Home/Training Drills/Passing Drills/Up-Back-Through Passing Pattern
PassingIntermediate

Up-Back-Through Passing Pattern

Execute the up-back-through combination with clean weight and timing. Play a firm pass into feet, lay it off first time, and release the runner in behind with a well-weighted through ball.

Create your own drill
Live animationPAS
Duration
12 min
Total drill time
Players
4
Recommended
Pitch
30 × 20 m
Setup space
Level
Intermediate
Skill required
Intensity
Medium
Physical demand
Age band
U9-U10
Any format

Setup & instructions

Set the stations with cones and a mannequin as the defensive line. Play up into the striker's feet, who lays it back first time to the arriving midfielder, who then slides a through ball past the mannequin for the runner. Focus on the weight of each pass and the timing of the run. Rotate through the positions and run it from both sides.

Setup time: 2 min

Tactical breakdown

Three passes make up this combination and only the third is genuinely difficult. Up into the striker's feet is a firm pass to a stationary target. Back first time is a lay-off over five yards. The through ball is where the sequence succeeds or dies, and it is the one coaches spend the least time on because the first two look neater when drilled.

Weight is the whole problem. Too heavy and the ball runs through to the keeper, which turns a broken line into a goal kick. Too light and the runner has to slow down, which lets the recovering defender back in and removes the advantage the first two passes just created. The target is a ball the runner reaches at full stride without adjusting, and the only way to find it is repetition with a moving runner rather than a cone.

The lay-off has its own detail that gets skipped. It should be played first time and into the path of the arriving midfielder, not to his feet. A set to feet forces him to take a touch, and that touch is exactly the moment the defensive line uses to step up and put the runner offside.

The timing of the run behind is the last piece. Starting too early means offside, starting too late means the through ball has to wait and the window shuts. The runner should be arriving as the lay-off is struck, not before.

How to run this drill

  1. Play up into feet firmly. A pass the striker can hold without stretching. Underhit and he has to come to meet it, which drags him out of the position the combination needs him in.
  2. Lay it back first time. No control touch. The set is played into the path of the arriving midfielder rather than to his feet, so his next action is the through ball.
  3. Time the run to the lay-off. The runner arrives as the set is struck. Too early is offside, too late means the through ball has to wait and the defensive line has already recovered.
  4. Weight the through ball to full stride. Reachable without slowing and without running through to the keeper. This is the pass the whole combination depends on and the one least often practised.
  5. Play it into space, not at the runner. Ahead of him and into the channel he is attacking. A through ball aimed at a moving player arrives behind him by the time it gets there.
  6. Add a defensive line once it is grooved. Even a passive back line changes the timing completely, because now the run has to beat an offside trap rather than just arrive at the right moment.

Coaching focus

FROM SESSION PLAN

Coaching points

  • Play up firmly and to the striker's back foot
  • Lay it back first time into the midfielder's path
  • Time the through ball to the runner, not to feet
  • Weight the through ball so the runner does not break stride
  • Runner holds the run until the midfielder is set to release it

Common mistakes

  • A soft pass up that lets the striker be closed down
  • Laying the ball back behind the midfielder's run
  • Playing the through ball to feet instead of into space
  • The runner going too early and stepping offside

Progressions & regressions

VARIATIONS

Progressions

  • One touch throughout the combination
  • Add a passive then active defender on the line
  • Finish with a shot after the runner receives

Regressions

  • Walk the pattern to learn the sequence and the movement
  • Remove the mannequin and open the through-ball lane
  • Allow extra touches at each station
Equipment
Cones×3
Mannequins×1
Tactical principles
up back throughpassing combinationthird ball weightlay off and through ballbreaking linespassing patterncombination play drillthrough ball drilltechnical passing drillu10 passing drill
Audience
U9-U10

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