How do we stop being overrun?

locky76

Hey folks,
I'm involved in the management of a club football team, we're coming together nicely at the sharp end of the season however recently we have started being overrun at the start of the second half, how best should I deal with this?
After 10 minutes of being swamped in the 2nd half tonight I went with a 2 man full forward line and brought a wing forward back tonight to work from our 21 to the oppositions 45 just to break up play and win dirty ball, the opposition went with a free man working between their fullback and half back lines, it slowed down the opposition a bit but the general trend of being over run still exists...
Any other strategies to deal with this?

Prop Joe

How about going uber defensive for the 1st 10 mins after the break,at this stage it could be a mental block,Tell the players that this is a strategy to kill any momentum they will try to build before reverting back to type,Set a target of say 3 points max to be conceded.
Go with a sweeper in front of the full back line and play 3 across the middle and just build a wall.

Try to stop runners from deep and make the opposition kick the ball,Sweeper should intercept passes or the backs should break the ball with the sweeper or loose midfielder picking up the breaks.

When in possession of the ball get commit 1 midfielder to support the 4 forwards with everyone else staying back,Remember to kill the ball if there is not a shot on,Your aim is to run down the 10 min period you have set for your team.

After the 10 mins revert back to the tactics that have served you up to date,The opposition will have probably rejigged there formation to counter your defensive strategy,they will be forced to shuffle again when you go back to the original formation.

but most of all practice this on the training ground before you try it in game.

Best of luck

davegrohl48

Spring some subs at wing back half forward if ye have them Introduce a smaller runner at midfield with them Three early subs to boost yere coverage of the middle third Midfield runner just a high stamina runner who can tackle receive n give a pass

rebel girl 15

Whats the first ten minutes of a game like?? Why is it just that 10 min period after half time?

Whats the difference in your team in the first 10 of first half, and first 10 of second half? Is it a case where you may need to do a 3/4 min warm-up just before the start of the second half, to get the legs working and get back up to game speed, might be a case of doing a quick possession game - has worked for a lot of soccer teams in different studies, yet to be looked at in GAA, but could be an option if the first 10 mins of the game ye are on top. I'd love to actually see the game and do the analysis on it to see the difference between the two.

Playing a sweeper can backfire if the opposition push on - and decent opposition will deal with it quickly. I like the brick wall idea, but the team needs to be very disciplined with their tackling not to concede any silly frees.

Work on possession games in training, emphasis on handling, getting a string of passes together, movement off the ball. When a ball is turned over, there is an emphasis on working back, don't let players dive into tackles. Work on the defensive strategy, and working the ball as a three up the field, if a midfielder goes forward, a wing back goes backwards. It means you can have fresh runners going forward with the ball, and leave the guys who tracked backwards a quick breather

locky76

some nice options there folks to try out in our next challenge:
* uber defence
* half time warm up
* half back/forward substitutions
I suppose it is also against the backdrop of us playing teams a grade above us and we're still being quite competitive...

slingerz

locky76 wrote: »

some nice options there folks to try out in our next challenge:
* uber defence
* half time warm up
* half back/forward substitutions
I suppose it is also against the backdrop of us playing teams a grade above us and we're still being quite competitive...

Rather than going with a sweeper and inviting them onto you how about playing 4 half forwards? those breaking forward wont get much chance to break away with the reduction in space.

Santa Cruz

Our problem is we are too slow to get going. The opposition are five/six points before we score. As a result we get beaten or the game ends like the charge of the Light Brigade and we just get over the line or not. We have tried good warms ups with plenty ball handling, strict timekeeping so no stragglers arriving on late etc. Funnily enough it seems to be a trait in all our club teams

rebel girl 15

What would the warm-up consist of Santa Cruz? Happened with out club team and we managed to get rid of it so much so that in our provincial final we ended up flying the first half and having a poor second half

Hammar

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

What would the warm-up consist of Santa Cruz? Happened with out club team and we managed to get rid of it so much so that in our provincial final we ended up flying the first half and having a poor second half

+1
Santa Cruz,It sounds like a warm up problem to me.
What does it consist of?

grazeaway

I think you are over looking the obvious, the opposition.

They will have been watching you through the 1st half and will be spotting what you do. I would say their management will have told their lads to run at ye at half time. They have probably made a few positional changes and will try to get a run on your lads from mid field or half back. You probably have a couple of lads that are good footballers but loose around the middle of the field and these lads are getting targeted. Thus is probably pulling your inside forwards out and means your losing your shape up front.

