4-4-2 wide 2v1: full-back and wide midfielder
Full-back and wide midfielder take on one defender down the flank, choosing between the overlap, the underlap and the give-and-go. Builds the wide partnership a 4-4-2 relies on.
Your assistant coach: turn this drill into a full session, plan the weeks around it and tell me how it went.
Set-up
- 15 m wide channel along the touchline ending at the box.
- Pairs (full-back and wide midfielder) queue at the start; one defender in the channel; two strikers in the box.
Equipment: Cones, balls, goal
How it works
- Wide midfielder receives from the full-back and the 2v1 begins.
- Get past the defender and cross for the two strikers.
- Defender wins it: dribble back over the start line.
Coaching points
- Commit the defender before you pass.
- Overlap if the defender stays inside, underlap if they show you outside.
- Cross early if the strikers are already moving.
Formations this drill suits
Add this drill to a session plan โ
Make it easier
- Defender starts 5 m behind
- Strikers unopposed
Make it harder
- Defender recovers from level
- Add a defender in the box
AttackersDefendersKeeper / neutral- - โ Passโ Runใฐโ Dribble
Free AI coaching help from Gafferbook. Ask anything about coaching your team.
More patterns of play drills
4-3-3 full-back overlap with the winger
The winger receives, drives inside and the full-back overlaps around the outside to cross. The core wide pattern of a 4-3-3, practised unopposed, then 2v1, then in a game.
See the drill โ4-3-3 third-man run to the striker
Centre-back plays into the striker, who sets back to an 8 running forward, who slips the winger in behind. A third-man pattern that breaks lines in a 4-3-3.
See the drill โ4-4-2 strike partnership: one short, one long
Two strikers work as a pair: one comes short for the ball, the other spins in behind. The partnership at the heart of 4-4-2, 3-5-2 and 9v9 3-3-2.
See the drill โ3-5-2 wing-back switch of play
Draw the opposition to one side, then switch to the far wing-back arriving unmarked. The signature attack of a 3-5-2, practised as a pattern then as a 7v5 game.
See the drill โ4-2-3-1: finding the number 10 between the lines
A three-zone game where the ball must go from the back zone into the number 10 in the middle zone before it can go into the front. Teaches the double pivot to find the 10 and the 10 to turn.
See the drill โ7v7 2-3-1: wide player and defender rotation
In 7v7 the wide midfielder and the defender behind them swap: one drops to receive, the other runs past. A simple rotation that unlocks the 2-3-1 down the sides.
See the drill โ