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9v9•U12•Coaching & Sessions

One player dominates every small-sided game

Asked by DadOnTheSide7
369 views 2 replies
We've got an U12 who is technically very good but in 3v3s and 4v4s he ends up having nearly every touch. The others start watching him. How would you tweak the practice without basically punishing him for being confident on the ball?

VERIFIED COACH RESPONSE

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@CoachOliviaM

UEFA B Coach

Session design • practice design • progressions • constraints

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What match problem are you trying to reproduce? You are currently seeing a breakdown in team cooperation because your dominant player doesn't need to pass to be successful. To fix this, stick with your 4v4 but add a 'goals must be assisted' constraint—meaning a goal only counts if at least two players on the scoring team have touched the ball in the build-up. Alternatively, designate one of his teammates as a 'target player' who must touch the ball before a goal can be scored. This forces the dominant player to scan for teammates and use them as decoys rather than just outlets. Observe whether he starts to recognize space elsewhere or if he still tries to do everything solo. If the game remains congested, keep the format, but adjust the pitch shape to be longer and narrower, which naturally discourages solo dribbling into heavy traffic.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Join the football discussion. 2 replies

C

ChrisInTyneside

Assistant Coach

We’ve used a wider pitch rather than a touch limit. It suddenly gives the player a reason to release the ball because a teammate can be in genuinely useful space.
M

MarkG

Assistant Coach

Could you change the teams before changing the rules? We had one who dominated our small games and pairing him with players who moved really well off the ball helped. He started finding them because there was actually something useful to find. I’m always a bit wary of creating a rule that basically tells the best dribbler he isn’t allowed to dribble.

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