The half time restart is more important then many realise. At the start of the game minds tend to be focused but can relax during the change over. You say ye are playing a grade above and these are the tell tale signs. By the time the players and management have re focused its 10 mins later.

ciarriaithuaidh

Don't worry OP, this is a problem common to many teams in many codes..its why in AFL they call those minutes either side of halftime the championship minutes..so many players switch off and think its already/still halftime..their minds and bodies are asleep to all intents and purposes.
Like a few posters say, this can be a mental issue.

Before I even say any more, one thing already touched on..halftime procedure. Let them sit and rehydrate for fully 5 mins, but after that have them on their feet and doing dynamic stretches. Some teams find a mini-warmup after halftime helps, but you don't have to go that far. Having players activate (to some degree) their muscles before the restart alone, will help a bit I'd bet.

To work on it in training, have conditioned games with 3 or 4 breaks and get players to then focus on the few minutes after the break. I hate to see people going with the obvious "drop a man back" advice. There isn't even a need to do that, at least not all the way into the defence. A couple of options would be to play 3 or 4 across the middle and get every player to push up hard on the opposition from that sector. A kind of 4-2-2 formation from midfeld up. You have to be wary not to cede quick kickouts and push up on those also, with the 2 forwards delegated having to immediately get into that area if the kickout bypasses them.
Another option (bit high level maybe) is to get a full court press going, push up on the opposition right to their fullback line. Watch Dublin's covering tactics in the second half of the Semi final against Kerry this year for an idea of what I mean..they were all too effective (sadly for us!) but brilliant tactically as we struggled to get the ball into even the middle third quickly enough.

Anyway, best of luck with it. hope some of this helps.

grazeaway

ciarriaithuaidh wrote: »

Don't worry OP, this is a problem common to many teams in many codes..its why in AFL they call those minutes either side of halftime the championship minutes..so many players switch off and think its already/still halftime..their minds and bodies are asleep to all intents and purposes.
Like a few posters say, this can be a mental issue.

Before I even say any more, one thing already touched on..halftime procedure. Let them sit and rehydrate for fully 5 mins, but after that have them on their feet and doing dynamic stretches. Some teams find a mini-warmup after halftime helps, but you don't have to go that far. Having players activate (to some degree) their muscles before the restart alone, will help a bit I'd bet.

To work on it in training, have conditioned games with 3 or 4 breaks and get players to then focus on the few minutes after the break. I hate to see people going with the obvious "drop a man back" advice. There isn't even a need to do that, at least not all the way into the defence. A couple of options would be to play 3 or 4 across the middle and get every player to push up hard on the opposition from that sector. A kind of 4-2-2 formation from midfeld up. You have to be wary not to cede quick kickouts and push up on those also, with the 2 forwards delegated having to immediately get into that area if the kickout bypasses them.
Another option (bit high level maybe) is to get a full court press going, push up on the opposition right to their fullback line. Watch Dublin's covering tactics in the second half of the Semi final against Kerry this year for an idea of what I mean..they were all too effective (sadly for us!) but brilliant tactically as we struggled to get the ball into even the middle third quickly enough.

Anyway, best of luck with it. hope some of this helps.

Spot on. Brian Cody's Kilkenny target the fist 10 mins of every half to go for goals and really kill off teams.

Putting in a tactic at the start of the second half where you pull extra players back and using a sweeper is just papering over a fault rather then fixing it. It also hands the initiative to your opposition and adds an unnessacary negative to your team.

keep going

Simple really get the ball, cant be overun if you have the ball

grazeaway

keep going wrote: »

Simple really get the ball, cant be overun if you have the ball

No point having the ball if you don't know how to use it. Possession for the sake of possession is not going to win you a game. Look at how teams like Kerry use it, hold when they need to but move it fast when they sense blood and kill off teams.

keep going

grazeaway wrote: »

No point having the ball if you don't know how to use it. Possession for the sake of possession is not going to win you a game. Look at how teams like Kerry use it, hold when they need to but move it fast when they sense blood and kill off teams.

It was an answer to this particular issue not a comment on general play

grazeaway

keep going wrote: »

It was an answer to this particular issue not a comment on general play

Having seen many teams lately that focus on retaining possession rather then using it I find it a mantra that focus's teams on retaining possession and dropping back to only enforce negatively in their play. You see it with players passing rather then backing themselves when they get into good positions. I was always told as a kid that you pass to a player in a better position. The amount of passes that you see given to players standing still or being marked is quite remarkable. This is especially the case in cork. I reckon that players are so programmed to pass that when they are pressurized that their first instinct is to hand pass the nearest player without looking for the better option. I'm all for recycling possession but once players get into space within scoring range they should be encouraged to score. Too much coaching nowadays seems to focus on the negative rather then encouraging the positive sides.